Activated carbon, often called activated charcoal, is a fine black powder. It starts as a carbon-rich material that gets treated to create countless tiny pores. This huge surface area lets it grab and hold certain chemicals through physical adsorption, which makes it very different from the charcoal in a barbecue grill.
Emergency rooms rely on large, single doses of this powder to bind swallowed poisons or an overdose of drugs before they enter the body, always under close medical watch. Outside the ER, people occasionally reach for it to ease gas and bloating or after a heavy meal, though the everyday benefits lack strong evidence.
Capsules or tablets should be swallowed with a full glass of water on an empty stomach, kept far from food and other oral drugs. Timing matters most: it works only if taken very soon after the unwanted substance. Keep it separated from medications and nutrients by at least two hours to prevent it from making them useless. Expect black stools, and some users get nausea or constipation. A poisoning is an emergency. Call poison control or go to the hospital immediately.