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Turmeric
A rhizome, taken as an extract of its curcuminoids and served next to black pepper so that any of it gets in at all. It has no authorised EU health claim, its EMA monograph covers traditional use for mild digestive complaints and not the anti-inflammatory use our formulas put it to, and two European regulators have warned about liver injury with the highly absorbable forms. Three formulas carry it, all at night, all for fourteen days, and all three rule you out if you take anticoagulants or have liver disease.
WHAT WE ARE ALLOWED TO SAY
Nothing. The claims are on hold.
Turmeric has no authorised health claim under Regulation (EU) 432/2012. Its claims sit on the European Commission's on-hold list, where most botanical claims have waited since 2010 for an EFSA assessment. Curcumin is authorised as a colour, E 100, but that is a food additive decision and not a health claim, and we will not dress it up as one. Until the on-hold list is resolved, we make no health claim for turmeric, and you will not find one on this page.Turmeric has no authorised health claim under Regulation (EU) 432/2012. Its claims are on hold, waiting for an EFSA assessment. Curcumin is authorised as a colour, E 100, which is not a health claim. Until that ends, we make no health claim for it.
Our file describes curcumin inhibiting NF-κB, COX-2, LOX and the cytokines TNF-α, IL-1 and IL-6, modulating PPAR-γ and acting as a direct antioxidant, and it cites a 2016 meta-analysis of turmeric extracts in joint arthritis. That is a reason to include it, not a permission to promise anything. The EMA monograph on file is narrower still: traditional use for mild dyspepsia, a feeling of fullness, slow digestion and flatulence, for up to two weeks without supervision. It does not endorse systemic anti-inflammatory use, and our own formula records say so in writing, in the formulas that use it that way.
WHY AN EXTRACT WITH PIPERINE
On its own, almost none of it gets in.
Turmeric is a plant, so the choice is not between salts but between preparations. Swallowed alone, our file puts oral bioavailability at 1 to 2%, which is the single fact that shapes everything else. Our EU regulatory record asks for an extract standardised to at least 95% curcuminoids together with piperine from black pepper, or a phytosome. All three formulas take the first route: 500 mg of turmeric next to 5 mg of piperine, the 1 to 100 ratio our interaction table files as a deliberate synergy.
The dried rhizome as food uses it. Our file puts the equivalent at 3 to 10 g a day and notes it is almost never used that way, because so little of it is absorbed.
At least 95% curcuminoids with piperine, which blocks the liver from conjugating curcumin and raises exposure around twentyfold in our file. It dissolves in oil, tastes bitter, is sensitive to light, heat and alkaline pH, sits best between pH 3 and 5, and our own form record marks it as not stable in liquid.
Meriva raises absorption about 29 times in our file and NovaSOL about 185 times, with gamma-cyclodextrin as a third route. These highly absorbable products are the ones behind the liver case reports in Italy and France. Our file prefers them and warns about them in the same paragraph.
There is no authorised claim for any form of turmeric, enhanced or not, so absorption is not a claim argument and we do not use it as one. Two things in our own files do not sit comfortably together: the piperine that makes curcumin work is also what the liver alerts point at, and the form we prefer is recorded as not stable in liquid, which is exactly what we serve. Our turmeric file is a draft pending review by a clinical professional, and it says so on its first line.There is no authorised claim for any form of turmeric, so absorption is not a claim argument. The piperine that makes it work is also what the liver alerts point at, and our preferred form is recorded as not stable in liquid. The file is a draft pending clinical review.
WHERE IT APPEARS
Three of the twenty-nine carry turmeric.
All three go out at night, preferably with food, which our records justify twice over: the repair work happens during sleep, and dinner softens the stomach upset. All three carry the same 500 mg next to the same 5 mg of piperine, all three are written for 14 days because that is the EMA limit, and all three rule you out if you are on anticoagulants or have liver disease. One of them is still in development.
THE CEILING
1,000 mg a day in one file. 153 mg in another.
Our EU regulatory record sets 1,000 mg a day as the upper limit for turmeric. Our ingredient file sets much lower numbers for curcumin itself: a provisional acceptable daily intake of 0 to 3 mg per kg of body weight, about 210 mg for a 70 kg adult, an ANSES recommendation not to exceed 153 mg a day, and our own internal cap of 200 mg a day when the form is a highly absorbable one. The 1,500 mg of curcuminoids our file allows applies only to forms that are not enhanced, and all three of our formulas pair turmeric with piperine. A single formula, at 500 mg standardised to at least 95% curcuminoids with piperine, is above ANSES's 153 mg, the roughly 210 mg provisional ADI and our own 200 mg internal cap for enhanced forms. The third formula, still in development, carries the same 500 mg with piperine and does not state the standard. That conflict is in our files, it is not resolved, and we would rather print it than quote the flattering number.Our EU regulatory record says 1,000 mg a day. Our ingredient file says 153 mg of curcumin a day per ANSES, about 210 mg as a provisional ADI, and our own cap of 200 mg for enhanced forms. A single formula, 500 mg with piperine, is above all three. That conflict is unresolved and we would rather print it.
