Influence of piperine on the pharmacokinetics of curcumin in animals and human volunteers

Shoba G, Joy D, Joseph T, Majeed M, Rajendran R, Srinivas PS · Planta Medica

The origin of the whole piperine practice. Serum curcumin after 2 g alone was undetectable or very low; adding 20 mg piperine raised concentrations between 0.25 and 1 hour and the authors calculated a 2000% increase in bioavailability.

Population

Healthy human volunteers and rats

Intervention

Curcumin 2 g with piperine 20 mg

Comparator

Curcumin 2 g alone

Limitations

Small, 1998, and conducted by Sabinsa-affiliated authors (Majeed), the company that sells both C3 Complex and Bioperine. Serum levels returned to baseline within 3 hours in both arms, which no subsequent human pharmacokinetic study reproduces (pmid-34665507 flags this as evidence of an analytical problem), and the 2000% figure is computed off a near-zero denominator.