Evidence: Reasonable Possible Benefits: High Safety: High
TABLE OF CONTENTS
What is black pepper?
Piper nigrum, also known as black pepper, is an adaptogenic herb with a long history of use as a spice and traditional medicine. It is sometimes used as a supplement. Black pepper doesn’t do much in the body on its own but it can significantly increase the absorption of some other herbs and supplements, such as turmeric. This article is about the main benefits of black pepper, its potential side effects, the best time to take it, and more.
Possible benefits
All of the potential benefits mentioned below are dose-dependent. As with other adaptogenic herbs, there is a sweet-spot dose that allows you to get most of the benefits without causing meaningful side effects or tolerance buildup in the body. We will discuss the best dosing protocol later in this article.
Major benefits
Increased absorption of some nutrients – Piperine in black pepper can significantly increase the bioavailability of some compounds, such as resveratrol and curcumin from turmeric. Piperine does so by inhibiting glucuronidation, a process in the liver that signals to the body that it should secrete certain compounds. These compounds then stay in the system for much longer. In the case of turmeric, the curcumin from it gets absorbed around 20 times better when taken with a source of piperine.
Minor benefits
Improved cognitive function – Piperine from black pepper was shown to improve spatial learning and memory and protect neurons against neurotoxic agents. This compound also regulates brain cytokine signaling and downregulates oxidation. When combined with resveratrol, piperine supports cerebral blood flow.
Antioxidant effects – Black pepper can prevent neurons, cardiac cells, and other types of cells and structures in the body from oxidation.
Improved digestion – Black pepper helps to stimulate hydrochloric acid in your stomach so you can better digest and absorb the foods you eat. Beware that this can also be a problem for some people who already have too much hydrochloric acid in the stomach.
Improved immune health – While not as effective as some other herbs and spices, black pepper can somewhat improve immunity by boosting white blood cells and modulating the activity of immune cells, along with other mechanisms.
Possible side effects
The side effects below are dose-dependent. The risk for them increases (often linearly but sometimes exponentially) as you increase the dose. Some of the side effects only apply to very high doses.
Elevated levels of some drugs in the body – Because piperine can inhibit glucuronidation, it prevents the body from flushing out some compounds. In many cases, such as in the case of curcumin, this can be beneficial. In cases of other compounds and drugs that you want to leave the body, this can be problematic.
Spicy taste – This can be both pleasant and unpleasant, depending on the dose and the context.
Allergic reaction – Some people are allergic to this herb and may experience an allergic reaction after they start taking it.
Nausea – This side effect is most common when people take the herb on an empty stomach.
Diarrhea – You can usually prevent diarrhea or stomach discomfort by taking this herb with a meal.
Toxicity – As an adaptogen, black pepper acts as a mild stressor on the body. That is usually a great thing as it allows your body to adapt to specific forms of stress and become more resilient. However, stressing the body too much can be counter-productive and cause multiple side effects, including toxicity. While acute toxicity is extremely rare, taking very high amounts of this herb could lead to chronic toxicity and cause health problems over time. To prevent chronic toxicity or the buildup of tolerance, staying below 2 grams of dry herb powder in a day is best unless you have a great reason to take more.
Contamination – If growing or storing conditions are not adequately controlled, black pepper can be contaminated with bacteria, molds, and other potentially harmful microorganisms. Some growers also use pesticides and herbicides that can be unsafe. Another issue is that if you buy black pepper as a powder or as a piperine extract, it can get contaminated with other herbs and chemicals during the manufacturing process. Choose the brand you get pepper and herbs in general from wisely. It is often best to use websites like Amazon, where thousands of users have reviewed and rated the products. You are less likely to buy something of lower quality there.
Who should not use black pepper?
You should probably avoid taking black pepper if you:
are allergic to this herb
take a medication that gets broken down by the liver (f you take any medication where you’re not sure how it interacts with piperine, learn about the interaction or ask your doctor before you combine the two)
experience a severe adverse reaction after taking the herb (though a mild adverse reaction is usually a great thing as it is a sign that the supplement is working and causing a hormetic response that allows the body to adapt and become more resilient)
are pregnant or breastfeeding (while it can be safe to take this adaptogen during pregnancy or breastfeeding, it acts as a mild stressor and can cause some unnecessary risk to the child)
have a high budget for supplements and are willing to experiment with a variety of them (assuming you don’t fall into any of the categories that should avoid this herb, black pepper appears safe and is unlikely to do more harm than good for most people)
How much black pepper should you take?
