Turmeric
Curcuma longa
Turmeric is the rhizome of Curcuma longa, and the compound most of its research rests on is curcumin, a polyphenol studied for anti-inflammatory and antioxidant activity in the liver.
AlphaCleanse, 2-capsule serving
- Milk Thistle165 mg
- Spirulina110 mg
- Ginger110 mg
- Turmeric110 mg
- Dandelion Root55 mg
- Reishi MushroomReishi55 mg
- Beetroot55 mg
- Burdock Root27.5 mg
- Rhubarb Root27.5 mg
- Schisandra BerrySchisandra27.5 mg
- Nettle Leaf27.5 mg
- BioPerine2.75 mg
Every amount is printed on the label. No proprietary blend.
It is also the ingredient on this panel that carries the most serious safety story, so this page deals with that before it deals with benefits.
Turmeric root as a spice and concentrated curcumin extract as a supplement are 2 different things with 2 different risk profiles. Almost every alarming headline you have read is about the second one.
AlphaCleanse contains the first, at 110 mg, paired with BioPerine at 2.75 mg. That is a fraction of the 20 mg of piperine used in the human absorption work.
That pairing is the design argument this page rests on. The liver injuries on record cluster around concentrated curcumin pushed harder with a piperine enhancer, and this formula was built the other way round on purpose.
Every one of those adjudicated cases is set out below in full, with the dose gap alongside it, because you should not have to go somewhere else to find them.
How much is in AlphaCleanse
In short: AlphaCleanse contains 110 mg of turmeric root per 2-capsule serving, joint second by weight on its 12-ingredient panel.
110 mg of turmeric per 2-capsule serving. That places it joint second by weight on the AlphaCleanse Supplement Facts panel, level with ginger and spirulina.
It sits behind milk thistle at 165 mg and ahead of the 55 mg and 27.5 mg ingredients below it.
The panel lists turmeric root, not a standardised curcumin extract, and does not state a curcuminoid percentage.
Root and concentrated extract are different materials, so 110 mg of one is not comparable to 110 mg of the other.
We are asking our manufacturer for the assayed curcuminoid figure. This page will state the milligrams once we have it rather than estimating them now.
AlphaCleanse also contains BioPerine at 2.75 mg, a black pepper extract standardised to 95% piperine.
Its documented job is raising curcumin absorption, which matters in both directions and is covered in the safety section.
There is no proprietary blend on the panel. All 12 ingredients carry their own amount, and AlphaCleanse is made with organic ingredients.
What the evidence shows
In short: curcumin trials used extracts far stronger than 110 mg of turmeric root, and NCCIH says the evidence is not conclusive.
Pooled human data is the fairest place to start, and it is mixed rather than clean.
A systematic review and meta-analysis of 14 randomised controlled trials in adults with fatty liver found curcumin significantly lowered AST, total cholesterol, triglycerides and fasting blood sugar.
The AST effect was a standardised mean difference of -0.35, 95% CI -0.57 to -0.14.
The changes in ALT (-0.29, CI -0.58 to 0.00), LDL and body mass index were not statistically significant (Khalili and Nammi, Current Pharmaceutical Design 2022;28(23):1911-1925, PMID 35345991).
Those authors put the useful range at under 500 mg a day for under 10 weeks, and call for further trials.
The individual trial people cite most is randomised, double-blind and placebo-controlled, in adults with ultrasound evidence of fatty liver. What it tested:
- An amorphous dispersion curcumin formulation at 500 mg a day, equivalent to 70 mg of curcumin, against matched placebo.
- 8 weeks.
- Liver fat content improved in 78.9% of the curcumin group against 27.5% on placebo.
- Reductions in AST, ALT, total cholesterol, triglycerides, glucose and HbA1c (Rahmani et al., Phytotherapy Research 2016;30(9):1540-1548, PMID 27270872).
The published abstract does not state how many people were randomised, so we do not quote a sample size for it.
