Black pepper has multiple health-promoting effects, many of which are associated with the relatively high levels of piperine it contains. Piperine can enhance the oral bioavailability of nutraceuticals in foods due to its inhibitory activity on drug metabolizing enzymes such as cytochrome P450 and p-glycoprotein in the gastrointestinal mucosa. This decreases the first-pass metabolism of nutraceuticals thus increasing their levels in the systemic circulation. Numerous studies in both animals and humans have validated the efficacy of piperine in boosting nutraceutical bioavailability. However, most of these studies utilized highly purified sources of both piperine and nutraceuticals, and therefore do not provide direct evidence on the ability of black pepper (used as a spice) to enhance the bioavailability of nutraceuticals in real foods.
