Bioperine
Bioperine is a standardized piperine extract obtained from the fruits of the Piper nigrum, also called ´black pepper´ and/or Piper longum, also called ´long pepper´. Those fruits are hand harvested in India, just prior to ripening and then sun dried to assure their maturity and quality.
Although black pepper is a common household spice, its extract has also been used extensively for medical purposes, especially in Ayurvedic medicine. Its main action is to significantly enhance the bioavailability of supplemented nutrients through increased absorption and transportation into the blood. In fact, bioperine is the only product sourced out of piperine to obtain a patented status for this ability.
In the fat loss field
Its action is being widely exploited in these terms, since many dietary supplements include vitamins, mineral, amino acids and antioxidants that are better absorbed and used because of the bioperine action. For example, Nutrition Research has published a double blind, crossover trial in which the effectiveness of an extract from the fruit of black pepper, with a minimum 98% pure alkaloid piperine was evaluated for its ability to improve serum response of beta-carotene during oral supplementation.
Subjects were randomly selected to ingest a daily beta-carotene dose (15 mg) either with 5 mg of piperine or placebo during each of two 14-day supplementation periods. The selection of volunteers was limited to healthy adult males with fasting serum beta-carotene values < 20 mcg/dL, in order to minimize the inter-subject variability in pre-supplementation of serum beta-carotene levels.
After the 14-day period, the results indicated significantly greater increases (p < 0.0001) in serum beta-carotene during supplementation with beta-carotene plus piperine (49.8±9.6 mcg/dL vs. 30.9±5.4 mcg/dL) compared to beta-carotene plus placebo. Supplementation with beta-carotene plus piperine also produced a 60% greater increase in area under the serum beta- carotene curve (AUC) than the one observed during the beta-carotene plus placebo supplementation.
Bearing all these results in mind, experts explained the theory that the serum response during oral beta-carotene supplementation might be improved through non-specific, thermogenic property(s) of piperine, which are known as ´thermonutrient´ action. The word ´thermonutrient´ is used because of its ability to increase the absorption of nutrients comprising nutritional supplement formulations, as well as the body’s natural thermogenic activity utilizing the daily food apart from nutrients.
This increased bioavailability of supplemented nutrients caused by bioperine may be derived also from a strong enough increase in the thermal energy, to emphasize the natural thermogenic activity just named. So this action leads to some enhanced metabolic processes, which create more demand of a broad range of nutrients that contribute to metabolism, such as the ones that dietary supplements in general contain.
In another similar study, supplementation of 120 mg of coenzyme Q10 with piperine for 21 days also produced a statistically significant area (p=0.0348) -approximately 30% greater- under the plasma curve (AUC) than observed during supplementation with coenzyme Q10 plus placebo.
Dosage and side effects
So far, there are no reported side effects. Based on double blind clinical data, Sabinsa –the company that legally manufacturers and supplies bioperine- recommends to use it in the amount of 5 mg per dose but does not require this level in customer’s formulation. Bioperine taken in this dose, enhanced the blood levels and bioavailability of a wide range of nutrients, both fat and water soluble, by over 30-60% in studies. Powder should be diluted with other nutrients at 100-200 doses per gram of bioperine before use. It is also advised to take no more than 20mg/day.
In addition, blood tests revealed that the absorption of nutrients was markedly increased when bioperine had been administered earlier –e.g., selenium levels were increased by 30%, and vitamin B6 by more than 60%. As the optimal utilization of nutrients and minerals depends on the intake of food in terms of time, the additional intake of black pepper alone, or during the meals would have no particularly positive effects on the metabolism. So, before the meals is when bioperine can be taken most advantage from.