Where our dose sits: below all of it, and made of different material. Those trials used curcumin extracts and enhanced-absorption formulations. AlphaCleanse contains 110 mg of turmeric root.
NCCIH's position is that "we don't know enough to definitively conclude if turmeric or curcumin is beneficial for any health purposes" (NCCIH).
We agree with them rather than with our own category.
Why this dose
In short: 110 mg of turmeric root is a supporting amount, and going higher would move AlphaCleanse toward the doses in the injury reports.
Because 110 mg of turmeric root is a supporting dose in a 12-ingredient formula rather than a standalone clinical dose, and because going higher would change the safety conversation on this page.
Take the first half first.
AlphaCleanse gives its clinical weight to a single ingredient, milk thistle at 165 mg, and spends the rest of the serving on breadth across 11 more, turmeric included.
Each one sits at an amount printed on the panel.
A supporting botanical measured against its own solo trial dose will always look small, because it was never sold to you as a solo botanical.
The comparison that decides something is our printed panel against the formulas that hide the same botanicals inside a proprietary blend.
That second half is the real reason and it is worth stating outright.
The liver injuries attributed to turmeric are attributed to concentrated curcumin, frequently taken with piperine to push absorption higher.
A formula that combined a 500 mg curcumin extract with a piperine enhancer would be reproducing the exact pattern in the case series.
AlphaCleanse pairs root powder with 2.75 mg of BioPerine instead, a fraction of the 20 mg of piperine used in the human bioavailability work (Shoba et al., Planta Medica 1998;64(4):353-356, PMID 9619120).
We would rather hold a modest dose of the whole root than chase a trial number into a known risk.
Safety and interactions
In short: LiverTox scores turmeric A for liver injury, and those cases involve concentrated curcumin extracts rather than the 110 mg of root here.
This is the ingredient to read carefully.
The NIH's LiverTox database scores turmeric A, recently established as a well-documented cause of clinically apparent liver injury, and calls it the most common cause of clinically apparent herbal liver injury in the United States (LiverTox, NBK548561).
What LiverTox records:
- Estimated incidence of 1 in 10,000 to 1 in 100,000 exposed people.
- Onset running 1 to 4 months.
- A hepatocellular pattern, with aminotransferases often above 1,000 U/L.
- Most cases resolving within 1 to 3 months of stopping.
The case series behind that score is worth reading directly. The US Drug-Induced Liver Injury Network reviewed 10 adjudicated turmeric cases enrolled between 2004 and 2022, all since 2011 and 6 since 2017:
- 8 were women, median age 56.
- 5 were hospitalised, and 1 died of acute liver failure.
- Chemical analysis confirmed turmeric in all 7 products tested, and 3 of those also contained piperine.
- 7 of the 10 carried the HLA-B*35:01 allele, against a population frequency of 0.056 to 0.069.
That allele finding points to an idiosyncratic immune mechanism rather than a dose-toxicity curve (Halegoua-DeMarzio et al., American Journal of Medicine 2023;136(2):200-206, PMID 36252717).
What that means for a 110 mg root dose. The reported cases involve concentrated extracts, typically 500 mg or more of curcuminoids daily, often with an absorption enhancer.
AlphaCleanse contains turmeric root at 110 mg with 2.75 mg of BioPerine.
That is a large gap, and it is not a guarantee, because an idiosyncratic immune reaction is not strictly dose-dependent.
2 practical rules follow:
- Do not stack AlphaCleanse with a separate curcumin extract.
- Stop taking it and see a doctor if you develop fatigue with nausea, poor appetite, dark urine, pale stools or yellowing of the eyes, which is the advice NCCIH gives for any bioavailable turmeric product.
Gallbladder. Turmeric increases bile flow. That is fine with a healthy gallbladder and a problem if you have gallstones or a bile duct obstruction, so ask your doctor first if that applies to you.
Dandelion root, also on our panel, does the same thing.
Drug interactions. Turmeric appears on antiplatelet caution lists, so mention it to your prescriber if you take warfarin, clopidogrel or daily aspirin.
