09/03/2026
Approximately 5 percent of the spice turmeric is an active compound called curcumin, and about 5 percent of black pepper by weight is a compound called piperine. Curcumin is responsible for the yellow color of turmeric and piperine for the pepper’s pungent flavor of pepper. It’s also a potent inhibitor of drug metabolism. One of the ways our liver gets rid of foreign substances is by making them water-soluble so they can be excreted more easily, but this black pepper molecule inhibits that process.
It doesn’t take much either. If you give people a bunch of turmeric curcumin, within an hour, you can see a little bump in the level in their bloodstream. The reason we don’t see more is that our liver is actively trying to get rid of it. But what if you suppress that process by taking just a quarter teaspoon’s worth of black pepper? With the same amount of curcumin consumed, the bioavailability shoots up by nearly 2,000 percent. (See the graph at 2:00 in https://bit.ly/3PwktLJ.) Even just a little pinch of pepper—1/20th of a teaspoon—can significantly boost levels.
Another way to boost the absorption of curcumin is to consume it as the whole food (fresh or dried turmeric root) or as powdered turmeric. The natural oils in turmeric root and turmeric powder can enhance the bioavailability of curcumin seven- to eight-fold. Additionally, when eaten with a source of fat, curcumin can be directly absorbed into the bloodstream through the lymphatic system, thereby in part partially bypassing the liver.
Watch the video “Boosting the Bioavailability of Curcumin” at http://bit.ly/2sPqV6O to learn more.
