Longevity Research

Dramatic increases in lifespans of normal rats fed activated charcoal have been reported by Frolkis et al. (Experimental Gerontology, 1984:19(4):217-225.). They hypothesized that, since toxic metabolites are believed to play a role in aging, the purification of digestive juices in the intestinal tract using activated charcoal (“enterosorption”) could potentially remove such toxic substances from the animals’ systems. They first noted, in a preliminary study, that rats fed charcoal (amount not stated) for a significant length of time (length not stated) developed arterial hypertension 4 – 6 weeks after the cessation of charcoal. The mean arterial pressures rose to 118mm Hg verses 85 mm Hg prior to the study and the hypertension lasted for several months. These observations suggest that the feeding of charcoal “is linked not merely with the sorption of some physiologically active substance, but rather with the slowly evolving regulatory renal and hypothalamic rearrangements.”

In the primary study, one group of 28-month-old rats was given charcoal in their diets for 10 days, followed by no charcoal for one month. This cycle was repeated until each animal died. Charcoal increased the mean lifespan at 50% mortality from 937 to 977 days, at 80% mortality from 972 to 1023 days, and at 100% mortality from 993 to 1055 days. The mean increases in the lifespans were 47.3, 41.4, and 43.7%, respectively. The maximal lifespan was increased by 34.4%. The animals demonstrated less marked age-related structural and ultrastructural changes in the liver, kidneys, myocardium, intestines, and pancreas, as compared to controls. For example, the charcoal-fed rats had no sclerosed renal glomeruli and heart myofibrosis was less marked. Other things noted in the charcoal-fed group were decreases in liver cytochrome P-450, blood triglycerides and cholesterol, cardiac and cerebral tissue cholesterol, total lipids, and liver cholesterol and lipids. The charcoal increased RNA and protein biosynthesis in the kidneys, livers, and adrenal glands. In one group that was fed charcoal in cycles of one month of charcoal plus 10 days of no charcoal, the lifespan increases were much lower than those noted above; hence, there appears to be an optimal schedule of feeding the charcoal.

Cooney, David, Activated Charcoal in Medical Applications, Dekker, 1995, p 462

This research suggests that the increased longevity of rats given a steady diet of activated charcoal is due to the binding of a variety of endogenous toxins which are produced as byproducts of normal metabolic processes.