Mods, if this isn't okay, please delete. I just saw a post yesterday in a cooking sub that reminded me of this and I figured a PSA today would be good. I have also posted this in a couple other places I figured it would be relevant.
Tomorrow is Halloween & this weekend is Dia Le Los Muertos – or for some folks it is Halloween Weekend #2
PLEASE MAKE SURE YOU ALERT YOUR FRIENDS IF THEY ARE EATING STUFF WITH ACTIVATED CHARCOAL
We all want to party responsibly and have a good time WITHOUT causing unwanted pregnancies!!!!
Activated Charcoal messes with oral contraceptives (and other medications too!) So make sure you have extra condoms and other forms of contraceptives available!!!
Have fun & Be Spooky friends!!!! 💜🦇💜
ETA – I have seen a few comments where people haven't read my full post & are saying this is "false information" or starting shit to start shit 🙃🙄 I DID mention Activated Charcoal causes issues with other medications as well.
Here is YOUR FREE LABOR, YOU ARE WELCOME, even though Google is attached to you 24/7
https://www.mayoclinic.org/drugs-supplements/charcoal-activated-oral-route/description/drg-20070087
https://academic.oup.com/humrep/article-abstract/16/1/76/3113914?redirectedFrom=fulltext
https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/11139541/
This PSA also applies to any cocktails you might consume that are also colored black with Activated Charcoal
by Serious_Bullfrog_665
22 Comments
Wow! I had no idea about this. You should cross post to R/LPT
What treats have activated charcoal in them? Honest question
It’s also bad for other medications. I can’t consume it with my anxiety meds. Always worth checking if you take anything regularly.
Wait hold on I have activated charcoal in my toothpaste should I stop using that?? 😭😭
Also antibiotics!
Cross post to r/witchesvspatriarchy!
Can it interfere with an IUD?
Whaaaaat, gosh I’m glad I have a “mechanical” way of contraception (copper IUD).
Holy shit.. I didn’t know that. Thanks OP.
The same applies to specialty black cocktails.
This seems highly unnecessarily alarmist. People need to know what will react with medications they’re taking, and the actual chance of something interfering with it, and their doctors should be informing them about that. Simply screaming “activated charcoal gets you pregnant” is a massive oversimplification of human anatomy. And it’s an odd hill to die on. I could send out the same message about sugar (diabetics), nuts (allergies), alcohol (pregnant women), flour (Celiac patients), grapefruit (anyone with heart issues or on an antidepressant), or food dyes (take your pick).
And if activated charcoal is a severe enough concern for someone, they’re likely to know that and probably won’t be eating black things anyway.
So guys it means it’s No Nut November.
It shouldn’t be too much of an issue, depending on how much of it they actually eat! You’d have to take quite a bit of activated charcoal for it to interfere with birth control, and for most medications it’s just recommended to avoid taking them at the same time. If it’s used with chocolate or dairy too that can potentially decrease absorption of the charcoal in the stomach.
Take away though is that it’ll be fine in small quantities, just don’t go eating the tub of black icing 🙂
My comment may not be related to baking but, while we’re at it, consuming grapefruit on certain birth control products can cause some problems. For me, it turned me into a raging lunatic.
I’m an actual doctor (MD), not a google doctor, and you’re forgetting a super important part of what makes a medication or other substance risky: dose. Your citations do not reflect amounts used in treatment vs as a coloring in baking.
For reference (from Lexidrug, the database doctors use to reference meds) dosing is 25-100g, repeat dosing every 4 hours. Don’t know if you noted the dosing in the studies you cited, but it was 20g per day for 3 days (60g total.) In baking, you’re using ~5g for a whole batch of cookies, divide by 12-24 depending on servings, and it’s a paltry 0.4g or less of activated charcoal per serving, which is unlikely to have any significance with any medication.
In other words, while your intentions are clearly well-placed, it’s best you don’t play doctor and unnecessarily raise alarm bells. Let people enjoy their spooky treats.
I appreciate the PSA, but this comes out every year and the fear mongering doesn’t go past “AHHH DONT EAT IT AT ALL!”
***You didn’t even read the articles you “sourced”!!!***
From the PubMed research study (and your third source which is a just a different journal the same research study was posted in): “*During both pill treatments the third cycle was a control cycle, and during the fourth cycle of both pill types, 5 g of activated charcoal was ingested four times a day, starting 3 h after pill intake, on cycle days 12, 13 and 14.*
***None of the women ovulated.*** *Follicular activity seen in two women did not correlate with charcoal administration. It is concluded that the possible enterohepatic recirculation of gestodene and norethisterone is not of clinical importance. Repeated charcoal treatment, when administered 3 h after but at least 12 h before pill intake, can be used to treat diarrhoea in women taking oral contraceptives.”*
5g of activated charcoal is a giant capsule. Four times a day for three days. That’s 60 GRAMS- not milligrams.
Even then, it found no issue with ovulation or interaction significant enough to say you should avoid it.
Your mayoclinic article again says that if you are PRESCRIBED activated charcoal, there may be an interaction after significant use.
The medline article is the same damn thing and doesn’t even provide a citation for this claim: **To prevent possible interaction, take activated charcoal at least 3 hours after or 12 hours before birth control pills.**
You are not going to ingest enough to affect your medications significantly.
If you can avoid it, go for it! But if you ingest some or want to have a small treat with some in it, I can confidently say that it’s not going to affect your medications.
Oh, hell! I had no idea. Another reason I love my IUD.
Oh gosh, thank you u/scapegt for the award!
Per my neurologist activated charcoal can also fuck with my epilepsy medication. Apparently it can mess with the absorption of a bunch of shit.
> Mods, if this isn’t okay, please delete.
off topic but… I always read this as “better to ask forgiveness than permission”
Why are people using activated charcoal as a food coloring??
The FDA isn’t the greatest…but they directly say that charcoal should never be used for coloring purposes. That is for a reason.
I am more interested in this second Halloween. Never heard of it in my 54 years.