BioPerine (Black Pepper Extract)

BioPerine is a trademarked extract of black pepper fruit, Piper nigrum, standardised to 95% piperine by its supplier, so almost all of the 2.75 mg on our label is piperine.

Piperine is the compound that makes pepper hot.

It slows some of the enzymes in the gut wall and liver that break down certain plant compounds before they reach the bloodstream, glucuronidation among them. Less breakdown on the way in means more of the co-administered compound survives.

It is the smallest amount on the AlphaCleanse panel and the only ingredient that is not there for its own effect.

That also makes it the one supporting ingredient on this label with a human mechanism behind its job: piperine raised curcumin levels in people, and this formula contains turmeric for it to act on.

How much is in AlphaCleanse

In short: AlphaCleanse contains 2.75 mg of BioPerine per 2-capsule serving, the smallest of its 12 ingredients.

2.75 mg of BioPerine (black pepper) per 2-capsule serving.

That is the smallest of the 12 ingredients by a wide margin: 60 times less than milk thistle at 165 mg, and a tenth of the 4 botanicals that sit at 27.5 mg.

AlphaCleanse is made with organic ingredients and lists all 12 amounts separately, with no proprietary blend.

BioPerine is also the reason we write 12 ingredients rather than 12 herbs.

A standardised pepper extract is not a traditional herb, so the count that is true is 11 botanicals plus BioPerine.

A brand willing to round its own ingredient count up for a better-sounding phrase has told you something before you reach the doses.

What the evidence shows

In short: the absorption evidence is specific to curcumin, and it used 20 mg of piperine with 2 g of curcumin.

The paper everyone quotes is Shoba et al. (Planta Medica, 1998, PMID 9619120), the source of the "2,000% more curcumin" figure. What it reported:

• In healthy human volunteers, 2 g of curcumin alone produced serum levels that were either undetectable or very low.
• Adding 20 mg of piperine produced much higher concentrations from 0.25 to 1 hour after dosing, significant at every measured point.
• The authors reported the increase in bioavailability as 2000%.
• In rats, curcumin at 2 g/kg with piperine at 20 mg/kg gave a 154% increase.

Four things about that study deserve saying out loud:

• It is a single trial from 1998 and its abstract does not state how many volunteers took part.
• The human measurements covered a short window of about an hour.
• A percentage rise calculated from a near-zero baseline is enormous by arithmetic rather than by magnitude.
• The curcumin dose was 2 g of extract, while AlphaCleanse contains 110 mg of turmeric root, which is whole root rather than a standardised curcumin extract, so the amount of curcumin actually involved here is far smaller.

The effect is not limited to curcumin.

Bano et al. (European Journal of Clinical Pharmacology, 1991, PMID 1815977) gave healthy volunteers, 6 per group, piperine 20 mg daily for 7 days alongside single doses of propranolol 40 mg or theophylline 150 mg.

Both drugs showed higher peak concentrations and higher AUC.

That is the same mechanism working on prescription medicines, which is why it appears again in the safety section below.

Our 2.75 mg of BioPerine is roughly a seventh of the 20 mg of piperine used in both of those studies.

BioPerine is a branded extract standardised to 95% piperine, so 2.75 mg on the panel is a known quantity rather than an unspecified pinch of pepper, and you can read it sitting next to the 110 mg of turmeric it is paired with.

Why this dose

In short: 2.75 mg is a functional inclusion level for absorption support, not a therapeutic dose of anything.

2.75 mg is a functional inclusion level for a branded absorption ingredient, not a therapeutic dose of anything.

Piperine is in AlphaCleanse to support the uptake of what sits alongside it, chiefly the 110 mg of turmeric, and not for effects of its own.

The 2,000% figure stays off this product.

That number came from 2 g of curcumin extract with 20 mg of piperine, our formula pairs 110 mg of turmeric root with 2.75 mg of BioPerine, and nobody has measured the combination at our amounts.

What we can defend is narrower and it is the better half of the argument anyway: the absorption mechanism was demonstrated in people, and this formula contains the compound it was demonstrated on.

It is a narrow claim, and it is one we can name a study for.

That fits how the rest of the label is built.

AlphaCleanse is an anchor with support around it, milk thistle at 165 mg carrying the clinical weight and 11 others printed individually beneath it, and BioPerine's job is to help what is already there rather than to make a claim of its own.

The scope limit is part of the design, not an apology for it.

Shoba is about curcumin, it does not transfer to a formula containing no curcumin, and we do not carry it across to our other products.

If a label tells you its black pepper extract raises absorption of everything in the bottle, ask which study, and on which compound.

Safety and interactions