Photo Credit Peter Cristofono

Zeolite advertise itself a supplement which is designed to clear the body of any toxins and heavy metals which are trapped in the body’s cells, which supposedly helps the skin (and everything else in the body). Online stores which offer this supplement explain that this effect is achieved through a negative charge that Zeolite molecules naturally possess. Once ingested, the supplement travels through the body, attracting positively charged molecules belonging to toxins, heavy metals and other unwanted materials, some of which are in the body for a long time. After they get caught in Zeolite, these are then flushed out during urination. Supposedly, the process lasts about 6 to 8 hours.

Immediately, the idea of attraction through charges is very sketchy. First of all, why would things like heavy metals and toxins have any kind of shared positive charge? These substances, apart from being harmful to the human body, don’t necessarily have to have anything else in common. Toxins can be naturally created or manufactured, and are in fact a term that covers a very wide range of substances (home detergent and cyanide are both toxins, but apart from that, they don’t belong in any other shared category).

But this doesn’t mean that Zeolite is completely useless. The material is in fact a form of mineral that is highly absorbent. But it is also dissolvable in water. Of course, this is a good thing because many toxins are in fact present in the digestive tract and the blood flow, which are rich with very high water content. But many toxins are also present in the fat cells of the body (those that were ingested some time ago), which are not accessible through this process (Zeolite can’t reach any of the stuff in our fat deposits). In other words, it can’t reach toxins that were ingested days or weeks ago (and it kind of advertises it does).

Research about the medical applications of Zeolite are ongoing, but currently, its detoxing properties seem like they are restricted to the things that are still being digested. Fat deposits and everything in them, on the other, are off limits to this supplement.