Can You Overdo Turmeric? What Happens If You Take Too Much

Turmeric and its active ingredient, curcumin, have anti-inflammatory and antioxidant properties that may support brain health and improve digestive issues.However, don’t expectturmericto treat canceror detoxify your liver like some social media users claim.

Cooking with ground turmeric is generally safe, but overusing turmeric supplements can lead to stomach ulcers or kidney stones.How do you know when you’re consuming too much turmeric?

“There’s no standard or recommended dose of turmeric you should take each day,”Debbie Petitpain, RDN, a registered dietitian based in Charleston, South Carolina, and a spokesperson for the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics, told Verywell in an email.

Taking up to 3 mg per kilogram of body weight, or 1.4 mg per pound, of curcumin per day is safe, according to the World Health Organization (WHO).However, this dosage is based on animal studies, Petipain said.

Can Too Much Turmeric Harm Your Health?

Ground turmeric is sometimes contaminated with low levels of lead, according to a 2021Consumer Reportsinvestigation.

Manyturmeric supplementsclaim to support liver health, but experts warn that these same products can harm the liver. A 2022 report suggested that turmeric-related liver injuries are increasing in the United States, in part due to thecombined use of turmeric with black pepper.

Piperine, a compound in black pepper, makes it easier for the body to absorb curcumin, but the combination may end up contributing to liver damage, according to the report.

“We have yet to prove any benefit with oral intake in supplement form, and, at the same time, we do have well-studied and published instances of significant liver injury from turmeric use,” saidAkshata Moghe, MD, PhD,a hepatologist, gastroenterologist, and assistant professor of internal medicine at UTHealth Houston.

Like other dietary supplements, turmeric and curcumin supplements don’t need approval from the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) before hitting the market.Many experts say it’s best to avoid supplements since it’s hard to decide which products are safe and effective.

10 Serious Side Effects of Turmeric

Do You Even Need Turmeric in Your Diet?

Traditional Indian and Chinese medicinal practices have used turmeric to treat various skin, joint, and upper respiratory conditions, and the spice is a key ingredient in curry powder.

Studies on animals and cells suggest that turmeric and curcumin have powerful health benefits, especially forinflammatory bowel disease (IBD)and skin, lung, and liver cancers.Large clinical trials are needed to determine if turmeric has the same health benefits in humans.

Based on the results of a few small human studies, the Arthritis Foundation suggests that taking 500 mg of curcumin extract twice daily may help reduce inflammation in people with rheumatoid arthritis and osteoarthritis.A 2017 study also found that taking a supplement with 90 mg of curcumin twice per day helps improve memory and attention in older adults.

However, Petitpain said it isn’t essential to add turmeric to your diet because other whole-food dietary sources provideantioxidantsand anti-inflammatory compounds.

6 Ways Turmeric Can Benefit Your Skin

Should You Use Ground Turmeric or a Supplement?

If you want to take aturmeric supplementand add turmeric to your diet, you should consider your dietary habits, health goals, and convenience. If you already use turmeric regularly in your cooking, especially with black pepper, and consume other antioxidant and anti-inflammatory foods, you probably don’t need a supplement, Petitpain added.

Many nutrition experts recommend adding turmeric to your diet instead of taking a supplement. Consider using a small amount of black pepper or, since curcumin is fat-soluble, cooking turmeric withvegetable oilcan improve absorption.

There are no standard nutritional guidelines for turmeric or curcumin, so deciding how much to consume may come down to personal preference or conversations with a healthcare provider.

“Yes, using turmeric in the diet is preferable. Aside from being delicious, that provides a range of compounds that work synergistically and is less likely to cause side effects,” Petitpain said.

How Could Turmeric Prevent or Treat Prostate Cancer?

