My Review of the Best-Selling BioSchwartz Turmeric Curcumin

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BioSchwartz Review Turmeric Curcumin supplement - heydayDo featured image

In this review article I’ll be sharing my evaluation of the BioSchwartz Turmeric Curcumin with BioPerine 1500mg supplement that’s currently listed as an Amazon Best Seller and an Amazon’s Choice for their turmeric category.

 

BioSchwartz review topics

We’ll be looking in detail at the product, as I’ll be parsing through its:

  • Ingredients & Supplement Facts label
  • Dosage strength
  • Turmeric & curcumin sourcing
  • Certifications & manufacturing quality
  • Product claims
  • Buyer reviews
  • Pricing

& more.

Bottom line: I sincerely & strongly believe there are much better turmeric curcumin products on the market than BioSchwartz’, like this one made by the physicians-owned 1MD.org:

1MD CurcuminMD Plus bottle with white background - heydayDo image

For what it’s worth, that’s the curcumin supplement my wife (the medical research expert in the house) & I take.

 

BioSchwartz turmeric curcumin vs. competitor products

And we’ll be putting this BioSchwartz Turmeric supplement up against its competitors, comparing them head-to-head for their respective potencies & true** curcumin costs.

 

** true cost – The price tag alone is no indicator of relative value; the amount of curcumin in the supplement has to be factored in as well.

 

There are several brands out there superior to BioSchwartz Turmeric Curcumin, as far as delivering to you the right stuff you need from a curcuminoid supplement. I’ll provide a little info on what I think are the top 5 of the bunch, so you can go compare for yourself.

I think once you know what to look for beyond all the marketing hype you’ll agree.😉

 

3rd party turmeric curcumin testing results

I’ll also be sharing with you the results of an independent (third party) supplement test conducted on this BioSchwartz Turmeric Curcumin product we’re looking at in this article.

(I paid for it as part of my membership in a consumer product-testing organization.)

test tubes green - heydayDo icon

Science resources included

As is my custom here on heydayDo, I will provide links to all of the relevant sports science & medical resources, clinical studies, and nutritional data used in this article.

 

What’s next

I want to lightly touch on two subjects before we get into the meat & potatoes of the product review material.

 

BioSchwartz Turmeric Curcumin summary

First, I’ll show you a brief, bullet-pointed summary of my BioSchwartz’s Turmeric Curcumin with BioPerine supplement review, highlighting many of the topics I’ll be going over in more detail a little later.

 

The scientific proof regarding turmeric & curcumin

Second, I want to provide a quick look at what nutrition research has found regarding the effectiveness of turmeric & curcumin products.

There is a lot of marketing hype coming from the manufacturers of course, but I want to know what benefits have been clearly demonstrated as a result of taking this supplement?

So after I briefly address that, we’ll crack on the product review itself.

BioSchwartz Turmeric Curcumin

Is BioSchwartz turmeric good for you?

*Amazon #1 Best Seller – Turmeric Supplement

*An Amazon’s Choice in their Turmeric category

*4.6⭐ 91% 4 & 5-stars – 32,500+ online reviews

*Labeled as premium quality turmeric powder

*150mg curcumin per serving is just OK, far from the best

*Price looks cheap but cost of curcuminoids is expensive, given its weaker dose compared to some competitors

*Not an organic product

*Turmeric sourced out of India (so are most turmeric supplements)

*Scored poorly by Consumer Lab’s analysis for label accuracy & curcumin level

See price & reviews on Amazon


Scientific evidence on turmeric curcumin

Clinical research studies on potential health benefits from turmeric curcumin using human participants have shown encouraging results in three main areas.

Curcumin (which isn’t the same as a turmeric supplement) has proven itself in seve as an:

The amount of evidence has been increasing due to the increasing popularity of turmeric supplements, and studies continue to verify that yes, turmeric curcumin can indeed work.

At least at the clinical level, where the dosing is stronger than the vast majority of turmeric supplements being marketed at us these days…BioSchwartz’s included.

Bioschwartz Turmeric Review

BioSchwartz Turmeric Curcumin

OK, now we’ve heard the news that curcumin can accomplish several wonderful things for us at the right daily potency.

So let’s fix our gaze on BioSchwartz’s Turmeric Curcumin with BioPerine 1500mg, and figure out if this supplement is good enough to provide any of those benefits.