Because black pepper is an adaptogenic herb, it acts as a mild hormetic stressor on the body, which allows your body to adapt and become more resilient to certain kinds of stressors in the long term.
A higher dose does not necessarily lead to more pronounced benefits. Instead, there appears to be an inverted U-shaped dose-response pattern. In other words, you want to find a sweet-spot dose that allows you to get the benefits of black pepper without putting too much pressure on the body or quickly causing the body to develop tolerance to the herb.
The sweet-spot dose typically ranges anywhere between 250-1000 mg of dry black pepper daily. If you buy an x:1 extract, divide the dry herb powder dosage by x. About 2-8% of dry black pepper is piperine.If you purchase an extract standardized for piperine, the sweet spot dose for piperine is about 5-20 mg.
The higher end of this range usually provides slightly more benefits in the short term. If you plan to take this herb for a longer time (multiple months or years), the lower end is probably a better way to go since you would develop tolerance faster if you were to take higher doses.
While higher doses are generally safe, taking more than the sweet-spot dose daily would be counter-productive as your body would quickly develop tolerance.
Additionally, very high doses can put too much pressure on your system and cause health problems if you take the supplement for a prolonged period.
While this herb could theoretically cause acute toxicity, you’d need to take an extremely high dose that would be way beyond what even the most potent supplements contain.
Like most other adaptogens, it is best to cycle black pepper and take about two days off weekly to reset your tolerance. That will allow you to keep getting the benefits in the long term.
Keep in mind that the effects of this herb are cumulative. Therefore, you must take it for at least 2-4 weeks to notice most of the benefits. But again, cycling the herb and not taking it at least twice a week is necessary to prevent tolerance in the long term.
Best time to take black pepper
If you are taking pepper to enhance the bioavailability of curcumin, resveratrol, or EGCG, take the pepper together with these compounds.
You can take this herb with or without food. Each of these options has its benefits. The main bioactive compounds in the herb should absorb well either way.
If you experience nausea or stomach discomfort when you take this herb, taking it with food should prevent these unpleasant effects or at least make them less intense.
If you take this herb on an empty stomach, the short-term effects will kick in faster, and they will be more pronounced but will not last as long.
Whether you take this herb in the morning or the evening typically does not make much difference. Both options are fine so feel free to experiment.
Interactions
Turmeric Piperine from black pepper can significantly enhance the bioavailability of many bioactive compounds in turmeric. For example, it increases the absorption of curcumin by about 2000%.
Resveratrol Piperine can increase the absorption of resveratrol by about 229% and the maximum serum resveratrol concentration by as much as 1544%.
Green tea Piperine seems to increase the bioavailability of EGCG and other green tea catechins to at least some extent. However, more studies are needed to confirm this effect.
CoQ10 CoQ10 also seems to absorb better when taken with pepper.
Beta-carotene This spice can increase the absorption of beta-carotene and its conversion to retinol.
Lithium Black pepper might decrease how well the body gets rid of lithium. This can be a good thing and a bad thing, depending on how you look at it. On one hand, you may not need to take as much lithium. On the other hand, when you take the same dose of lithium and combine it with pepper, it can cause more side effects.
Medications that get broken down by the liver Piperine can prevent or slow down the breakdown of these medications, which can cause a variety of problems. If you take any medication where you’re not sure how it interacts with piperine, learn about the interaction or ask your doctor before you combine the two.
Other types of pepper
The main types of pepper as a spice include:
Black pepper – This is the most popular type of pepper from the piper nigrum plant. It contains 2-8% of piperine by dry weight.
White pepper – This type of pepper comes from the same plant. The main difference is that the black outer layer is stripped from the pepper before or after drying it. While white pepper is not nearly as spicy, it contains a similar amount of piperine.