15 SourcesVerywell Health uses only high-quality sources, including peer-reviewed studies, to support the facts within our articles. Read oureditorial processto learn more about how we fact-check and keep our content accurate, reliable, and trustworthy.Mount Sinai.Turmeric.National Cancer Institute.Curcumin (Curcuma, turmeric) and cancer (PDQ)—patient version.Johns Hopkins Medicine.Turmeric benefits.World Health Organization.Kurkum.Consumer Reports.Your herbs and spices might contain arsenic, cadmium, and lead.Halegoua-DeMarzio D, Navarro V, Ahmad J, et al.Liver injury associated with turmeric—a growing problem: ten cases from the drug-induced liver injury network [DILIN].Am J Med. 2023;136(2):200-206. doi:10.1016/j.amjmed.2022.09.026Sharifi-Rad J, Rayess YE, Rizk AA, et al.Turmeric and its major compound curcumin on health: bioactive effects and safety profiles for food, pharmaceutical, biotechnological and medicinal applications.Front Pharmacol. 2020;11:01021. doi:10.3389/fphar.2020.01021Food and Drug Administration.Questions and answers on dietary supplements.National Center for Complementary and Integrative Health.Turmeric.Lin Y, Liu H, Bu L, Chen C, Ye X.Review of the effects and mechanism of curcumin in the treatment of inflammatory bowel disease.Front Pharmacol. 2022;13:908077. doi:10.3389/fphar.2022.908077Peram MR, Jalalpure S, Kumbar V, et al.Factorial design based curcumin ethosomal nanocarriers for the skin cancer delivery:in vitroevaluation.J Liposome Res. 2019;29(3):291-311. doi:10.1080/08982104.2018.1556292Epstein J, Sanderson IR, MacDonald TT.Curcumin as a therapeutic agent: the evidence fromin vitro, animal and human studies.Br J Nutr. 2010;103(11):1545-1557. doi:10.1017/S0007114509993667Arthritis Foundation.Supplement and herb guide for arthritis symptoms.Small GW, Siddarth P, Li Z, et al.Memory and brain amyloid and tau effects of a bioavailable form of curcumin in non-demented adults: a double-blind, placebo-controlled 18-month trial.Am J Geriatr Psychiatry. 2018;26(3):266-277. doi:10.1016/j.jagp.2017.10.010Dei Cas M, Ghidoni R.Dietary curcumin: correlation between bioavailability and health potential.Nutrients. 2019;11(9):2147. doi:10.3390/nu11092147

15 Sources

Verywell Health uses only high-quality sources, including peer-reviewed studies, to support the facts within our articles. Read oureditorial processto learn more about how we fact-check and keep our content accurate, reliable, and trustworthy.Mount Sinai.Turmeric.National Cancer Institute.Curcumin (Curcuma, turmeric) and cancer (PDQ)—patient version.Johns Hopkins Medicine.Turmeric benefits.World Health Organization.Kurkum.Consumer Reports.Your herbs and spices might contain arsenic, cadmium, and lead.Halegoua-DeMarzio D, Navarro V, Ahmad J, et al.Liver injury associated with turmeric—a growing problem: ten cases from the drug-induced liver injury network [DILIN].Am J Med. 2023;136(2):200-206. doi:10.1016/j.amjmed.2022.09.026Sharifi-Rad J, Rayess YE, Rizk AA, et al.Turmeric and its major compound curcumin on health: bioactive effects and safety profiles for food, pharmaceutical, biotechnological and medicinal applications.Front Pharmacol. 2020;11:01021. doi:10.3389/fphar.2020.01021Food and Drug Administration.Questions and answers on dietary supplements.National Center for Complementary and Integrative Health.Turmeric.Lin Y, Liu H, Bu L, Chen C, Ye X.Review of the effects and mechanism of curcumin in the treatment of inflammatory bowel disease.Front Pharmacol. 2022;13:908077. doi:10.3389/fphar.2022.908077Peram MR, Jalalpure S, Kumbar V, et al.Factorial design based curcumin ethosomal nanocarriers for the skin cancer delivery:in vitroevaluation.J Liposome Res. 2019;29(3):291-311. doi:10.1080/08982104.2018.1556292Epstein J, Sanderson IR, MacDonald TT.Curcumin as a therapeutic agent: the evidence fromin vitro, animal and human studies.Br J Nutr. 2010;103(11):1545-1557. doi:10.1017/S0007114509993667Arthritis Foundation.Supplement and herb guide for arthritis symptoms.Small GW, Siddarth P, Li Z, et al.Memory and brain amyloid and tau effects of a bioavailable form of curcumin in non-demented adults: a double-blind, placebo-controlled 18-month trial.Am J Geriatr Psychiatry. 2018;26(3):266-277. doi:10.1016/j.jagp.2017.10.010Dei Cas M, Ghidoni R.Dietary curcumin: correlation between bioavailability and health potential.Nutrients. 2019;11(9):2147. doi:10.3390/nu11092147

Verywell Health uses only high-quality sources, including peer-reviewed studies, to support the facts within our articles. Read oureditorial processto learn more about how we fact-check and keep our content accurate, reliable, and trustworthy.

