Turmeric and Curcumin: From Eastern Texts to the Capsule

Turmeric is the rhizome of Curcuma longa, and curcumin is one group of compounds inside it. This history follows the Eastern texts first, then the 1815 isolation, the 1998 piperine study and the national regulators, with each date tied to its source.

Turmeric is the rhizome of *Curcuma longa*. It is a spice, a yellow dye, a medicine in several traditions, and now a capsule on a shelf. Curcumin is one group of compounds inside that rhizome, and much of the confusion about turmeric supplements starts with the gap between the two words. This history follows the Eastern texts first, then the chemistry, the trials and the regulators. Where the sources disagree, the disagreement is stated rather than settled. ## Where the rhizome comes from *Curcuma longa* Linn. belongs to the ginger family, Zingiberaceae. A 2022 review in Frontiers in Pharmacology by Fuloria and colleagues describes it as a perennial plant commonly grown in Asian countries, and as one of the oldest spices of India, used in the western and southern parts of the country for centuries ([DOI](https://doi.org/10.3389/fphar.2022.820806)). The same review gives the plant's names across the region: haridra in Sanskrit, haldi in Hindi, jianghuang (yellow ginger) in Chinese, manjal in South India, and kyoo or ukon in Japanese. Processing changes what a buyer is holding. The American Herbal Products Association's *Herbs in History* article on turmeric, by Touwaide and Appetiti (February 2023), describes a 2020-edition reference that identifies jiang huang as *Curcuma longa* rhizome harvested in winter after the foliage withers, boiled or steamed until the core is done, and sun-dried ([AHPA](https://www.ahpa.org/herbs_in_history_turmeric)). The rhizome that reaches a capsule is therefore a dried, processed material, not a fresh root. The chemistry of the dried material varies by source. Prasad and Aggarwal, in the NCBI Bookshelf chapter *Turmeric, The Golden Spice*, describe a standard form containing moisture above 9 percent and curcumin at 5 to 6.6 percent ([NCBI Bookshelf](https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/NBK92752/)). The Fuloria review gives 3 to 15 percent curcuminoids in dried whole rhizome, and states that curcuminoids are made up of 80 percent curcumin ([DOI](https://doi.org/10.3389/fphar.2022.820806)). A label that shows only a total curcuminoid figure does not give the curcumin amount directly. ## Names and early dates The earliest dates in the record disagree, and the sources do not reconcile them. The AHPA article places turmeric in Vedic literature, perhaps 1000 to 1500 BCE. Prasad and Aggarwal write that the use of turmeric dates back nearly 4000 years to the Vedic culture in India, where it was a culinary spice with some religious significance. A 2007 review by Aggarwal and colleagues in *Advances in Experimental Medicine and Biology* writes that, since the time of Ayurveda (1900 BC), numerous therapeutic activities have been assigned to turmeric. Its abstract does not name a text for that date ([DOI](https://doi.org/10.1007/978-0-387-46401-5_1)). The same abstract lists the traditional uses the review has in mind: the skin, the lungs, the digestive system, aches and pains, wounds, sprains and liver disorders. The review attributes these uses to the tradition as a whole, not to a single text. ## Sanskrit and Ayurvedic records Two English translations give the Sanskrit record its detail. The first is the Charaka Samhita in the 1949 edition from the Shree Gulabkunverba Ayurvedic Society, posted on wisdomlib. In its chapter on purgative preparations (Sutrasthana, chapter 4), turmeric appears in three lists of ten drugs. The translation calls one list revulsives, names a second as curative of dermatosis (kushtha), and gives a third as antidotes to poison ([wisdomlib](https://www.wisdomlib.org/hinduism/book/charaka-samhita-english/d/doc627514.html)). The chapter on the therapy of dermatosis (Chikitsasthana, chapter 7) names turmeric in several formulas. Verses 68 and 69 describe a powder that includes turmeric, myrobalans and turpeth as a strong remedy for skin lesions with loss of sensation. Verse 87 describes a topical application made with turmeric as curative of dermatosis. Verse 100 gives a regular course of a decoction with turmeric for dermatosis of the kapha-with-pitta type. Verse 161 names turmeric among the best agents for