 

Here again are the categories I’m going to plough through:

  • Ingredients/Supplement Facts label
  • Dosage strength
  • Product claims
  • Pricing: the true cost of curcumin
  • Buyer & 3rd party reviews
  • Turmeric sourcing
  • Certifications & manufacturing quality

 

Bioschwartz Turmeric Supplement Facts

BioSchwartz Turmeric Curcumin supplement facts - heydayDo image

Ingredients

This Bioschwartz Turmeric Curcumin supplement has three ingredients:

  • Turmeric powder (from its root)
  • Turmeric curcumin extract
  • Bioperine® black pepper extract

 

Turmeric root

Curcuma longa is the name of the plant whose underground rhizomes are used to make the orange-yellow powder we know as turmeric.

To get to the powder stage, the roots are dug up, boiled, oven-dried, & then ground up. (1)

 

Turmeric extract

Note that the Supplement Facts label says:

“95% Standardized Curcuminoids”**

 

This is an important distinction.

It is letting you know that this extract has been concentrated to the point where 95% of it is made up of curcumin.

The only feasible way to take enough curcumin to achieve maximum potency in just a couple of capsules is to concentrate it.

 

95% is the standard (or benchmark) of curcumin concentration that health professionals recommend you insist on when looking for a turmeric curcumin supplement. (2)

This is because plain turmeric powder only delivers a curcumin potency of 3%, compared to the 95% in the extract. (3)

We simply can’t eat enough turmeric in a day to get benefit from it, so a concentrated extract is the way to go.

 

** – Curcuminoids are the active chemicals in curcumin that work their magic in our bodies health-wise, if we take enough of them.

 

BioPerine black pepper extract®

BioPerine black pepper extract is a popular and well-researched proprietary formula made by a company named Sabinsa, and BioSchwartz uses that to improve their curcumin’s absorption.

Research has proven that a pepper extract known as piperine improves our body’s ability to absorb curcumin when we take them together. (4)

Without it, most of pure turmeric powder passes through our body unused, so a bioavailability enhancer is added to the formula in order to achieve maximum potency (or more accurately, “absorption”).

That’s why you’ll come across many pure turmeric powder supplements that have pepper extract extract added to them. (5)

 

BioSchwartz turmeric curcumin dosage

Let’s take a peek at the Supplement Facts panel again:

BioSchwartz Turmeric Curcumin supplement facts - heydayDo image

We see that their turmeric curcumin dose consists of 3 capsules and delivers:

  • 1350 mg of turmeric
  • 150mg of turmeric extract @95% curcuminoids
  • 10mg of Bioperine®

 

How much good stuff is in BioSchwartz’s turmeric curcumin supplement?

I’ll now show you how to figure out the amount of curcumin in BioSchwartz’s (or anyboby else’s) turmeric supplement.

 

Turmeric powder (from the root)

Start with the ‘regular’ turmeric; the BioSchwartz dose has 1350 mg.

Remember, regular turmeric powder is only 3% curcumin.

Using my math skills, we get: 1350 x .03 = 41 mg of curcumin

 

Next up is the turmeric curcumin extract, and BioSchwartz puts 150mg of the 95% curcumin extract in their dose.

And 150mg x .95 = 142.5 mg of curcumin

 

So the total curcumin per serving in BioSchwartz comes out to:

41mg + 142.5mg = 183.5mg

You may be wondering: Is that a good number or is that bad?

Well next up, we’ll take a quick look at the comparison between BioSchwartz’s turmeric curcumin dose & those used in research studies testing the effectiveness of turmeric supplements on humans.

Curcuma longa roots are dried and ground into turmeric powder - heydayDo image

Turmeric powder comes from the roots of the curcuma longa plant…

 

Here’s a comparison of BioSchwartz’s dose vs. the dosage range used successfully in many research trials* with turmeric curcumin:

BioSchwartz single dose of curcumin (3 capsules): 183mg

Curcumin’s clinical benefits range: 1000mg – 1500mg

(daily for 2-3 months)

* – health issues targeted using this dosing range were inflammation, oxidants/free radicals, & arthritis. Source: Healthline

 

Well, the score is 183 mg vs. 1000-1500mg.

BioSchwartz’s Turmeric Curcumin falls way short in this area, hopefully that’s obvious to you.

