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If you buy a curcumin supplement in North America, chances are it will be formulated with an additive called bioperine.

This well-publicized addition to nutritional supplements is a chemical extract from black pepper. Ayurvedic medicine adds black pepper to countless herbal formulas not for any particular benefit in itself, but to help the body bulk methyl sulfonyl methane the active principles of other herbs. This black pepper chemical concentrates the ability of "black pepper" to concentrate the absorption of other plant chemicals. The makers of hundreds of different supplements include this chemical to help the body absorb one active ingredient or another from a standardized herbal or natural product.

Bioperine makes curcumin better co-q-10 too. A clinical trial sponsored by the Sabinsa Corporation (which manufactures the ingredient for nutritional product makers around the world) found that adding their ingredient to curcumin in supplements:

• Increases the maximum bloodstream concentration by almost 50 per cent,

• Increases the half-life (time for half the supplement in circulation to be broken down by the liver) by almost 50 per cent, but buy bulk co-q10 importantly,

• Provides nearly 20 times as much of the active ingredient to cells before the curcumin is removed from the bloodstream by normal hepatic processes.

Studies at Sabinsa found similar effects when the reagent was combined with selenium, vitamin B6, beta-carotene, or vitamin C.

That's the good side of bioperine. There's one consideration for users of supplements that include this compound. It does increase absorption of nutrients, but there are also a few prescription medications that it can also make more bioavailable:

• Phenytoin (Dilantin) for seizure disorders,

• Propanolol (Inderal) for high blood pressure and muscle control, and

• Theophylline (Theo-Dur) for asthma.

If you take any of these medications, be aware that bioperine makes them absorbed more completely and eliminated more quickly. It will increase their effects, both good and bad.

Read about Curcumin for Congestive Heart Failure and How Curcumin May Prevent Cancer. Robert Rister is the author or co-author of nine books on natural healing, as well as the writer or guest on over 300 radio and television shows. Visit his natural healing news site at Savvy Natural Healer.