causing desquamation, the shedding of skin, in skin disease ([wisdomlib](https://www.wisdomlib.org/hinduism/book/charaka-samhita-english/d/doc1083036.html)). The second translation is Bhishagratna's English Sushruta Samhita, volume I (Sutrasthanam), printed in Calcutta in 1907 ([PDF](https://rarebooksocietyofindia.org/book_archive/Sushruta%20Samhita%201.pdf)). The passages below come from that volume, and each is cited by chapter. In chapter 13, on leech therapy, the leeches are sprinkled with water holding mustard and pasted turmeric before they are applied, then rested in water until they regain their vigour. Chapter 14, which covers lymph, chyle and blood, gives a plaster made from a list of drugs that includes haridra, pasted together and soaked in mustard oil, for blood-related conditions such as carbuncle and erysipelas. In chapter 36, on miscellaneous remedies for swellings, an oil or ghee made with a list that includes the two kinds of haridra is said to purify the inside of an ulcer or open swelling when applied to it. Chapter 38 describes the Vachadi and Haridradi groups as purifiers of breast milk that act on the body's deranged humours, and lists haridra in the Haridradi group. Chapter 39 places haridra among the drugs that pacify vata and again among those that pacify kapha. In chapter 42, which covers the specific properties of flavours, haridra is named in the bitter group. Fuloria and colleagues place the Ayurvedic effects of turmeric under three headings: dashemani lekhaniya (emaciating), kusthagna (anti-dermatosis) and visaghna (anti-poisonous) ([DOI](https://doi.org/10.3389/fphar.2022.820806)). Two of the three have matching ten-drug groups in the Charaka text, the dermatosis group and the poison group. Dates for the texts themselves are less settled than dates for the translations. According to PubMed, Upton (2026) places the Charaka Samhita somewhere around the second to fourth centuries CE, citing Trikamji's 1992 edition, published by Munshiram Manoharlal ([DOI](https://doi.org/10.1080/13880209.2026.2740863)). Prasad and Aggarwal also report that Sushruta's compendium, which they date to 250 BC, recommends an ointment with turmeric for the effects of poisoned food ([NCBI Bookshelf](https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/NBK92752/)). Their account names no chapter, so that passage is cited at second hand. The years 1949 and 1907 are the dates of the editions used here, not the dates of the texts. ## Persian, Greek and European records The Persian record is Ibn Sina, known in the West as Avicenna, who died in 1037. According to PubMed, Upton (2026) reports that the Canon of Medicine describes turmeric as heating and drying, and that the book records uses for jaundice, the skin, digestion, nerve injury, mania and eyesight. Upton cites Bakhtiar's English edition of the Canon (2012, vol. 2) for this entry ([DOI](https://doi.org/10.1080/13880209.2026.2740863)). A second review, by Mahdizadeh and colleagues (2015), went through the Canon's analgesic and anti-inflammatory entries. According to PubMed, that review finds curcuma among the substances the Canon advises for inflammatory disease and pain, and it calls the Canon one of the most famous books in the history of medicine ([PubMed](https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/26101752/)). These are historical reports of what the text recommended. They are not evidence that the rhizome works in those uses. The Greek record is short, and its reading is disputed. Dioscorides wrote *De materia medica* in the first century CE ([AHPA](https://www.ahpa.org/herbs_in_history_turmeric)). According to PubMed, Upton reports that the text does not explicitly list turmeric. It lists a plant, *kypeiros indikos*, which is described as a form of ginger that, when chewed, colours the saliva yellow like saffron. Upton also records no medical use for that plant in Dioscorides' entry. The identification did not stay open for long in the Renaissance. Upton reports that Gerard, in his herbal, accepted the plant as turmeric "without a doubt." The AHPA article takes a different line. It notes that a sixteenth-century Italian translator and commentator identified turmeric in the text, and it argues that the identification is open to question. Dioscorides' entry sits beside nut grass, and his comparison with ginger suggests that he may have known the plant only as the dried rhizome, not as the living