Piperine can raise blood levels of some drugs by slowing their metabolism. At 2.75 mg the effect should be small, but if you take a medicine with a narrow therapeutic window, ask a pharmacist.
Pregnancy and breastfeeding. Do not take AlphaCleanse if you are pregnant, breastfeeding or trying to conceive.
Common questions
In short: do not stack AlphaCleanse with a separate curcumin extract, and ask your doctor first if you have gallstones.
Turmeric with black pepper causes liver injury. AlphaCleanse has both, so is it a risk?
The reported cases involve concentrated curcumin extracts, not the turmeric root in AlphaCleanse, and the dose gap is large.
LiverTox and a 2022 case series from the US Drug-Induced Liver Injury Network (PMID 36252717) describe injuries in people taking curcumin extracts of roughly 500 mg or more of curcuminoids a day, often with piperine added to push absorption.
3 of the 7 products chemically tested in that series contained piperine.
AlphaCleanse contains 110 mg of turmeric root with 2.75 mg of BioPerine, and root is not a concentrated extract, so it is not the same material those reports describe.
We will publish the assayed curcuminoid milligrams once the raw-material spec is in.
The rule that follows: do not take AlphaCleanse alongside a separate curcumin supplement.
Should I be worried about the LiverTox "A" score for turmeric?
You should know about it, which is why it is on this page rather than buried.
LiverTox scores turmeric A, meaning a well-documented cause of clinically apparent liver injury, and estimates the incidence at 1 in 10,000 to 1 in 100,000 people exposed.
Those numbers describe concentrated curcumin products, and the mechanism looks immune rather than purely dose-driven.
7 of 10 patients in the DILIN series carried the HLA-B*35:01 allele against a population frequency near 6%. Nobody screens for that before buying a supplement.
What you can control is dose and stacking. Keep to the label serving, do not add a separate curcumin extract, and stop and see a doctor if you get dark urine, pale stools, yellowing of the eyes or unexplained fatigue with nausea.
Is 110 mg of turmeric a real dose, or is it fairy dust?
It is a supporting dose, and that is the architecture rather than an accident.
Turmeric is 1 of 12 ingredients in AlphaCleanse, at about 14% of the botanical weight in a serving.
The clinical weight goes to milk thistle at 165 mg, and the rest of the serving buys breadth across the other 11.
The trials that found benefit for fatty liver used curcumin extracts and enhanced-absorption formulations.
A 2022 meta-analysis of 14 randomised trials (PMID 35345991) put the useful range at under 500 mg a day of curcumin, which is many times what 110 mg of turmeric root delivers.
There is a second reason not to go higher, covered above. The liver injury reports cluster around high-dose curcumin taken with a piperine enhancer, and we are not going to reproduce that pattern to win a label comparison.
I have gallstones. Can I take it?
Not without asking your doctor first.
Turmeric and dandelion root both increase bile flow, which is unremarkable in a healthy gallbladder and a genuine problem if a stone or a bile duct obstruction is present, because more bile production against a blockage is how gallstone attacks start.
AlphaCleanse contains turmeric at 110 mg and dandelion root at 55 mg, so both are in the serving.
This is not a case where a smaller dose makes the question go away. It is a case where your doctor knows your imaging and we do not.
If you have had gallbladder surgery rather than active stones, that is a different conversation and still one worth having with them.
A 60-day money-back guarantee covers you if the answer is no, no questions asked, no restocking fee.
The other 11 ingredients
AlphaCleanse contains turmeric at 110 mg per serving.
See AlphaCleanse60-day money-back guarantee, no questions asked, no restocking fee.
Verified citations on this page: PMID 35345991, PMID 27270872, PMID 36252717, PMID 9619120, NIH LiverTox NBK548561, NCCIH turmeric. Every PMID was confirmed to resolve to the paper named on 2026-09-09, and none was re-attributed in this pass.
Last reviewed: 2026-09-17