Herb library · Spice · Piper nigrum
Black pepper
The dried berry of a tropical vine and the most familiar spice on the table. Its sharp compound, piperine, is added to turmeric supplements because it raises the amount of curcumin that reaches the blood; in small studies it also raised blood levels of several prescription drugs.
Traditional use
Native to the Malabar coast of India and traded west since ancient times; Greek and Roman writers knew it, and its high price helped send the Portuguese looking for a sea route to India. Sanskrit texts call it maricha and disagree about its heat: the Sushruta Samhita counts dried pepper heating, while Charaka's Samhita, in Kaviratna's 1890 translation, calls it light and not very hot and says it subdues phlegm and wind. Culpeper wrote that it expels wind and warms the stomach, and in China it was used whole or crushed rather than ground. Today piperine is sold mainly as an ingredient in turmeric and curcumin supplements.
Traditional energetics
Ayurveda
Taste (rasa): pungent; potency (virya): heating; in dosha theory it balances vata and kapha. An English Translation of the Sushruta Samhita, vol. 1 (1907), Sutrasthanam, ch. XLVI, p. 510 (opens in a new tab)
What studies show
- Limited
Absorption of curcumin and of medicines: small studies in people show that 20 mg of piperine changes how much of a substance reaches the blood. In a 1998 study in healthy volunteers it raised the bioavailability of 2 g of curcumin about twentyfold; other small studies found higher blood levels of propranolol, theophylline, phenytoin and carbamazepine.
- Insufficient
Swallowing in older adults after a stroke: one 2006 randomized trial in 105 nursing-home residents in Japan found that sniffing black pepper oil for one minute shortened the swallowing reflex over a month, compared with lavender oil or water. It has not been confirmed in larger studies.
- Insufficient
Smoking withdrawal: in a 1994 study of 48 smokers, puffing on a device that delivered black pepper oil vapor reduced craving during a 3-hour session without cigarettes. It was a single short session, not a quitting trial.
Be careful of
Cautions
- InteractionPiperine (20 mg) raised blood levels of phenytoin and carbamazepine in people with epilepsy, and of propranolol and theophylline in healthy volunteers. Ask your clinician or pharmacist before taking piperine or turmeric-with-pepper supplements alongside prescription medicines.
- AmountThese interaction studies used a concentrated 20 mg piperine dose, as found in supplements. They did not test pepper used in ordinary cooking.
- NoteTurmeric supplements have been linked to liver injury. In a US case series of 10 people, 3 of the 7 products tested also contained piperine, and the authors suggest the rise in cases may partly reflect turmeric being combined with black pepper.
- AllergyBlack pepper was among the five spices most often reported as an allergy in a large US food-allergy patient registry; epinephrine was given for about a third of reported reactions to seeds and spices.
- PregnancyNo pregnancy or breastfeeding safety information for piperine supplements was found in the sources used here. Talk with your clinician first.
- Ask a clinicianTalk with a clinician or pharmacist before using this if you take prescription medicines, are pregnant or breastfeeding, or are giving it to a child.
From the old books
What herbals and dispensaries of the past printed. History, in their words.
“Maricha (Piper nigrum, Linn.) is not much hot. It does not increase the vital seed. It is light and adds relish to food. In consequence of its capacity to remove adherent phlegm and other matters, and of drying them, it promotes the appetite and subdues phlegm and wind.”
“The high cost of pepper contributed to incite the Portuguese to seek for a sea passage to India, and the trade in this spice continued to be a monopoly of the Crown of Portugal as late as the 18th century.”
“Prior to the coming of Europeans, the ground pepper was apparently not known in China; the pepper-corns being either used whole, or crushed as required.”
Sources
- Influence of piperine on the pharmacokinetics of curcumin in animals and human volunteers (Planta Med, 1998) — PubMed record (opens in a new tab) · NIH · read September 25, 2026
- Effect of piperine on bioavailability and pharmacokinetics of propranolol and theophylline in healthy volunteers (Eur J Clin Pharmacol, 1991) — PubMed record (opens in a new tab) · NIH · read September 25, 2026
- Effect of piperine on the steady-state pharmacokinetics of phenytoin in patients with epilepsy (Phytother Res, 2006) — PubMed record (opens in a new tab) · NIH · read September 25, 2026
- Pharmacokinetic interaction of single dose of piperine with steady-state carbamazepine in epilepsy patients (Phytother Res, 2009) — PubMed record (opens in a new tab) · NIH · read September 25, 2026
- A randomized trial of olfactory stimulation using black pepper oil in older people with swallowing dysfunction (J Am Geriatr Soc, 2006) — PubMed record (opens in a new tab) · NIH · read September 25, 2026
- Inhalation of vapor from black pepper extract reduces smoking withdrawal symptoms (Drug Alcohol Depend, 1994) — PubMed record (opens in a new tab) · NIH · read September 25, 2026
- Liver Injury Associated with Turmeric — A Growing Problem: Ten Cases from the Drug-Induced Liver Injury Network (Am J Med, 2023) — PubMed record (opens in a new tab) · NIH · read September 25, 2026
- Seeds, Spices — Not Always So Nice: A Report on the Food Allergy Research & Education Patient Registry (J Allergy Clin Immunol Pract, 2026) — PubMed record (opens in a new tab) · NIH · read September 25, 2026
Reviewed September 25, 2026.