plant. The two accounts are reported side by side because the sources do not settle the question. European lists are the next firm point. Upton reports that turmeric appears on a list of drugs sold in Frankfurt, Germany, in 1450, and on another inventory list of 1578, both citing Flückiger and Hanbury. Presence on a trade or inventory list shows that the material was sold. It does not show what a physician prescribed it for. Upton also reports that turmeric was not prominently featured in early Western herbal medicine traditions, even though it appears in these lists. The European story therefore runs through trade, inventories and translation more than through a clear medical tradition. The dates above are the ones the record supports. Nothing in the record connects the Greek and Roman entries with the Persian texts. ## China, Japan and Southeast Asia **China.** Zhu and colleagues (2023) review three Curcuma medicinals now in use in China: Curcumae Longae Rhizoma, Curcumae Radix and Curcumae Rhizoma ([DOI](https://doi.org/10.3389/fphar.2023.1229963)). The review reports that the 2020 edition of the Chinese Pharmacopoeia describes the dried rhizome of *Curcuma longa* L. Curcumae Radix is identified with *Curcuma wenyujin*. In traditional use, the review says, all three medicinals activate blood circulation and remove blood stasis, activate qi and alleviate pain, and are used for blood stagnation and for amenorrhea with abdominal mass. These are the historical uses the review records. They are not claims about what the products do today. The Chinese position is therefore a pharmacopoeia entry, not a food rule. The 2020 edition sets out the rhizome as the source material, and the review gives the three medicinals a shared set of traditional uses. The older dose guidance cited by Health Canada, which comes from the 2005 edition, is covered in the national positions below. **Japan.** Japanese laboratory work on the rhizome has two early points. The first is Kiso and colleagues' 1983 paper "Antihepatotoxic principles of *Curcuma longa* rhizomes," published in *Planta Medica* (PMID 6657788). Its title places the work on the constituents of the rhizome that act against liver toxicity. The second is Osawa and colleagues at Nagoya University, who reported in 1995 on tetrahydrocurcuminoids, the reduced forms of the curcuminoids. According to PubMed, the reduced form called THU1 had the strongest antioxidative activity of the curcuminoids tested in each assay system ([DOI](https://doi.org/10.1271/bbb.59.1609)). The work used linoleic acid, rabbit erythrocyte membranes and rat liver microsomes. It is a laboratory result, not a human one. The Japanese regulatory position is set out in the national positions section below. **Southeast Asia.** Jamu is the herbal tradition of Indonesia, and the record is modern. According to PubMed, a 2026 study in *Natural Product Research* examined an Indonesian jamu formulated for diabetes from four plants, including temulawak ([PubMed](https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/42116688/)). Temulawak is a *Curcuma* species but not *Curcuma longa*. NCCIH makes the same point about Javanese turmeric, *Curcuma xanthorrhiza*, which it describes as a different plant from turmeric ([NCCIH](https://www.nccih.nih.gov/health/turmeric)). A jamu that lists a *Curcuma* species therefore does not tell a buyer how much curcumin is present. ## National and regional positions The positions below are listed with the body, the year and the source for each. None is ranked above another. They are not all measured on one scale, and the notes at the end of this section explain where they differ. **United States.** The National Center for Complementary and Integrative Health (NCCIH) fact sheet *Turmeric: Usefulness and Safety*, last updated in April 2025, says that conventionally formulated oral turmeric or curcumin, meaning products not modified to enhance bioavailability, is likely safe in the recommended amounts for up to two or three months. It adds that liver damage has been reported in some people who took bioavailability-enhanced curcumin products ([NCCIH](https://www.nccih.nih.gov/health/turmeric)). As of October 2026, the NIH Office of Dietary Supplements fact-sheet list has no turmeric or curcumin entry ([NIH ODS](https://ods.od.nih.gov)). **European Union.