Mount Sinai.Turmeric.National Cancer Institute.Curcumin (Curcuma, turmeric) and cancer (PDQ)—patient version.Johns Hopkins Medicine.Turmeric benefits.World Health Organization.Kurkum.Consumer Reports.Your herbs and spices might contain arsenic, cadmium, and lead.Halegoua-DeMarzio D, Navarro V, Ahmad J, et al.Liver injury associated with turmeric—a growing problem: ten cases from the drug-induced liver injury network [DILIN].Am J Med. 2023;136(2):200-206. doi:10.1016/j.amjmed.2022.09.026Sharifi-Rad J, Rayess YE, Rizk AA, et al.Turmeric and its major compound curcumin on health: bioactive effects and safety profiles for food, pharmaceutical, biotechnological and medicinal applications.Front Pharmacol. 2020;11:01021. doi:10.3389/fphar.2020.01021Food and Drug Administration.Questions and answers on dietary supplements.National Center for Complementary and Integrative Health.Turmeric.Lin Y, Liu H, Bu L, Chen C, Ye X.Review of the effects and mechanism of curcumin in the treatment of inflammatory bowel disease.Front Pharmacol. 2022;13:908077. doi:10.3389/fphar.2022.908077Peram MR, Jalalpure S, Kumbar V, et al.Factorial design based curcumin ethosomal nanocarriers for the skin cancer delivery:in vitroevaluation.J Liposome Res. 2019;29(3):291-311. doi:10.1080/08982104.2018.1556292Epstein J, Sanderson IR, MacDonald TT.Curcumin as a therapeutic agent: the evidence fromin vitro, animal and human studies.Br J Nutr. 2010;103(11):1545-1557. doi:10.1017/S0007114509993667Arthritis Foundation.Supplement and herb guide for arthritis symptoms.Small GW, Siddarth P, Li Z, et al.Memory and brain amyloid and tau effects of a bioavailable form of curcumin in non-demented adults: a double-blind, placebo-controlled 18-month trial.Am J Geriatr Psychiatry. 2018;26(3):266-277. doi:10.1016/j.jagp.2017.10.010Dei Cas M, Ghidoni R.Dietary curcumin: correlation between bioavailability and health potential.Nutrients. 2019;11(9):2147. doi:10.3390/nu11092147

Mount Sinai.Turmeric.

National Cancer Institute.Curcumin (Curcuma, turmeric) and cancer (PDQ)—patient version.

Johns Hopkins Medicine.Turmeric benefits.

World Health Organization.Kurkum.

Consumer Reports.Your herbs and spices might contain arsenic, cadmium, and lead.

Halegoua-DeMarzio D, Navarro V, Ahmad J, et al.Liver injury associated with turmeric—a growing problem: ten cases from the drug-induced liver injury network [DILIN].Am J Med. 2023;136(2):200-206. doi:10.1016/j.amjmed.2022.09.026

Sharifi-Rad J, Rayess YE, Rizk AA, et al.Turmeric and its major compound curcumin on health: bioactive effects and safety profiles for food, pharmaceutical, biotechnological and medicinal applications.Front Pharmacol. 2020;11:01021. doi:10.3389/fphar.2020.01021

Food and Drug Administration.Questions and answers on dietary supplements.

National Center for Complementary and Integrative Health.Turmeric.

Lin Y, Liu H, Bu L, Chen C, Ye X.Review of the effects and mechanism of curcumin in the treatment of inflammatory bowel disease.Front Pharmacol. 2022;13:908077. doi:10.3389/fphar.2022.908077

Peram MR, Jalalpure S, Kumbar V, et al.Factorial design based curcumin ethosomal nanocarriers for the skin cancer delivery:in vitroevaluation.J Liposome Res. 2019;29(3):291-311. doi:10.1080/08982104.2018.1556292

Epstein J, Sanderson IR, MacDonald TT.Curcumin as a therapeutic agent: the evidence fromin vitro, animal and human studies.Br J Nutr. 2010;103(11):1545-1557. doi:10.1017/S0007114509993667

Arthritis Foundation.Supplement and herb guide for arthritis symptoms.

Small GW, Siddarth P, Li Z, et al.Memory and brain amyloid and tau effects of a bioavailable form of curcumin in non-demented adults: a double-blind, placebo-controlled 18-month trial.Am J Geriatr Psychiatry. 2018;26(3):266-277. doi:10.1016/j.jagp.2017.10.010

Dei Cas M, Ghidoni R.Dietary curcumin: correlation between bioavailability and health potential.Nutrients. 2019;11(9):2147. doi:10.3390/nu11092147

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