Black pepper is considered the king of spices throughout the world due to its active ingredient, piperine, which contributes to the unique spicy taste. 

Piperine is a molecule that greatly increases the bioavailability and potentiation of certain healthy products like Ashwagandha, Ginkgo Biloba, vitamin B1, B2, B3, B6 and B12, Vitamin C, Turmeric, Green Tea and Curcumin. It is occasionally referred to as a “bioenhancement”, because it helps you get more out of the other nutrients you consume alongside it. 

It can also increase the absorption rate of certain compounds as it contributes to slowing digestion. This means you can get more from the supplements you take with black pepper extract. This is why we have included it in Savvy - it helps you get more of the nutrients from the other ingredients. 

Amount used: 10mg

Active ingredient: 95% Piperine

Why: 10mg of piperine is ideal to increase the absorption of many of Savvy’s ingredients. For example, it increases absorption of turmeric and curcumin by 2000% 

Main benefits for Savvy: 

• Increasing bioavailability and absorption of key nutrients in Savvy

• Increased dopamine and serotonin levels

• Improved memory, immune system and cognitive skills

To make it easy to identify all the different studies - we will highlight them for you!  

We really hope you enjoy our many years of research when formulating Savvy...

The below study shows that turmeric by itself is very poorly absorbed. However, with the presence of black pepper extract, not only is it absorbed well, but the absorption skyrockets to 20 times over! 

Scientific sources:

Shoba, G. et al. ‘Influence of piperine on the pharmacokinetics of curcumin in animals and human volunteers.’ in Planta Medica, Volume 64, Issue 4, May 1998, pp 353-356. [Link]

“The medicinal properties of curcumin obtained from Curcuma longa L. cannot be utilised because of poor bioavailability due to its rapid metabolism in the liver and intestinal wall. On the other hand in humans after a dose of 2 g curcumin alone, serum levels were either undetectable or very low. Concomitant administration of piperine... the increase in bioavailability was 2000%. The study shows that in the dosages used, piperine enhances the serum concentration, extent of absorption and bioavailability of curcumin in both rats and humans with no adverse effects.”

Ahmad, N. et al. ‘Biological role of Piper nigrum L. (Black pepper): A review’ in Asian Pacific Journal of Tropical Biomedicine. Volume 2, issue 3, Supplement, 2012, pp S1945-1953. [Link] 

“The biological role of this specie is explained in different experiments that peppercorn and secondary metabolites of Piper nigrum can be used as Antiapoptotic, Antibacterial, Anti-Colon toxin, Antidepressant, Antifungal, Antidiarrhoeal, Anti-inflammatory, Antimutagenic, Anti-metastatic activity, Antioxidative...Other roles of this specie includes protection against diabetes induced oxidative stress; Piperine protect oxidation of various chemicals...increase the bioavailability of active compounds, delayed elimination of antiepileptic drug, increased orocecal transit time, piperine influenced and activate the biomembrane to absorb variety of active agents, increased serum concentration…”

Lambert, JD, et al, ‘Piperine enhances the bioavailability of the tea polyphenol (-)-epigallocatechin-3-gallate in mice.’ in The Journal of Nutrition, Volume 134, Issue 8, August 2004, pp 1948 - 1952. [Link]

“The present study demonstrates the modulation of the EGCG bioavailability by a second dietary component and illustrates a mechanism for interactions between dietary chemicals.” 

The below study suggests that it’s possible that Piperine may also help improve dopamine and serotonin levels. The nutrient works closely with these chemicals, increasing their levels. This may have the ability to help individuals have more positive feelings, in part because they’re involved with rewarding people with these feelings.

Scientific sources:

Li, S. et al ‘Antidepressant-like effects of piperine and its derivative, antiepilepsirine.’ in Journal of Asian Natural Products Research. Volume 9, Issue 3, April 2007, pp 421-430. [Link] 

“The MAO activity assay also indicated that PIP and AES showed a minor MAO inhibitory activity. In the present study, we demonstrated that the antidepressant-like effects of PIP and AES might depend on the augmentation of the neurotransmitter synthesis or the reduction of the neurotransmitter reuptake. Antidepressant properties of PIP were supposed to be mediated via the regulation of serotonergic system, whereas the mechanisms of antidepressant action of AES might be due to its dual regulation of both serotonergic and dopaminergic systems.”

Scientific sources:

Meneses, A and Liy-Salmeron, G. ‘Serotonin and emotion, learning and memory.’ in Reviews in the Neurosciences. Volume 23, Issue 5, pp 543-553. [Link]

In the above study, Piperine may improve the neurotransmission of certain neurochemicals. Two such chemicals -- serotonin and beta-endorphin -- play an important role in memory. With an increased presence of these chemicals in their body, it’s possible that people could improve their memory overall, which is something many people are striving for as they grow older.

Bae, G. et al. ‘Inhibition of lipopolysaccharide-induced inflammatory responses by piperine’ in European Journal of Pharmacology. Volume 642, Issues 1-3, September 2010, pp 154-162. [Link]

“Piperine, a main component of Piper longum Linn. and Piper nigrum Linn., is a plant alkaloid with a long history of medical use. Piperine exhibits anti-inflammatory activity”

Wattanathorn, J. et al. ‘Piperine, the potential functional food for mood and cognitive disorders’ in Food and Chemical Toxicology, Volume 46, Issue 9, September 2008, pp 3106-3110. [Link]

“The results showed that piperine at all dosage range used in this study possessed anti-depression like activity and cognitive enhancing effect at all treatment duration. Therefore, piperine may be served as the potential functional food to improve brain function.”

Ying, X. et al. ‘Piperine inhibits LPS induced expression of inflammatory mediators in RAW 264.7 cells’ in Cellular Immunology, Volume 285, Issues 1-2, September - October 2012, Pages 49-54. [Link]

“Our results demonstrate the anti-inflammatory activity of piperine in RAW264.7 cells; suggesting that piperine may be a potential agent in the treatment of inflammation.”

Ahmad, N. et al. ‘Biological role of Piper nigrum L. (Black pepper): A review’ in Asian Pacific Journal of Tropical Biomedicine. Volume 2, issue 3, Supplement, 2012, pp S1945-1953. [Link]

“Piper nigrum can be used as Antiapoptotic, Antibacterial, Anti-Colon toxin, Antidepressant, Antifungal, Antidiarrhoeal, Anti-inflammatory, Antimutagenic, Anti-metastatic activity, Antioxidative...Other roles of this specie includes protection against diabetes induced oxidative stress…”