Activated Carbon’s Historical Use of Being A Medicine

Activated carbon and charcoal (which is what is primarily used to make activated carbon) has been used medicinally for thousands of years.  Our previous article “Making Whiskey” mentions that Hippocrates the western father of modern medicine recorded using charcoal in some of his treatments.

Activated carbon has had its skeptics throughout history but chemist Pierre-Fleurus Touery put the critics to rest with his famous demonstration in the mid 19th century.  Touery’s demonstration which was performed in front of the French Academy of Medicine saw Touery ingest a dose of strychnine, that was ten times higher than what was required to be a lethal dose.

I believe it is important to mention that strychnine is a  poison that can cause some of the most painful symptoms a person can experience  by ingesting a toxic substance.  Strychnine is rumored to be the poison that killed Alexander the Great and its symptoms have been used to great dramatic effect by Hollywood with one of the more notable films being Alfred Hitchcock’s Psycho.  In Psycho Norman Bates kills his mother and her lover with strychnine.

Touery took 15 grams of activated carbon with the (mentioned above)  lethal dose of strychnine and stood there as time ticked away.  Nothing happened, and Touery’s shocked audience watched as Touery walked away from the event unharmed.  The end result: activated carbon had been proven that it could be used to stop the effects of poison on humans.

Activated carbon works by adsorbing all of the toxins onto its highly porous surface area.  (10 grams of Activated Carbon has enough surface area to cover an entire American football field).  In other words it doesn’t take a lot activated carbon to adsorb toxins.

The toxins once adsorbed remain on the activated carbon until it is passed through the digestive system and out of the body.  The toxins are bound so tight to the activated carbon that the stomach and intestines are not able to absorb them.

Today activated carbon is still used to treat people who have been poisoned.  It is often associated with treating alcohol overdoses but it has seen effective results in treating indigestion, heartburn, and some intestinal disorders.  Activated carbon is most often sold to consumers in capsules, tablets, supplements, and as activated charcoal.

It is important to remember that activated carbon does not effectively treat all poisons, but it can effectively treat many of them.  Activated carbon’s use as a medicine is just one of its many functions, we will be writing more about those functions in the near future.

Sources:

Who goes first?: The Story of Self-experimentation in Medicine, Author: Lawrence K. Altman

http://www.emedicinehealth.com/activated_charcoal/page2_em.htm

Activated Carbon/Charcoal is What Separates Tennessee Whiskey From Bourbon.

The Lincoln County Process is the process by which Tennessee Whiskey manufacturer Jack Daniels and George Dickell make their famous whiskey’s.  This process is what distinguishes Tennessee Whiskey’s from Bourbon Whiskey’s and key difference in their creation is the use of charcoal, or activated carbon in the Lincoln County Process.  The use of charcoal is an added step not included in manufacturing bourbon, which otherwise would be exactly the same.

The charcoal used by Jack Daniels is made on site from sugar maple trees.  These trees are cut down and burned, but their temperature is controlled so that the don’t burn to ash but rather turn into charcoal.  The newly created charcoal is placed in a vat along with unaged whiskey for ten days before it is stored in a barrel to age further.

The taste of Tennessee whiskey has a smoother and smokier taste to it, where as bourbon is known for having a harsher and stronger taste.  This extra step was added to improve the very harsh taste of whiskey’s in the 19th century.  The difference in taste is due to the added step of using charcoal in the Lincoln County Process, the only added step not found in making bourbon.

Charcoal has long been known for its filtration and purifying properties.  Hippocrates, the famous Greek physician and father of western medicine wrote about using charcoal in his practice to adsorb unpleasant odors.  In modern times it plays an important role in the distillation of liquids.  When distilling whiskey congeners are creating, they are responsible for giving whiskey its harsh taste, however this harshness was reduced when most of the congeners in aged whiskey were adsorbed by the activated carbon found in charcoal.