** EFSA's 2010 re-evaluation of curcumin (E 100), by the Panel on Food Additives and Nutrient Sources added to Food, set an acceptable daily intake of 3 mg per kg of body weight per day. The anchor was a no-observed-adverse-effect level of 250 to 320 mg per kg per day, with an uncertainty factor of 100. The Panel also concluded that "this eliminates the concerns over genotoxicity" ([EFSA](https://www.efsa.europa.eu/en/efsajournal/pub/1679)). The Joint FAO/WHO Expert Committee on Food Additives had set an ADI of 0 to 3 mg per kg per day in 2004. EFSA's estimates for children aged 1 to 10 years exceeded the ADI in some countries, and EFSA also reports dietary intake from food below 7 percent of the ADI. This is a limit for curcumin used as a food colour. It is not a dose for a supplement. The European Medicines Agency's committee on herbal medicinal products publishes a summary for *Curcumae longae rhizoma* that lists gastrointestinal disorders as its therapeutic area, with an EU herbal monograph as the European outcome ([EMA](https://www.ema.europa.eu/en/medicines/herbal/curcumae-longae-rhizoma)). This version carries no date. **United Kingdom.** The Committee on Toxicity (COT) statement COT/2024/07, last updated 9 December 2024, says that reports of liver harm linked to turmeric and curcumin supplements led it to review their safety. It notes that curcumin (E 100) is an authorised food additive in the EU and UK, and that uptake of the two main curcuminoids when taken by mouth appears low. The statement also records that in November 2019 the committee judged that chemical analysis of turmeric supplements, and of raw or powdered turmeric sold in the UK, was worthwhile. **Germany.** Health Canada's monograph cites the historical Commission E monographs, as republished by Blumenthal and colleagues in 2000 in *Herbal Medicine: Expanded Commission E Monographs*, for 1.5 to 3 grams of cut rhizome per day ([Health Canada](https://webprod.hc-sc.gc.ca/nhpid-bdipsn/monoReq.do?id=216)). The German entry therefore rests on that citation. **Canada.** Health Canada's Natural Health Products Ingredients Database monograph for *Curcuma longa* lists the rhizome as the source material. It gives several daily doses and ties each to its source: 1 to 3 grams of dried rhizome powder per day from the Ayurvedic Pharmacopoeia of India (2001); 1.5 to 3 grams of cut rhizome per day from Blumenthal and colleagues (2000); 3 to 9 grams of dried rhizome per day as a decoction from the Pharmacopoeia of the People's Republic of China (2005); and 1 to 4 grams of rhizome powder per day, citing Kapoor (2001). This version is undated ([Health Canada](https://webprod.hc-sc.gc.ca/nhpid-bdipsn/monoReq.do?id=216)). **India.** India's position is set out in the Ayurvedic Pharmacopoeia of India (2001), which Health Canada cites for 1 to 3 grams of dried rhizome powder per day. **China.** The 2020 edition of the Chinese Pharmacopoeia describes the dried rhizome of *Curcuma longa* L., as reported by Zhu and colleagues (2023) ([DOI](https://doi.org/10.3389/fphar.2023.1229963)). The Pharmacopoeia of the People's Republic of China, 2005 edition, is the source Health Canada cites for the 3 to 9 gram decoction dose. **Japan.** Japan's Existing Food Additives List (既存添加物名簿) lists turmeric pigment (ウコン色素) as item 34. The list, as amended on 25 August 2025 by Consumer Affairs Agency notice no. 9, defines the item as a pigment obtained from turmeric rhizome, with curcumin as its main component. The list is reproduced by the Japan Food Chemical Research Foundation ([register PDF](https://www.ffcr.or.jp/webupload/kizontenkameibo.pdf)). The entry gives a definition and no dose. **Where the bodies agree and where they differ.** The bodies agree that the rhizome has a long food and herbal history and that the curcumin fraction is the part that varies. NCCIH and the COT statement both report liver harm. NCCIH ties its reports to bioavailability-enhanced products, and the COT statement reviews reports linked to supplements. The bodies differ in scale. EFSA's figure is a food-additive safety limit for curcumin used as a colour. Health Canada's figures are herbal intakes for the rhizome. The two are not measured on the same scale, and a reader should not compare them as if they were. ## Discovery, isolation and how the science changed The chemistry starts in the early nineteenth century. Priyadarsini (2014) dates the first isolation of curcumin from turmeric to 1815, and reports that few studies covered its structure, synthesis, and biochemical