 

 

Competitors that provide more curcumin

Here are a few of BioSchwartz’s competitors in the turmeric curcumin market. All of these provide more curcumin per serving, and a few of them provide 4 or 5 times as much.

* These turmeric curcumin products all contain premium turmeric capsules at

* It delivers 1,100mg of curcumin per serving, which is waaaay more than BioSchwartz’s 183mg;

* That 1,100mg is within the dosing range of the clinical trials that demonstrated curcumin’s mighty health benefits;

* I recently discovered that my brand had been named Consumer Lab’s Top Pick in their turmeric curcumin category**.

 

** – I pay for an annual membership to Consumer Lab, which grants me access to read their supplement reviews. They don’t allow me to post any images of theirs here unfortunately, otherwise I’d share with you…

 

Vitacost’s Root2 got Consumer Lab’s top spot after they put around 20 of the best-selling brands through a chemical analysis checking for label accuracy & purity.

 

Click on the blue name links or pics to see current price or read buyer reviews.

Vitacost Turmeric Curcumin C3 Complex

Curcumin per serving: 1,100 mg

Vitacost turmeric curcumin product called Root2 Curcumin C3

 

 

GNC Herbal Plus Turmeric Curcumin 1000mg

Curcumin per serving: 1,000 mg

GNC Herbal Plus Turmeric

Note: This is also an approved turmeric curcumin product in Consumer Lab’s analysis review.

 

 

Doctor’s Best Curcumin with C3 Complex

Curcumin per serving: 750 – 810 mg

Doctor's Best Curcumin with C3 Complex

Note: Approved turmeric curcumin product in Consumer Lab’s analysis review.

 

 

Terry Naturally CuraMed 750 mg Curcumin

Curcumin per serving: 500 mg (net)

Terry Naturally CuraMed 750 mg Curcumin

Note: Approved turmeric curcumin product in Consumer Lab’s analysis review.

 

Turmeric Curcumin NovaSOL Softgels

Curcumin per serving: 1000+ (*) mg

Turmeric Curcumin NovaSOL Softgels

Note: They make a proprietary formula, and it’s hard for me to figure out what’s in it since I don’t have a good science brain.

This turmeric curcumin product has been analyzed & approved by Consumer Labs, so I’m OK with listing it here…

…though I wouldn’t take it myself since I just don’t understand what they’ve done.

 

Back to BioSchwartz’s review…

 

BioSchwartz & its BioPerine black pepper extract dose

BioSchwartz’ turmeric curcumin formula includes 10mg of BioPerine® black pepper extract to assist in the curcumin absorption process.

Which is a nice thing, since plain turmeric pills with no bioavailability enhancer

…though it (the inclusion of a bioavailability enhancer) is really a mandatory requirement you should always insist on, for reasons discussed throughout this article.

 

This 10mg dose of BioPerine is only half of what was used (20mg) in the research studies that proved how effective BioPerine was in improving curcumin absorption in the first place.

Other quality manufacturers do this too, so BioSchwartz isn’t off the rails on this one, just pointing it out.

 

BioSchwartz product claims

BioSchwartz product claims on packaging and label - heydayDo image

BioSchwartz toots their own horn quite a bit (as most companies do) for their Turmeric Curcumin with BioPerine 1500mg supplement.

As you can see from the image above, their packaging & product labels have lots of positive things to say.

In this section let’s examine a few of the things they proclaim, and see how much water they hold.

 

“Turmeric Curcumin with BioPerine 1500mg”

BioSchwartz Turmeric 1500mg claim - heydayDo image

We’ll start off with the name of the product itself.

I’m focusing on the words “1500 mg”, and if you’ve been following along you know why.

1350 of this 1500 mg is plain old turmeric powder; it only has 41 mg of curcumin in it.

“1500 mg” is a big-sounding number that glosses over the fact that curcumin in this supplement only adds up to 183 mg.

 

“Highest Potency Available”

BioSchwartz Turmeric highest potency available claim - heydayDo image

That image is taken from the BioSchwartz Turmeric product page on Amazon.

This highest potency available claim is simply untrue. 