Green pepper – Green pepper is unripe black pepper. It is slightly higher in piperine (with about 3-9%) and in total antioxidants.
Red peppercorn – This is another type of pepper from the piper nigrum plant. It has a sweeter taste and contains anywhere from 1.5-5% of piperine.
Pink pepper – Pink pepper, sometimes also called red pepper, comes from the Peruvian pepper tree. It is much sweeter and less spicy than the other types on this list. This type only contains 1-2% of piperine.
Long pepper – Long pepper comes from a plant called piper longum. Besides containing 4-5% of piperine, it also contains 0.1-2% of piperlongumine, a compound with other possible benefits. The downside of this type is that it can be relatively expensive and hard to obtain.
Sichuan pepper – This type doesn’t contain much piperine (only about 0.4%). Instead, its main bioactive compounds are called sanshools.
Cayenne pepper – Cayenne pepper is the most distinct type of pepper on this list. It comes from an entirely different family of plants and its main compound (capsaicin) has completely different effects on the body.
Where to buy black pepper?
In most countries, Amazon is the best option for ordering black pepper and other herbs and herbal supplements. They offer some very affordable products backed by many positive reviews. Also, you can choose from a wide range of brands without having to search through other markets on the internet.
Some brands display the dosage per serving instead of per pill or capsule. Therefore, you may accidentally buy something less potent than you intended. Do not fall for this marketing trick.
FAQ
As with most other herbs and herbal supplements, it is best to cycle black pepper and take a break from it for about two days per week to reset your tolerance back to baseline. That will keep your body sensitive to the herb and allow you to keep getting the benefits in the long term.
When you take a standardized extract, you know exactly how potent it is and how much you need to take to get the desired outcome. Herbal extracts also tend to be cheaper than unextracted powders in many cases. However, many of the potentially beneficial compounds get lost during the extraction process. Therefore, if you know how potent the unextracted powder is, it is almost always a better option.
All of these options are fine. The two most important things to consider are the price and dosing. Powders are almost always the cheapest form. However, you may need a highly accurate scale to dose them correctly (preferably 0.001g). You can get one for as little as $20 from Amazon. Dosing the powders also takes time which can add up over months or years. The disadvantage of capsules is that they are often made of bovine gelatine, which rarely comes from ethical sources.
Yes, you can. This herb should not impact your sleep in any negative way. Whether you take it in the morning or the evening typically doesn’t make much difference. Both options are fine so feel free to experiment.
This herb should not become harmful once it exceeds the expiration date, but it can lose potency over time. Keep this herb or herbal supplement in a cold, dark, and dry place and it should remain just as potent for many months or even years.
As an adaptogen, black pepper acts as a mild stressor on the body. That is usually a great thing as it allows your body to adapt to specific forms of stress and become more resilient. However, putting too much pressure on the body can be counter-productive and cause multiple side effects, including toxicity. While acute toxicity is extremely rare, taking very high amounts of this herb could lead to chronic toxicity and cause health problems over time. High doses can also make you develop tolerance much faster than lower doses so they may be less effective in the long term.
While you could safely take higher doses, there is usually no point in taking more than 2 grams of dry pepper daily. This amount should give you most of the benefits without meaningful side effects. Paradoxically, taking a higher dose would likely lead to fewer benefits as the body would quickly become accustomed to the herb.
Unfortunately, there is not much information about the half-life of black pepper in the body. However, most of the effects of this herb are cumulative, so they mostly happen in the long term rather than acutely. Therefore, the half-life of this herb isn’t very relevant in practice.
The effects of this herb are cumulative. Therefore, you must take it for at least 2-4 weeks to notice most of the benefits. But again, cycling the herb and not taking it at least twice a week is necessary to prevent tolerance in the long term.
Yes, black pepper is vegan-friendly. If you buy this herb in a capsulated form, beware that the capsules often contain animal-based gelatin. Instead, find a brand that puts its products into cellulose capsules.
No, it does not. The herb does not interfere with fasting in any significant way.
References
Most of the information in this guide is based on scientific research that can be found and verified in the PubMed medical library. We highly encourage you to use the library to verify anything you read in this article. We excluded from consideration studies that are either confounded or have a high conflict of interest.
