Activated charcoal lowers cholesterol

Charcoal lowers the concentration of total lipids, cholesterol, and triglycerides in the blood serum, liver, heart and brain. In one study on patients with high cholesterol, reported in August, 1986 in the British journal, The Lancet, two tablespoons (8 gms) of activated charcoal taken three times a day for four weeks, lowered total cholesterol 25%, lowered LDL cholesterol 41%, and doubled their HDL/LDL (high-density lipoprotein/ low-density lipoprotein) cholesterol ratio. Kidney International Supplement (June 1978) demonstrated that activated charcoal is able to significantly reduce serum triglycerides (up to 76%) in severely hyperlipidemic patients, and suggested that "charcoal may find applicability in the management of azotemic diabetic and nephrotic hyperlipidemia."

These findings were again confirmed in a Finnish study reported in the European Journal of Clinical Pharmacology in 1989. Seven patients were fed 4,8,16, or 32g of activated charcoal per day. "Serum total and LDL-cholesterol were decreased (maximum 29% and 41%, respectively) and the ratio of HDL/LDL- cholesterol was increased (maximum 121%) by charcoal in a dose dependent manner." In another study of ten patients with severe hypercholesterolaem ia the effectiveness of activated charcoal was compared to cholestyramine (Questran®). Activated charcoal was found to lower total serum cholesterol, and raise the HDL/LDL ratio on a par with cholestyramine and also reduced serum triglycerides, whereas cholestyramine raised serum triglycerides!

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