Does alcohol absorb to activated charcoal?
Activated charcoal seldom is used in pure-alcohol poisoning since it is absorbed rapidly from the gut. Furthermore in early reports activated charcoal was found to adsorb alcohol poorly. However, in 1981 North et al. [North, D. S., Thompson, J. D. & Peterson, C. D. (1981). Am. J. Hosp. Pharm., 38, 864-866] demonstrated in dogs that charcoal given at the same time as alcohol can reduce the blood alcohol concentration significantly. To study whether charcoal is of value in a clinical situation, a randomized cross-over study in two phases was conducted. Each person drank 88 g of alcohol and 30 min after either 20 g of activated charcoal was taken or the same volume of water was drunk. There were no significant differences in plasma alcohol concentrations with or without charcoal.
B A
BA
Hultén
A
A
Heath
T
T
Mellstrand
T
T
Hedner
D000327:Adsorption; D000328:Adult; D002606:Charcoal; D000431:Ethanol / Q000097:blood*; D006801:Humans; D007700:Kinetics; D008297:Male; D011897:Random Allocation
D002606:Charcoal; D000431:Ethanol