Clearing the smoke behind charcoal health claims

It works well on the grill so now many manufacturers are adding charcoal to numerous health and beauty products, such as soaps and supplements.

Labels promise charcoal can help with everything from digestion to acne.

Activated charcoal is similar to the stuff you use when you barbecue, but it's been super-heated into an extremely porous substance. It's been used in medicine for decades.

"Activated charcoal is sometimes used as an antidote for overdoses of certain medicines in the emergency room," Julia Calderone, with Consumer Reports, said. "The porous charcoal traps certain toxins, preventing the body from absorbing them."

Some activated charcoal supplements claim to remove toxins in a similar way, but they're not necessary because the body detoxes itself.

"The body already has organs, such as the kidneys and liver, to filter out impurities," Calderone said.

Activated charcoal in small doses has no known significant health risks, but as Consumer Reports has previously reported, supplements are regulated much more loosely than FDA-approved drugs and they don't necessarily contain what's advertised on the label.

Recently, other consumer charcoal products have come on the market - claiming to whiten teeth, freshen breath and fight body odor. But there's little published scientific evidence to suggest that activated charcoal helps these products work better than products without.

Activated-charcoal face washes, creams and masks often have product labels promising to clear up acne and clarify the skin by removing toxins from your pores.

But dermatologists said there's no scientific proof to suggest this works either.