and antioxidant properties until the 1970s ([DOI](https://doi.org/10.3390/molecules191220091)). The same review dates the first synthesis of curcumin to a paper by Lampe in 1918, a century after the isolation. Aggarwal and colleagues place the next step in the same chemistry. They date the assignment of curcumin's structure to 1910, describing the compound as diferuloylmethane ([DOI](https://doi.org/10.1007/978-0-387-46401-5_1)). Their 2007 review also says that curcumin was first isolated almost two centuries earlier, which agrees with the 1815 date. A 2022 review in *Antibiotics*, titled *Curcumin: Biological Activities and Modern Pharmaceutical Forms*, describes curcumin as a yellow-orange pigment isolated from turmeric two centuries ago ([DOI](https://doi.org/10.3390/antibiotics11020135)). The science then moved in three steps the record can date. The structure was assigned in 1910. Osawa and colleagues worked on the reduced curcuminoids in 1995, as described in the Japan section. Shoba and colleagues' 1998 piperine study changed how the compound was tested in people, because it showed that the amount reaching the blood depended on what it was taken with. The composition ranges and the curcumin content of the rhizome, described earlier, remain the main uncertainty in dosing. ## Early products and the market The path from dye to capsule is documented in pieces. In the Indian subcontinent, the 2007 review says, turmeric has been used for health care, for the preservation of food, and as a yellow dye for textiles ([DOI](https://doi.org/10.1007/978-0-387-46401-5_1)). The culinary record is still active. The 2022 Frontiers review notes that curcumin has a long history as a culinary spice and food colour, and as a component of Ayurvedic and Chinese medicine ([DOI](https://doi.org/10.3389/fphar.2022.820806)). In Europe the compound has a food-additive identity. The UK Committee on Toxicity records that curcumin (E 100) is an authorised food additive in the EU and UK (COT statement COT/2024/07). Europe also has a herbal route, through the European Medicines Agency's herbal summary for the rhizome, described above. The record shows no patents, company histories or first capsule, so the market story stops at the regulatory and herbal register. A capsule sits across all three. The register matters for how the same compound is judged. A food additive is judged on intake, an herbal monograph on traditional use and quality, and a US supplement on labelling rules and on the safety reports the NCCIH describes. The 2024 survey by Likhitsup and colleagues, discussed below, makes a related point about the American market. Its authors cite a lack of regulatory oversight on the manufacturing and testing of botanical products ([DOI](https://doi.org/10.1001/jamanetworkopen.2024.25822)). ## What the evidence shows and where it is disputed The clearest human result in the record is Shoba and colleagues' 1998 study in *Planta Medica* (PMID 9619120). According to PubMed, curcumin given alone, at 2 grams, produced serum levels that were undetectable or very low in human volunteers. When 20 milligrams of piperine, the compound from black pepper, was given with it, the levels rose. The abstract reports a 2,000 percent increase in bioavailability in humans and a 154 percent increase in rats ([DOI](https://doi.org/10.1055/s-2006-957450)). The abstract does not give the number of volunteers, so the size of the human effect should be read with that gap in mind. For readers who see piperine on a curcumin label, the [piperine monograph](/ingredients/piperine) covers that compound and its interactions on its own page. Ammon and Wahl's 1991 review, *Pharmacology of Curcuma longa*, in *Planta Medica* (PMID 2062949), reported that curcumin taken by mouth is poorly absorbed. That older finding is consistent with the piperine work, which addressed the same problem. Akaberi, Sahebkar and Emami's 2021 review is titled *Turmeric and curcumin: from traditional to modern medicine* (PMID 34331682). Its title marks the same move this article follows, from the old texts to the modern trials. The modern trial record is mixed and smaller than the historical one. A 2024 systematic review and meta-analysis by Ebrahimzadeh and colleagues pooled 21 randomized trials with 1,191 adults who had fatty liver disease. According to PubMed, curcumin at 50 to 3,000 milligrams a day, for 8 to 12 weeks, was associated with changes in several