500 mg per formula, and one alone is already above every curcumin figure in our files. Two in the same day would make 1,000 mg. Our records hold no mutual exclusion between the three formulas, and our cumulative upper-limit tracker (R11) does not include turmeric today.
The EMA monograph on file limits unsupervised use to two weeks, and all three formulas are written for 14 days. Our own dose record says 500 mg with piperine for 8 to 12 weeks. Those two do not agree, and what the formulas actually do is 14 days.
Symptomatic gallstones or a blocked bile duct: absolute contraindication in our file, because turmeric moves bile. Pregnancy and breastfeeding: culinary amounts are fine, the concentrated supplement is contraindicated, on a possible effect on the uterus and not enough data. Children: not enough data for the supplement. Liver disease: relative contraindication after the liver injury alerts from 2018 onwards, and all three formulas exclude it outright. Anticoagulation: relative contraindication, monitor INR if it cannot be avoided, and all three formulas exclude it, including vitamin K antagonists. Kidney disease: caution, the rhizome is high in oxalates over long use. Cancer treatment: ask your oncologist, because turmeric interacts with chemotherapy through liver enzymes. Planned surgery: stop it two weeks before. Iron-deficiency anaemia: never in the same dose as iron. Heart disease and arrhythmia: no specific contraindication on file. The label warnings on file: ask your healthcare professional if you take anticoagulants such as warfarin, acenocoumarol or apixaban, or antiplatelets, because it can change their effect; and stop taking it if you notice signs of a liver problem, such as yellowing of the skin or eyes, unusual tiredness, abdominal pain or dark urine, asking first if you have known liver disease. Side effects are usually mild and digestive, and allergic reactions are rare. It contains none of the allergens the EU requires on a label, and no intolerance or dietary restriction is documented.
WHAT IT REACTS WITH
Twelve documented pairs. No medicines in the table yet.
Turmeric is one of the 140 ingredients in our library, so it has 139 possible partners. Twelve of its pairs are documented in our interaction table so far, out of the 443 on file. Our drug interaction table has no turmeric row yet; the one medicine rule in our engine that names it is R15, which removes turmeric if you take warfarin. The rest of the medicines below come from the ingredient file.
Filed as functionally incompatible, rated high: ginkgolide B and curcumin both act on platelets. Not co-formulated at standard doses, and if they ever coexist, under 120 mg of ginkgo with under 100 mg of curcumin. Rule R8 in our engine flags any plan holding two or more antiplatelet ingredients and blocks it outright when your profile says anticoagulation. The list it watches: ginkgo, turmeric, black garlic, vitamin E, resveratrol, pycnogenol, bromelain and papain.
Curcumin binds iron and lowers its absorption, and can deepen a deficiency, so it is never in the same dose as iron and stays 2 to 3 hours away from it. White clay adsorbs plant compounds, rated medium, at least 2 hours apart. Our ingredient file adds elemental calcium if taken at the same time, and notes that antacids and proton pump inhibitors lower how much curcumin is absorbed.
Piperine is the one we build on, marked in our table as a wanted synergy at a 1 to 100 ratio. Artichoke adds its effect on bile, milk thistle is filed as a valid liver stack, inulin as microbial metabolism that raises exposure to the metabolites, and sulforaphane as a complementary Nrf2 route. Three more are filed as synergies with a bleeding flag: black garlic, papain and resveratrol, all allowed outside anticoagulation and flagged inside it. CBD is filed as a dose caution, because both slow CYP3A4 and P-gp.
Rule R15 in our engine removes turmeric if your profile says you take warfarin. Everything else here comes from our ingredient file and is not in our drug table yet. Anticoagulants such as warfarin, apixaban and dabigatran, rated major for bleeding risk, and antiplatelets such as aspirin and clopidogrel. Diabetes medication, where the drop in blood sugar may add up, and blood pressure medication, mildly. Medicines cleared by CYP3A4 and CYP2C9, such as statins, ciclosporin and tacrolimus, and by P-gp, such as digoxin and talinolol, because curcumin slows all three. Tamoxifen, whose levels fall, and amlodipine, whose levels rise. The app asks about medication before any formula carrying turmeric is assigned.
443 of the 9,730 possible pairs in our library are documented, which is 4.55%, and twelve of them involve turmeric. The rest are not "safe", they are simply unchecked. On top of that, our drug interaction table has no turmeric row at all, while the ingredient file lists ten classes of medicine; of those, only warfarin is named in a medicine rule (R15); anticoagulants as a group are handled through your clinical profile, which excludes all three turmeric formulas, and through rule R8; the other classes do not reach the engine yet. That gap is ours, and we would rather write it down than let the number look like a badge.443 of the 9,730 possible pairs in our library are documented, which is 4.55%, and twelve involve turmeric. The rest are not safe, they are simply unchecked. Our drug interaction table has no turmeric row at all, while the ingredient file lists ten classes of medicine.
SOURCES
Everything on this page, with its reference.
Reviewed by VION nutrition team · last reviewed 16 September 2026Read the introduction to Turmeric →
140 INGREDIENTS · 64 IN USE TODAY
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What it is, what we are allowed to say about it, which formulas carry it, what it reacts with and where each of those statements comes from. No proprietary blends, no hidden amounts.