Substance in Black Pepper Increases Nutrient

Absorption up to Two Thousand Percent

Monday, November 17, 2008 by: Barbara L. Minton

(NewsTarget) Putting black pepper on your food may be one of the easiest, most economical ways to
boost your overall health status. Piperine, the main alkaloid from black pepper has been shown to
substantially increase the bioavailability of the nutrients in foods and supplements. As the quality of
food declines and the costs of food and supplements continue to skyrocket, it is increasingly important
to your health that the nutrients you consume are able to be used to maximum efficiency by your body.

What is piperine?

Piperine is a pungent compound found in the fruit of the plants in the Piperaceae family, the most
famous member of which is Piper nigrum, black pepper. It has a long history of use in Ayurvedic
medicine as a restorative and treatment.

Piperine is able to increase bioavilability of many substances through a number of mechanisms. It

inhibits several enzymes responsible for metabolizing nutritional substances, stimulates amino-acid
transporters in the intestinal lining, inhibits removal of substances from cells so they continue to be
available for use, and decreases the intestinal activity allowing more of the substances to enter the body
in active form. The results of these actions are that substances reach, enter and remain within their
target cells for longer periods of time than would normally be the case.

Piperine can turn a marginally effective therapeutic substance into a highly effective one by increasing
its bioavailability and intracellular residency time. As an example, piperine can increase the
bioavailability of the cancer, inflammation and infection fighter, curcumin, by twenty-fold.

Piperine favorably simulates the digestive enzymes of the pancreas, enhances digestive capacity and
significantly reduces gastrointestinal food transit time. Black pepper or piperine treatment has also been
evidenced to lower lipid peroxidation in vivo and beneficially influence the cellular status of organic
sulfur compounds, antioxidant molecules, and antioxidant enzymes in a number of experimental
situations of oxidative stress.

In addition to its effects on bioavilability, piperine has many other actions in the body that include
increasing beta-endorphins in the brain, acting as an anti-depressant, increasing serotonin production,
boosting brain functioning, stimulating adrenal production, relieving pain and asthma symptoms,
stimulating melanin production, decreasing ulcerations of the stomach, reducing stomach acid
production, and coordinating digestive tract contractions. It is highly effective against colon cancer.

New research is documenting the many health benefits of piperine

The journal Biometals reports a study involving cadmium, a well known environmental carcinogen and
immuno-toxicant that is characterized by marked atrophy of the thymus and spleen enlargement.
Cadmium induces death in lymphocytes and alters immune functions.
Researchers tested the ameliorative effects to cadmium damage using piperine, picroliv-glycosides, and
curcumin polyphenols. They found that of the three herbals, piperine displayed maximum efficacy. All
the examined doses of piperine increased cell viability in a dose dependent manner. Restoration of cell
damage such as cytotoxicity, oxidative stress and phosphatidylserine externalization was potentiated
with piperine. T and B cell phenotypes and cytokine release were also mitigated best with piperine,
rendering piperine the compound of choice under immuno-compromised conditions.

In a study reported in the September edition of the journal Food and Chemical Toxicology the effect of
various doses of piperine was determined. Results showed that piperine at all dosage ranges used in the
study possessed anti-depression like activity and cognitive enhancing effects at all treatment durations.
Researchers determined that piperine is a functional food that improves brain functioning.

The medicinal properties of various compounds such as curcumin cannot be well utilized because of
poor bioavailability due to its rapid metabolism in the liver and intestinal wall. In an older study
reported in Planta Medica, the effect of combining piperine, a known inhibitor of hepatic and intestinal
glucuronidation, was evaluated to determine the bioavailability of curcumin in rats and healthy human
volunteers. When curcumin was given alone to the rats, moderate serum concentrations were achieved
over a period of 4 hours. When piperine was added with the curcumin, the serum concentration of
curcumin increased for a 1-2 hour period. Time to maximum concentration was significantly increased
while elimination half life and clearance significantly decreased. The bioavailability was increased by
154%. When curcumin was given alone to humans, serum levels were either undetectable or very low.
Addition of piperine produced much higher concentrations from 0.25 to 1 hour following
administration. The bioavailability of curcumin when taken with piperine increased 2000%.

A study reported in the September issue of Phychopharmacology was designed to investigate the
involvement of monoaminergic systems in the antidepressant activity of curcumin and the effect of
piperine as a bioenhancer to the biological effects of curcumin. The researchers found that the
enhanced curcumin dose dependently inhibited the immobility period, increased serotonin, and
inhibited the monoamine oxidase enzymes. The compound also enhanced the anti-immobility effect of
sub-threshold doses of various antidepressant drugs like fluoxetine, venlafaxine, or bupropion. The
combination of sub-threshold dose of enhanced curcumin and various antidepressant drugs resulted in
synergistic increase in serotonin levels. The co-administration of piperine with curcumin resulted in
potentiation of pharmacological, biochemical, and neurochemical activities. They concluded that the
curcumin, piperine combination proved to be a useful and potent natural antidepressant.

The summer issue of Clinical Laboratory Science reports a study to determine if resveratrol from red
grapes, cinnamaldehyde from cinnamon, and piperine from black pepper have anti-proliferative effects
on colon cancer. Quantitative effects of each phytochemical on concentration responses and time
courses of proliferation of cultured human colon cancer cells were assessed. The results showed the
phytochemicals each displayed anti-proliferative effects. Piperine displayed a trend toward anti-
proliferation at 24 hours and statistically significant inhibition at 48 and 72 hours. Researchers
concluded that all three compounds offer significant anti-proliferative effects on human colon cancer
cells and provide protective effects against colon cancer.

Using piperine

Piperine is generally consumed as a component of black pepper. Adding black pepper to cooked foods,
raw foods, and fresh juices is a good way to increase nutrient absorption. Black pepper spices up
almost all foods, even snacks like popcorn.
It can be added to the Budwig protocol used as a preventative and cure for cancer. It is natural that the
foods and the compound that makes their nutrients so highly available go so well together.

For those with an aversion to black pepper, piperine can be bought as a supplement called Bioperine.
Source Naturals Bioperine is available at Lucky Vitamin. Swanson Vitamin sells a house brand of
Bioperine. There are multi-vitamins on the market that contain Bioperine as well as Curcumin
supplements with Bioperine added. Supplemental piperine should be taken along with meals and
supplements for maximum benefit.

Additional sources:

"Piperine Report", Cochran Foundation of Medical Research.

Russell Mills, "Piperine Multiplies the Strength of Many Supplements and Drugs", The Delano Report.

About the author

Barbara is a school psychologist, a published author in the area of personal finance, a breast cancer
survivor using "alternative" treatments, a born existentialist, and a student of nature and all things
natural.

http://www.naturalnews.com/024829_piperine_curcumin_black_pepper.html