Tag

Supplement safety

Page 6 of 8

A heap of pale dried ashwagandha roots on a patterned market cloth

Ashwagandha: uses, evidence, dosing and safety

Ashwagandha has real evidence for stress and sleep, thinner evidence for strength, and a liver problem that arrived in 2017. The list of people who should avoid it is unusually long, and now includes thyroid patients.

Aug 3, 2026

Red barberry berries hanging from a thorned branch against soft green foliage

verdict

Berberine: uses, evidence, dosing and safety

Berberine is sold as nature's Ozempic, a comparison it does not earn. It genuinely lowers blood sugar and some lipids, on small and limited trials; the weight-loss claim driving the marketing is the weakest part.

Aug 3, 2026

Ground turmeric filling an open sack, with fragments of dried root through it

verdict

Turmeric and curcumin: uses, evidence, dosing and safety

Curcumin barely absorbs, and the high-absorption forms built to fix that are the ones LiverTox links to liver injury. Knee osteoarthritis is the one solid use; the rest is thinner than the shelf suggests.

Aug 3, 2026

Sliced raw beef resting on a wooden board in a dark kitchen

verdict

Vitamin B12: uses, evidence, dosing and safety

B12 inverts the usual advice here. Most people do not need it, but vegans, older adults and anyone on long-term metformin do, because untreated deficiency damages nerves in ways that may never reverse.

Aug 3, 2026