The short answer
An added bleeding risk from turmeric with aspirin has not been established. A small controlled study found no additional effect, but uncommon bleeding and different products remain uncertain. Have a pharmacist review a turmeric supplement before adding it to aspirin.
What this answer covers
This concerns oral Curcuma longa, commonly called turmeric, with oral aspirin. Whole turmeric, extracts and isolated or specially formulated curcumin are different exposures; a finding for one cannot establish the effect of all the others.
- Supplement or preparation
- Curcuma longa
- Medication ingredient
- aspirin
What happened when turmeric was combined with aspirin?
In a controlled study, adding the tested turmeric product did not further suppress platelet function, and no significant bleeding was reported. The related conference report describes aspirin 100 mg daily and a turmeric product 500 mg daily. The study was small and each treatment phase lasted three weeks.
Why is a bleeding interaction still discussed?
Turmeric extracts can inhibit platelet activity in laboratory samples. That makes an interaction biologically plausible, but a laboratory effect does not show that a swallowed supplement causes bleeding. The human study also cannot rule out uncommon harm in people with ulcers, previous bleeding or several medicines that affect bleeding.
Does a curcumin capsule give the same answer?
A separate pilot study followed 18 stable aspirin users taking Meriva, a curcumin-phospholipid product, for ten days. Their skin-incision bleeding time did not change significantly. This short, uncontrolled test does not establish major-bleeding safety or show that ordinary turmeric, isolated curcumin and enhanced-absorption products are interchangeable.
What information will help my pharmacist?
Bring the supplement label, daily amount, other ingredients and your aspirin dose. The nominal turmeric amount in the controlled study does not establish a safe limit for every product. Discuss a planned supplement or a change in regular use, especially if you also take another medicine that can cause bleeding.
Which symptoms need attention?
Seek urgent medical care for vomiting blood, black or bloody stools, or faintness with suspected bleeding. These are aspirin warning signs whether or not turmeric is involved. Do not make a routine change to prescribed aspirin solely to accommodate a supplement; discuss the treatment plan with its prescriber.
Evidence and practical considerations
Side effects & toxicity
A small short trial did not detect added platelet inhibition or significant bleeding with the tested turmeric product plus aspirin.
- Exact scope
- The Curcuma longa product used by Fung and colleagues; exact constituent standardization unavailable. with Aspirin, exact RxCUI 1191, inventory name aspirin, TTY IN; oral aspirin only. Acetylsalicylic acid and ASA in the original reports denote aspirin. The 81 mg delayed-release label provides medication safety context; directly studied 100 mg daily regimens are identified separately. No other antiplatelet, anticoagulant, NSAID, route or salicylate is substituted for aspirin.
- Medication form and route
- oral
What remains uncertain
- Healthy participants and brief exposure cannot exclude uncommon harm or establish product-wide safety.
Read the supporting source summaries
Source 1: original human clinical study
pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov · Source check Sep 10, 2026
Population: Twenty-five healthy volunteers recruited per herb; 24 evaluable in the turmeric group.
Combination treatment did not add to aspirin-associated platelet inhibition; no significant bleeding was reported. Five turmeric participants had inhibition on one platelet stimulus when using the herb.
How this applies: Direct named-herb/aspirin evidence against a universal added-effect assertion, without establishing universal safety.
Small, short healthy-volunteer trial; rare bleeding, high-risk patients and different formulations remain unresolved. Full paper unavailable.
Source 2: original human clinical study
ashpublications.org · Source check Sep 10, 2026
Population: Seventy-five healthy volunteers, 25 assigned to each herb; the turmeric arm is relevant.
Reports no additional platelet suppression or clinical bleeding from combination treatment; supplies nominal doses missing from the later published abstract.
How this applies: Dose provenance for the related study only; preserve product uncertainty and do not double-count participants.
Conference precursor to the 2017 study, not independent replication. Its nominal turmeric dose is not verified as 500 mg isolated curcumin or whole-rhizome powder.
Research assessment: · Open full citations ↗
Side effects & toxicity
An increased clinical bleeding risk from the broad turmeric-aspirin pair remains unestablished; laboratory activity and a null named-curcumin pilot do not settle every formulation.
- Exact scope
- Turmeric botanical products; Meriva is a separate curcumin-phospholipid preparation. with Aspirin, exact RxCUI 1191, inventory name aspirin, TTY IN; oral aspirin only. Acetylsalicylic acid and ASA in the original reports denote aspirin. The 81 mg delayed-release label provides medication safety context; directly studied 100 mg daily regimens are identified separately. No other antiplatelet, anticoagulant, NSAID, route or salicylate is substituted for aspirin.
- Medication form and route
- oral
What remains uncertain
- Product differences, surrogate endpoints, small samples and aspirin-only baseline risk limit interpretation.
Read the supporting source summaries
Source 1: original in vitro platelet experiment
pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov · Source check Sep 10, 2026
Population: Human blood and washed platelets outside the body, not people taking supplements.
Turmeric extract inhibited arachidonate-induced aggregation and thromboxane production.
How this applies: Mechanistic reason for caution only; cannot confirm that swallowed turmeric increases bleeding with aspirin.
No clinical bleeding, coadministered aspirin, oral dose or equivalent commercial product was tested.
Source 2: original observational human pilot study
europeanreview.org · Source check Sep 10, 2026
Population: Eighteen patients on stable aspirin for at least two years, with osteoarthritis; observational before-and-after subgroup.
Mean skin-incision bleeding time was 5.54 minutes before and 5.51 after supplementation, a nonsignificant difference.
How this applies: Direct aspirin evidence for this named curcumin formulation; indirect for the Curcuma longa botanical record. Other antiplatelet or anticoagulant subgroups are not aspirin evidence.
Small uncontrolled, short study using a surrogate test, not major bleeding incidence. Manufacturer employees/consultant among authors. No broad safety proof follows from nonsignificance.
Source 3: regulatory OTC drug labeling
dailymed.nlm.nih.gov · Source check Sep 10, 2026
Population: People considering or taking the labeled oral aspirin product.
Warns of severe stomach bleeding. Prior bleeding or ulcers, older age, anticoagulants, other NSAIDs, steroids, heavy alcohol use and excessive dosing increase concern. Blood in vomit or stool, black stool and faintness warrant medical attention.
How this applies: Medication-only safety context and warning signs, not proof of a botanical interaction.
The label does not name ginger or turmeric and does not measure either added interaction risk.
Research assessment: · Open full citations ↗
Review and change history
- Publication status
- Published research summary
- Clinical review
- Not yet recorded
| Date | Update |
|---|---|
| Article prepared | |
| Original evidence and current product information inspected, with distinctions between laboratory findings, clinical outcomes and preparation-specific limits. | |
| Research summary published |
Article revision: e5fa227651f9b0a0
This guide brings together the evidence records used by our interaction checker. Each finding retains its own preparation limits, research date, and source summaries.
Full citations require verification. Reading this answer and the source summaries does not.
Taking other supplements or medications?
Use the checker to explore your other combinations. Ask a pharmacist to review the exact products, amounts and medical conditions in your complete list.
Open the interaction checkerInformation, not medical advice. Do not change prescribed treatment based on this guide.