Overview

• Robert Grafton, a 54-year-old New Jersey father, was diagnosed with drug-induced liver injury in May after taking a turmeric supplement containing 2,250 mg of curcumin daily.
• Regulated as dietary supplements, herbal products bypass FDA premarket approval and often mislabel ingredients, with analyses showing a 50% mismatch rate between labels and contents.
• A 2010 peer-reviewed study found that more than 40,000 Americans report supplement-related liver damage each year, including over 2,000 deaths from severe cases.
• Supplement-related liver failure waitlist additions rose eightfold from 1995 through 2020, according to a 2022 study in the journal Liver Transplantation.
• Hepatologists recommend limiting curcumin supplement intake to under 2,000 mg per day and consulting healthcare professionals before using herbal extracts with potential liver toxicity.