glucose, lipid and body-weight measures in those trials ([DOI](https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ctim.2024.103025)). The authors name their limits. The products tested may have been adulterated or contaminated, most studies did not independently test the curcumin product, and the authors advise caution. A 2024 survey study by Likhitsup, Chen and Fontana analysed nationally representative NHANES data for adults in the United States. According to PubMed, 4.7 percent of 9,685 adults used one of six potentially hepatotoxic botanicals in the past 30 days. Turmeric-containing products were the most commonly used of the six. The authors estimate that 15.6 million US adults used at least one of the six in that period, and they urge clinicians to be aware of possible adverse events from products they describe as largely unregulated ([DOI](https://doi.org/10.1001/jamanetworkopen.2024.25822)). Aggarwal and colleagues argue that most of the activities once linked to turmeric are due to curcumin, on the basis of research over the last half century ([DOI](https://doi.org/10.1007/978-0-387-46401-5_1)). The abstract says curcumin has been shown to have several activities and describes a potential against a range of diseases. Those are the authors' words, and the trials above are the test of them. Four questions remain open. The first is safety. NCCIH and the UK Committee on Toxicity both report liver harm. NCCIH ties its reports to bioavailability-enhanced products, and the COT statement reviews reports linked to supplements. The second is dose. The sources Health Canada cites give 1 to 3 grams of rhizome powder a day, 3 to 9 grams as a decoction and 1.5 to 3 grams of cut rhizome, so traditional amounts differ several-fold. The third is content. Dried whole rhizome may contain 3 to 15 percent curcuminoids, and a total on a label does not show how much of it is curcumin. The fourth is the evidence itself. The case for curcumin rests largely on laboratory work, and the human trials carry the limits described above. The sources agree most on chemistry and least on human outcomes. Each chemical point rests on one or two reports. Each human outcome rests on trials that differ in population, dose, product and duration. ## Why it is interesting One yellow compound has been a dye, a food colour, a medicine in several traditions and a supplement ingredient, and each of those uses carries its own rules. The Ayurvedic, Chinese and Japanese records describe the rhizome in different categories. Textiles and food preservation gave it a commercial life. A food additive now carries a numerical limit, and a supplement's absorption changed sharply with a pepper compound in one human study. The pieces fit together, but no single body designed them to. The simplest practical fact in the whole record is also the most useful. The 1998 study showed that the amount of curcumin reaching the blood depended on what it was taken with. The formula of a capsule is part of its dose. The early dates are less certain than the chemistry, and the history says so. ## Where the record is thin Kampo, Japan's classical herbal system, is not documented for turmeric in the sources cited here, so this article states no Kampo use. ## Bottom line Read the curcumin amount on the label, not the word turmeric on the front of the bottle. If a product does not state the curcumin or curcuminoid amount per serving, treat that amount as unknown. A reader can check three things on any label: the curcumin figure, the dose the label directs, and whether the lot has a certificate of analysis from a laboratory that is independent of the maker. ## The product Before you compare any turmeric capsule, look for a [certificate of analysis](/health/vitamin-d-complete-guide/supplement-safety-quality-testing-guide) for the lot, issued by a laboratory independent of the maker. Check the [Supplement Facts panel](/health/nad-longevity-complete-guide/how-to-check-an-nmn-or-nr-label) for the curcuminoid amount per serving and for any piperine. The rhizome figures above show why a total on the front of a bottle is not enough. Inflameze Advanced Turmeric Joint is the one product covered in this article. The bottle holds 60 vegetarian capsules and is listed at $31.99. The label directs one to two capsules twice daily. At two capsules a day the bottle is a 30-day supply, about $1.07 a day. At four capsules a day it is a 15-day supply, about $2.13 a day. The formula combines a 250 mg Curcumin Complex (CurcuWIN) with a blend that includes boswellia, bromelain, green tea, ginger and Bioperine, a black pepper extract. Read the Supplement Facts panel for the amount of each ingredient. The label is the document to read first. The price and the directions are the two numbers a buyer can check against it. The product page is [Inflameze Advanced Turmeric Joint](https://mtangelvitamins.com/products/inflameze-advanced-turmeric-joint?utm_source=learn_hub&utm_medium=content&utm_campaign=blog_post&utm_content=history-of-turmeric-and-curcumin-from-ayurveda-to-isolation). ## Frequently asked questions **Where did turmeric first become a medicine?** The sources disagree on the start date. The AHPA article places turmeric in Vedic literature, perhaps 1000 to 1500 BCE. Prasad and Aggarwal write that its use dates back nearly 4000 years to the Vedic culture in India. Sushruta's compendium, which they date to 250 BC, recommends an ointment containing turmeric for the effects of poisoned food. Aggarwal and colleagues give 1900 BC for the time of Ayurveda, without naming a text for that date. **Who first isolated curcumin, and when?** Priyadarsini (2014) dates the first isolation of curcumin from turmeric to 1815, and reports that Lampe published the first synthesis in 1918. The 1815 date is given without naming the chemist. Aggarwal and colleagues date the assignment of its structure to 1910. **What is the difference between turmeric and curcumin?** Turmeric is the dried rhizome of *Curcuma longa*. Curcumin is one of the curcuminoids inside it. The Fuloria review gives 3 to 15 percent curcuminoids in dried whole rhizome, with 1.5 to 5 percent essential oils, and states that curcuminoids are made up of 80 percent curcumin. The spice is the whole rhizome. A curcumin extract concentrates one fraction of it. **How did curcumin move from dye to supplement?** The sources show a sequence, not a single moment. The 2007 review describes turmeric as a yellow dye for textiles and a food preservative in the Indian subcontinent. Curcumin is now a food additive, E 100, in the EU and UK, and herbal medicine routes were set up separately, as the EMA summary shows. The record shows no patents, company histories or first capsule. **Why does piperine appear in curcumin products?** Shoba and colleagues' 1998 study found that piperine, from black pepper, raised the curcumin levels in the blood. In the human part of that study, 2 grams of curcumin given alone produced very low or undetectable serum levels. Adding 20 milligrams of piperine raised them, and the abstract reports a 2,000 percent increase in bioavailability in humans. The abstract does not say how many people took part. **How much curcumin is in turmeric by weight?** There is no single figure. The Fuloria review gives 3 to 15 percent curcuminoids in dried whole rhizome, and it states that curcuminoids are 80 percent curcumin. Applying that 80 percent to the curcuminoid range gives a rough curcumin range of 2.4 to 12 percent. That is an estimate from the two figures, not a number the review gives. Prasad and Aggarwal give curcumin at 5 to 6.6 percent in a standard form. **Is it safe to take turmeric or curcumin every day?** NCCIH says conventionally formulated oral turmeric or curcumin is likely safe in the recommended amounts for up to two or three months. It reports liver damage in some people who took bioavailability-enhanced curcumin products, and it advises stopping and contacting a provider if symptoms such as fatigue, nausea, poor appetite, dark urine or jaundice appear. This article gives no dose recommendation. A clinician who knows the medicines in use is the right person to ask. ### Related reading - [Black seed, from a tomb sample to early trials](/blog/history/history-of-black-seed-from-tutankhamun-tomb-to-thymoquinone) - [Milk thistle's history and its mixed liver trials](/blog/history/history-of-milk-thistle-from-dioscorides-to-silymarin) - [Moringa and the Ayurvedic record](/blog/history/history-of-moringa-from-ayurveda-to-superfood) - [St John's wort and its interaction record](/blog/history/history-of-st-johns-wort-from-dioscorides-to-drug-interactions) - [The ginger origin story, from Pliny to gingerol extracts](/blog/history/history-of-ginger-from-spice-route-to-capsule) - [Maca History: From Andean Root to Five Clinical Trials](/blog/history/history-of-maca-from-andes-to-powder)