Typical daily doses of black pepper can affect the metabolism of certain drugs, so make sure you tell your prescribing health professional about your black pepper consumption.
Is Black Pepper Good for You?
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Below is an approximation of this video’s audio content. To see any graphs, charts, graphics, images, and quotes to which Dr. Dennis may be referring, watch the above video.
Black pepper, the so-called “King of Spices,” is the most commonly used spice in the world, thanks to piperine, the compound responsible for black pepper’s distinct biting quality––as well as some of pepper’s propitious properties, such as acting as a bioenhancer, improving the absorption of other compounds.
Dr. Greger has talked about how just a tiny pinch of black pepper—1/20th of a single teaspoon—can boost the bioavailability into the bloodstream of curcumin, the yellow pigment of the spice turmeric, such that adding turmeric to the diet with a pinch of pepper may be more effective in reducing oxidative stress and inflammation than just turmeric alone.
Crack about a quarter-teaspoon of black pepper onto your vegetables and significantly more carotenoid phytonutrients will make it into your bloodstream than if you ate the same vegetables without it.
But one of the ways piperine enhances bioavailability is by inhibiting the detox enzymes in our liver and intestines, thereby suppressing our body’s ability to get rid of foreign substances––even good ones like curcumin and beta-carotene. Could that be a bad thing for people taking certain drugs?
A systematic review and meta-analysis looked at the effects of typical daily doses of black pepper on conventional drugs, and indeed, it increases the bioavailability of a variety of common ones, including Dilantin, Inderal, and an asthma drug called theophylline. Now, on the one hand, that may allow us to give smaller doses of the drugs, but on the other hand, inhibiting our natural drug detox enzymes might cause serious consequences if it led to drug levels that are too high.
Grapefruit and grapefruit juice have similar effects, described as a “pharmacologist’s nightmare,” which may help explain why those who increase consumption by just half a serving a day may go on to live shorter lives. I couldn’t find any such study tracking black pepper consumption and mortality, but if you are on medication and use more than a pinch of pepper a day, please tell your prescribing health professional.
Please consider volunteering to help out on the site.
- Salehi B, Zakaria ZA, Gyawali R, et al. Piper species: a comprehensive review on their phytochemistry, biological activities and applications. Molecules. 2019;24(7):1364.
- Srinivasan K. Black pepper and its pungent principle–piperine: a review of diverse physiological effects. Crit Rev Food Sci Nutr. 2007;47(8):735-748.
- Bakshi H, Nagpal M, Singh M, Dhingra GA, Aggarwal G. Propitious profile of peppery piperine. Curr Mol Pharmacol. 2021;14(4):477-486.
- Freitas E Silva-Santana NC, Rodrigues HCN, Pereira Martins TF, et al. Turmeric supplementation with piperine is more effective than turmeric alone in attenuating oxidative stress and inflammation in hemodialysis patients: a randomized, double-blind clinical trial. Free Radic Biol Med. 2022;193(Pt 2):648-655.
- Luo H, Li Z, Straight CR, et al. Black pepper and vegetable oil-based emulsion synergistically enhance carotenoid bioavailability of raw vegetables in humans. Food Chem. 2022;373(Pt B):131277.
- Pradeepa BR, Vijayakumar TM, Manikandan K, Kammala AK. Cytochrome P450-mediated alterations in clinical pharmacokinetic parameters of conventional drugs coadministered with piperine: a systematic review and meta-analysis. J Herb Med. 2023;41:100713.
- Azam S, Park JY, Kim IS, Choi DK. Piperine and its metabolite’s pharmacology in neurodegenerative and neurological diseases. Biomedicines. 2022;10(1):154.
- Owira PM, Ojewole JA. The grapefruit: an old wine in a new glass? Metabolic and cardiovascular perspectives. Cardiovasc J Afr. 2010;21(5):280-285.
- Bondonno NP, Liu YL, Zheng Y, et al. Change in habitual intakes of flavonoid-rich foods and mortality in US males and females. BMC Med. 2023;21(1):181.
- Tripathi AK, Ray AK, Mishra SK. Molecular and pharmacological aspects of piperine as a potential molecule for disease prevention and management: evidence from clinical trials. Beni Suef Univ J Basic Appl Sci. 2022;11(1):16.
Motion graphics by Avo Media
Below is an approximation of this video’s audio content. To see any graphs, charts, graphics, images, and quotes to which Dr. Dennis may be referring, watch the above video.
