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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

#51

Post by squidbeak »

loleufanboys wrote: post #35
elric wrote: post #20

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Why would supplements supposedly be safe in the EU? They are not regulated as far as I know? They can be sold anywhere. They often contain all kinds of inflated claims..

Not sure why this is downvoted, it's exactly correct. Supplements are entirely unregulated, and actually often not even sold as food/medicine "officially", but labeled as "collectible item". Light drugs are often sold this way too (kratom, HHC weed, etc).

No, this is flatly incorrect. The EU heavily regulates food supplements under Directive 2002/46/EC.

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

#52

Post by esperent »

perihelions wrote: post #37
esperent wrote: post #25

> According to the World Health Organization, an acceptable daily dose is up to 3 mg per kilogram of weight per day—for a 150-pound (68 kg) adult, that would be about 204 mg per day. Mohan was taking more than 10 times that amount I think it's extremely likely that the majority of people in India and surrounding countries - so, hundreds of millions of people - far exceeds the WHO recommendation every day, and frequen…

You're conflating turmeric with the bioactive chemical component in turmeric, curcumin: the toxicology figures refer to the latter. (To be fair, the Ars Technica article fails the reader by failing to use precise language, inviting dangerous misunderstandings).

I carefully read the article before commenting to check in case it was actually curcumin.

They clearly call it turmeric supplements, not curcumin, throughout the article. The main source given is this NBC article, which also clearly calls it turmeric supplements, not curcumin:

https://www.nbcnews.com/health/health-news/liver-damage-turm...

So why do you think it's actually curcumin?

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

#53

Post by elric »

squidbeak wrote: post #51
loleufanboys wrote: post #35

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Not sure why this is downvoted, it's exactly correct. Supplements are entirely unregulated, and actually often not even sold as food/medicine "officially", but labeled as "collectible item". Light drugs are often sold this way too (kratom, HHC weed, etc).

No, this is flatly incorrect. The EU heavily regulates food supplements under Directive 2002/46/EC.

So I took the trouble of reading the directive in question. It has a list of substances (like magnesium) which are covered by the directive. Turmeric is not on the list. Making it, unsurprisingly, unregulated.

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

#54

Post by esperent »

magicalhippo wrote: post #42
esperent wrote: post #31

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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 cont…

There's probably hundreds of brands of turmeric and black pepper though, it's a common supplement combination.

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

#55

Post by coldtea »

loleufanboys wrote: post #35
elric wrote: post #20

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Why would supplements supposedly be safe in the EU? They are not regulated as far as I know? They can be sold anywhere. They often contain all kinds of inflated claims..

Not sure why this is downvoted, it's exactly correct. Supplements are entirely unregulated, and actually often not even sold as food/medicine "officially", but labeled as "collectible item". Light drugs are often sold this way too (kratom, HHC weed, etc).

Health claims are regulated. Not as seriously as medicinal drugs, but at least as good as food (which is also way more regulated in the EU than the US), under https://eur-lex.europa.eu/eli/reg/2006/1924/oj/eng

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

#56

Post by coldtea »

elric wrote: post #53
squidbeak wrote: post #51

Earlier quoted context omitted.

No, this is flatly incorrect. The EU heavily regulates food supplements under Directive 2002/46/EC.

So I took the trouble of reading the directive in question. It has a list of substances (like magnesium) which are covered by the directive. Turmeric is not on the list. Making it, unsurprisingly, unregulated.

Thats "Vitamin and mineral substances which may be used in the manufacture of food supplements" which is a different instruction, for a different directive.

See Article 6 and on: https://eur-lex.europa.eu/eli/reg/2006/1924/oj/eng

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

#57

Post by perihelions »

esperent wrote: post #52
perihelions wrote: post #37

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You're conflating turmeric with the bioactive chemical component in turmeric, curcumin: the toxicology figures refer to the latter. (To be fair, the Ars Technica article fails the reader by failing to use precise language, inviting dangerous misunderstandings).

I carefully read the article before commenting to check in case it was actually curcumin. They clearly call it turmeric supplements, not curcumin, throughout the article. The main source given is this NBC article, which also clearly calls it turmeric supplements, not curcumin: https://www.nbcnews.com/health/health-news/liver-damage-turm... So why do you think it's actually curcumin?

If you follow the linked references in the Ars Technica, those reference curcumin unambiguously.

https://apps.who.int/food-additives-contaminants-jecfa-datab... ("...ADI of 0–3 mg/kg of body weight for curcumin...")

That's concordant with the "up to 3 mg per kilogram of weight" in Ars, which is phrased ambiguously, as if to refer to turmeric. The Ars editors are in the wrong.

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

#58

Post by Bender »

redwood wrote: post #46

Odd that the article doesn't mentioned that Turmeric is notorious for having lead added

I believe you are referring to Ayurvedic Medications mostly in India but the practice has spread to other regions. People that use Ayurvedic supplements have been doing so for thousands of years out of beliefs that heavy metals heal the body. Never use supplements someone made and distributed in zip-lock bags.

I personally will stick with supplements made by the same laboratories that make prescription drugs and get tested for heavy metals which are most of the popular supplements found on Amazon. The tests are labelled on the bottles.

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

#59

Post by speeder »

Thorrez wrote: post #11
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…

Are you talking about pills? Pills generally can only contain about 1000mg or a little more. Is the bottle suggesting you take 10 pills for a single dose?

The pills in the bottle look exactly the ones in the article, they are quite big.

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

#60

Post by speeder »

cheschire wrote: post #34
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…

Are you sure it’s not microgram (μg)?

Link to a photo of the box.

https://peixeverde.pt/wp-content/uploads/2023/01/curcumega-8...

Pretty sure that is a mg, not an μg

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