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Health

01st Apr 2019

Use activated charcoal as a morning sickness cure? There could be a side-effect

Hmmm...

Anna O'Rourke

morning sickness

Morning sickness? More like all-day hell.

Anyone who’s been unfortunate enough to suffer from the illness will know how tough it is to deal with, and will likely have tried a variety of things to keep the nausea at bay.

Mums-to-be may have seen activated charcoal being touted as a remedy for morning sickness in recent times, but how effective could the substance really be?

One doctor has spoken about how using it to treat your sick tummy could actually have a different effect.

Pharmacist Bineesh Moyeed told Romper that activated charcoal could actually cause severe diarrhoea or turn your poo black.

“You might be treating one discomfort by causing another one, so I wouldn’t recommend it as a treatment or cure.”

As for how safe it is to consume? It could be relatively harmless, says obstetrician Cara Dolin

“Since charcoal isn’t systemically absorbed it probably doesn’t result in any significant exposure or harm to your baby if you eat or drink it. There is even less potential exposure if you use it in cosmetics or toothpaste,” she told Well Rounded.

Sound like it’s worth asking your doctor before turning to this trend to beat your morning sickness.