Black pepper, the so-called “King of Spices,” is the most commonly used spice in the world, thanks to piperine, the compound responsible for black pepper’s distinct biting quality––as well as some of pepper’s propitious properties, such as acting as a bioenhancer, improving the absorption of other compounds.
Dr. Greger has talked about how just a tiny pinch of black pepper—1/20th of a single teaspoon—can boost the bioavailability into the bloodstream of curcumin, the yellow pigment of the spice turmeric, such that adding turmeric to the diet with a pinch of pepper may be more effective in reducing oxidative stress and inflammation than just turmeric alone.
Crack about a quarter-teaspoon of black pepper onto your vegetables and significantly more carotenoid phytonutrients will make it into your bloodstream than if you ate the same vegetables without it.
But one of the ways piperine enhances bioavailability is by inhibiting the detox enzymes in our liver and intestines, thereby suppressing our body’s ability to get rid of foreign substances––even good ones like curcumin and beta-carotene. Could that be a bad thing for people taking certain drugs?
A systematic review and meta-analysis looked at the effects of typical daily doses of black pepper on conventional drugs, and indeed, it increases the bioavailability of a variety of common ones, including Dilantin, Inderal, and an asthma drug called theophylline. Now, on the one hand, that may allow us to give smaller doses of the drugs, but on the other hand, inhibiting our natural drug detox enzymes might cause serious consequences if it led to drug levels that are too high.
Grapefruit and grapefruit juice have similar effects, described as a “pharmacologist’s nightmare,” which may help explain why those who increase consumption by just half a serving a day may go on to live shorter lives. I couldn’t find any such study tracking black pepper consumption and mortality, but if you are on medication and use more than a pinch of pepper a day, please tell your prescribing health professional.
Please consider volunteering to help out on the site.
- Salehi B, Zakaria ZA, Gyawali R, et al. Piper species: a comprehensive review on their phytochemistry, biological activities and applications. Molecules. 2019;24(7):1364.
- Srinivasan K. Black pepper and its pungent principle–piperine: a review of diverse physiological effects. Crit Rev Food Sci Nutr. 2007;47(8):735-748.
- Bakshi H, Nagpal M, Singh M, Dhingra GA, Aggarwal G. Propitious profile of peppery piperine. Curr Mol Pharmacol. 2021;14(4):477-486.
- Freitas E Silva-Santana NC, Rodrigues HCN, Pereira Martins TF, et al. Turmeric supplementation with piperine is more effective than turmeric alone in attenuating oxidative stress and inflammation in hemodialysis patients: a randomized, double-blind clinical trial. Free Radic Biol Med. 2022;193(Pt 2):648-655.
- Luo H, Li Z, Straight CR, et al. Black pepper and vegetable oil-based emulsion synergistically enhance carotenoid bioavailability of raw vegetables in humans. Food Chem. 2022;373(Pt B):131277.
- Pradeepa BR, Vijayakumar TM, Manikandan K, Kammala AK. Cytochrome P450-mediated alterations in clinical pharmacokinetic parameters of conventional drugs coadministered with piperine: a systematic review and meta-analysis. J Herb Med. 2023;41:100713.
- Azam S, Park JY, Kim IS, Choi DK. Piperine and its metabolite’s pharmacology in neurodegenerative and neurological diseases. Biomedicines. 2022;10(1):154.
- Owira PM, Ojewole JA. The grapefruit: an old wine in a new glass? Metabolic and cardiovascular perspectives. Cardiovasc J Afr. 2010;21(5):280-285.
- Bondonno NP, Liu YL, Zheng Y, et al. Change in habitual intakes of flavonoid-rich foods and mortality in US males and females. BMC Med. 2023;21(1):181.
- Tripathi AK, Ray AK, Mishra SK. Molecular and pharmacological aspects of piperine as a potential molecule for disease prevention and management: evidence from clinical trials. Beni Suef Univ J Basic Appl Sci. 2022;11(1):16.
Motion graphics by Avo Media
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Title
Is Black Pepper Good for You?
LicenseCreative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International (CC BY-NC 4.0)
Content URLDoctor's Note
A note from Dr. Greger:
I am thrilled to introduce Dr. Kristine Dennis, our Senior Research Scientist. Dr. Dennis is an experienced nutrition and public health scientist who joined NutritionFacts to expand our research capacity — diving deep into the research, writing scripts, and now, narrating her own videos! You’ll continue to see videos from both of us interspersed in no particular order. I’m so happy Kristine is with NutritionFacts to help expand our capacity and perspectives.
This is the video I mentioned: Boosting the Bioavailability of Curcumin.
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