Charcoal ice cream is new trend in ice cream around the world. It is sold as a cleansing (detoxing) health food. It is also popular as the picture of charcoal ice cream look stunning on social media. In this article we will discuss following.
- What is charcoal ice cream
- Is it really healthy (detoxing)
- Are there any side effects
- Should you be eating charcoal ice cream
About charcoal ice cream: Charcoal ice cream is just like normal ice cream with added charcoal, or mix of charcoal and food color. The edible charcoal is generally obtained from oxidation (controlled burning) coconut shell. There can be other similar sources. The fine charcoal is mixed in ice cream base (sometimes with black colour) before making ice cream. It can be mixed with frozen yogurt, soft serve, gelato or other similar frozen dessert.
Is it really detoxing: The claim of detoxing is debatable. Activated charcoal is used in medical science to detox poisons ingested by some one. It is used as a prescription medicine to tread ingested poisons of certain type. The pores in side activated charcoal traps large number of chemicals. Based on this fact it is claimed that activated charcoal ice cream have detoxing effect.
The claims may be true, but there is no known scientific study to prove this fact. So the detoxing effect of activated charcoal ice cream are largely unproven.
Are there any side effect: As explained above the pores in charcoal can trap chemicals in side it. But it can also trap vitamins and micro-nutrients. Moreover if you are eating some other prescription medicine charcoal ice cream can reduce the effect of these medicine.
So you should be extra careful if you are taking prescription medicines.
Should you be eating charcoal ice cream: If you are on some prescription medicine you should certainly avoid charcoal ice cream. Moreover it can also reduce the available nutrient from the food you eat it should no eaten on regular basis. However it is worth trying and you can have it once a week or so.