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Woman takes 10x dose of turmeric, gets hospitalized for liver damage

arstechnica.com

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Re: Woman takes 10x dose of turmeric, gets hospitalized for liver damage

#41

Post by lukan »

speeder wrote: post #6

So I live in the EU where such supplements are supposedly safe. Article said that supplements that mix pepper and turmeric are dangerous. And the dose that was dangerous to the woman was 2000mg. I looked on my table toward the bottle of turmeric my parents gifted me recently, saying they heard it was good and bought on a famous "health" store. Bottle is: turmeric + pepper "designed for max absorption" and dose is 100…

"heard it was good and bought on a famous "health" store"

I heard it is good, not trusting generic "healthy wonder medicines" in general.

Re: Woman takes 10x dose of turmeric, gets hospitalized for liver damage

#42

Post by magicalhippo »

esperent wrote: post #31
morsch wrote: post #22

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I think that's 2.2g curcumin. Powdered turmeric, the spice, contains approximately 3% curcumin by weight. So one teaspoon turmeric sounds like it's pretty close to the RDA.

The article very clearly states that she was taking turmeric supplement, not curcumin.

I just searched for tumeric black pepper extract and this[1] was the first product hits I got. It's called "Turmeric Curcumin with Black Pepper, 2250mg", and the bottle predominantly says "Turmeric" in a large font with the rest in a very small font.

The description states:

Each serving of Qunol Turmeric capsules' formulation contains 2250mg of curcumin with 95% curcuminoids. Other turmeric formulations may only contain 5% curcuminoids.

[1]: https://www.qunol.com/products/turmeric-2250

Re: Woman takes 10x dose of turmeric, gets hospitalized for liver damage

#43

Post by markdown »

morsch wrote: post #22
markdown wrote: post #10

> she began taking turmeric capsules at a dose of 2,250 mg per day. That's a teaspoon. The average South-east asian eats close to that much in a day for their entire lives.

I think that's 2.2g curcumin. Powdered turmeric, the spice, contains approximately 3% curcumin by weight. So one teaspoon turmeric sounds like it's pretty close to the RDA.

I quoted them verbatim.

Re: Woman takes 10x dose of turmeric, gets hospitalized for liver damage

#44

Post by chilmers »

A_D_E_P_T wrote: post #23
speeder wrote: post #6

So I live in the EU where such supplements are supposedly safe. Article said that supplements that mix pepper and turmeric are dangerous. And the dose that was dangerous to the woman was 2000mg. I looked on my table toward the bottle of turmeric my parents gifted me recently, saying they heard it was good and bought on a famous "health" store. Bottle is: turmeric + pepper "designed for max absorption" and dose is 100…

> Article said that supplements that mix pepper and turmeric are dangerous. The article made it up. It's pure speculation. Hundreds of thousands of people take pepper+curcumin supplements and are totally fine. What's likely the culprit here is an idiosyncratic immune response, or a heavy metal contaminated supplement. Of course, that's also speculative. Could be something she ate; could be that she didn't disclose a…

From the linked NIH page on drug-induced liver toxicity:

“Importantly, means of increasing the bioavailability of curcumin were developed using piperine (black pepper) or lipid nanoparticle delivery methods to increase absorption. These high bioavailability forms of purified curcumin were subsequently linked to several cases of liver injury and mentioned as a possible cause of outbreaks of acute hepatitis with jaundice in Italy.”

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/NBK548561/

So no, the article didn’t make it up. In fact, you made up the claim that they made it up. Seems like you are the one with an axe to grind.

Re: Woman takes 10x dose of turmeric, gets hospitalized for liver damage

#45

Post by HellsMaddy »

energy123 wrote: post #26
elric wrote: post #17

Turmeric is notorious for having lead added to it to brighten its colour.

That's a manageable risk if you buy from the small handful of reputable companies that do heavy metal testing like Life Extension or Natural Factors, who publish their COAs and have brand equity to protect. The less manageable risk is the liver issue. The HLA-B*35:01 gene significantly increases the probability of it happening, and this gene can be screened for in theory. Periodic liver testing might be another way t…

Unless you buy on Amazon, in which case products from reputable brands are co-mingled with third-party FBA sellers' inventory, which may include counterfeits.

Re: Woman takes 10x dose of turmeric, gets hospitalized for liver damage

#47

Post by A_D_E_P_T »

chilmers wrote: post #44
A_D_E_P_T wrote: post #23

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Article said that supplements that mix pepper and turmeric are dangerous. The article made it up. It's pure speculation. Hundreds of thousands of people take pepper+curcumin supplements and are totally fine. What's likely the culprit here is an idiosyncratic immune response, or a heavy metal contaminated supplement. Of course, that's also speculative. Could be something she ate; could be that she didn't disclose a…

From the linked NIH page on drug-induced liver toxicity: “Importantly, means of increasing the bioavailability of curcumin were developed using piperine (black pepper) or lipid nanoparticle delivery methods to increase absorption. These high bioavailability forms of purified curcumin were subsequently linked to several cases of liver injury and mentioned as a possible cause of outbreaks of acute hepatitis with jaundi…

Probably over a million people have taken curcumin+piperine supplements that they bought via Amazon.

See, e.g.: https://i.ibb.co/Qvbdjqf7/amazon-curcumin.png

My impression as an author with books on Amazon is that you get one review or rating for every 20-30 purchases, and there are two products with "200k people have purchased multiple times."

And that's to say nothing of people who have bought such products via other sources, like Wal-Mart, etc.

All that, and you have "several" cases? That's not a lot. You need much stronger evidence to support any assertion that the nature of the product is harmful. (As opposed to contamination or chance effects.) If anything, I'd say that purchase and utilization statistics support the notion that the product is not harmful.

Re: Woman takes 10x dose of turmeric, gets hospitalized for liver damage

#48

Post by noselasd »

markdown wrote: post #10

> she began taking turmeric capsules at a dose of 2,250 mg per day. That's a teaspoon. The average South-east asian eats close to that much in a day for their entire lives.

That's unlikely, the turmeric used in asian cuisine contains about 3-5% curcumin while what's commonly sold as "turmeric" capsules/supplement often contain > 90%. Some may contain less but are mixed in with piperine that significantly boosts its effects/toxicity

Re: Woman takes 10x dose of turmeric, gets hospitalized for liver damage

#49

Post by coldtea »

speeder wrote: post #6

So I live in the EU where such supplements are supposedly safe. Article said that supplements that mix pepper and turmeric are dangerous. And the dose that was dangerous to the woman was 2000mg. I looked on my table toward the bottle of turmeric my parents gifted me recently, saying they heard it was good and bought on a famous "health" store. Bottle is: turmeric + pepper "designed for max absorption" and dose is 100…

I seriously doubt each pill/dose is 10 grams.

Re: Woman takes 10x dose of turmeric, gets hospitalized for liver damage

#50

Post by morsch »

markdown wrote: post #43
morsch wrote: post #22

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I think that's 2.2g curcumin. Powdered turmeric, the spice, contains approximately 3% curcumin by weight. So one teaspoon turmeric sounds like it's pretty close to the RDA.

I quoted them verbatim.

Yeah? So? I still think she took 2.2g curcumin, not turmeric.
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