requested by @dante-doofenschmirtz
It is correct that activated charcoal (AC) can affect the absorption of drugs taken by mouth.
From the ScienceDirect overview on activated charcoal: 'In general, activated charcoal can reduce the absorption of and therapeutic response to other orally administered drugs.'
It's a bit of a oversimplification to say that activated charcoal 'flushes it out of your system', but the general gist is right. The activated charcoal adsorbs the drug in the digestive system, and prevents it from being absorbed into the blood. Instead it passes through the the digestive tract with the AC.
From The Encyclopedia of Toxicology: 'Charcoal is neither absorbed in the gastrointestinal (GI) tract nor metabolized. Due to its large surface area, it absorbs chemicals in the GI tract, trapping and carrying them out of the body without allowing them to be absorbed into the blood.
When it comes to drugs not taken orally, things get a bit more complicated. I have not been able to find any research on activated charcoal and HRT specifically, but I have found some other information that I will compile here.
A Business Insider article on activated charcoal suggests that only oral birth control is affected by AC, and other forms are not. However, Business Insider is only considered Mostly Factual according to MBFC, so I would not consider this as strong evidence.
From the Business Insider article: 'Dweck recommended leaving at least two hours between your pill and big doses of charcoal, like you might find in supplements or products included in "cleanse" diets.
And remember that this warning applies only to birth control pills you ingest: The effectiveness of the IUD, the implant, the NuvaRing, the shot, and the patch won't be affected by charcoal in the stomach.'
The Science Direct overview also suggests that, when AC is administered in a hospital setting, other medications can be given as long as they are not given orally. This would suggest that non-oral medications are not significantly affected by AC.
From the ScienceDirect overview on activated charcoal: 'When concomitant drug therapy is needed, drugs can be given parenterally if activated charcoal has been administered'
However, it should be noted that AC prevents drug absoprtion in two different ways:
1. It adsorbs drugs when they enter the stomach, before being absorbed into the blood.
2. It adsorbs drugs that are circulating back into the gastrointestinal tract from the liver, a process known as enterohepatic circulation.
Whilst drugs which aren't taken orally will not be affected by the first method, some could theoretically be affected by the second.
From the paper The effect of activated charcoal on drug exposure following intravenous administration: A meta-analysis: 'AC reduces drug exposure via two distinct mechanisms. It diminishes primary drug absorption by binding drug in the gastrointestinal tract. It also enhances drug elimination by interrupting enterohepatic circulation or by binding drugs that have been reintroduced into the gastrointestinal tract, by passive or active transport (enteroenteric circulation).5 Since the two mechanisms overlap, they are difficult to distinguish from each other.'
I located a list of compounds that are theoretically in enterohepatic circulation, and therefore could be affected by AC in this manner. This list includes Estradiol, Estrone, and Testosterone.
From Enterohepatic circulation: Physiological, pharmacokinetic and clinical implications: 'Table II lists examples of compounds reported to be excreted in the bile and therefore possibly available for enterohepatic recycling.'
In conclusion, I could not find specific evidence on how AC affects HRT when not taken orally. Some evidence suggests it would not be significantly affected, whilst other evidence does suggest a theoretical mechanism in which AC may affect non-oral drugs.
izzy806
snowghoul
2087
dededos
annaxmalina
discoholicmusic
tangentwithtanner
prguitarman