I’ve already shown you 5 other turmeric supplements that have much higher levels of curcumin in them:

Vitacost Root 2

GNC Herbal Plus

Doctor’s Best with C3

Terry Naturally CuraMed

A1 Vitality NovaSOL

And there are other brands out there with more curcuminoids in them than BioSchwartz too.

 

“Supports healthy inflammatory response”

BioSchwartz Turmeric supports healthy inflammatory response claim - heydayDo image

On their Amazon page they also say in large letters Premium Joint & Healthy Inflammatory Support”.

BioSchwartz is not legally authorized to make these claims about their product anywhere.

Any supplement maker making this claim about their product is doing so without the Food & Drug Administration’s blessing, and has in fact crossed the line.

 

Per leading supplement industry news source Natural Products Insider,

“FDA has emphasized that broad statements such as “supports healthy inflammation response” are unauthorized.

FDA made this clear during a webinar hosted last year by VIRGO and the Council for Responsible Nutrition (CRN).” (6)

 

This fact is further confirmed by legal experts analyzing the FDA’s recent warning letters to supplement makers:

“”Anti-inflammatory” claims were repeatedly flagged.” (7)

 

“Accredited Third Party Testing”

BioSchwartz Turmeric third party tested claim - heydayDo image

I and several other curious people have written to BioSchwartz without getting any reply, asking about who is the third-party tester that they refer to on the front of their bottle, on its packaging, & on their website.

I scoured through the BioSchwartz.com website and could not find any info about this “accredited third party tester”.

And I could not find any published data that is typical of third-party testing results on their website either.

 

Premium quality turmeric powder?

They list a few more slogans that have zero definition or standards according to the FDA.

In essence, without FDA guidance these vague food labels sound like something but they don’t represent anything factual:

“Professional Grade turmeric ”

I have never heard a turmeric curcumin product described as “professional grade” or “formulated by professionals”, and I evaluated dozens & dozens of them. Professional grade sounds like a term reserved for a power tool or a truck.

 

“Premium Ultra Pure”

Similarly, what are premium turmeric capsules supposed to have that another turmeric supplement does not? The companies making turmeric supplements to high quality standards don’t use these terms in their marketing, though beer companies do.

 

“Natural”

I think saying something is a “natural turmeric powder” is like saying “Hey, that’s a natural tree over there”. A turmeric supplement has to be natural because it comes from a plant.

 

Bottom line:

For my taste anyway, BioSchwartz goes way over the top with unsubstantiated & potentially misleading phrases all over their product in an effort to get a purchase.

 

Bioschwartz turmeric curcumin price vs. its competitors

Comparing price tags alone is useless, since fitness supplements are notorious for being stuffed with fillers.

So to me anyway, it makes no sense to use the price tags you see on Amazon (or wherever) when you’re comparing products.

To fight through that, I figured out a way to calculate how much I’m paying for just the ingredient I want.

And in the case of comparing the cost of two or more turmeric curcumin supplements, the most important ingredient we’re concerned with is the curcumin (and its curcuminoid content).

 

For this section I made a couple of charts I want to share with you.

And they may shock you, if you haven’t seen me use my “true cost” analysis before in my protein powder comparison reviews here on heydayDo.

 

BioSchwartz Turmeric Curcumin is the MOST expensive of the 5 brands, even though it has the LOWEST price per bottle, look:

(price per bottle last time I looked)

BioSchwartz Turmeric Curcumin $18.79

Vitacost Root2 Turmeric Extract $26.50* 

GNC Herbal Plus Turmeric Curcumin $33.74

Doctor’s Best Curcumin $58.64

Terry Naturally CuraMed $87.96

* – at Vitacost.com

 

Q: “BioSchwartz looks like the cheapest, how can it be the most expensive?”

A: This is due to the simple fact that the BioSchwartz turmeric supplement:

1) charges you a lot more than the other four brands for the curcumin in their supplement, and

2) supplies very little curcumin per serving, compared to the other four brands.

 

These charts rank the BioSchwartz Turmeric supplement and 4 of its competitors by their cost of 1000mg of curcuminoids.

The first one is just the results, and the second one shows my step-by-step process.

I’ll spare you from my (lengthy😜) math explanations, but my line descriptions tell you what I calculated at each step.

 

BioSchwartz Review curcuminoid cost comparison 2 - heydayDo image

 

BioSchwartz Cost of 1000mg of curcuminoids comparison chart small - heydayDo image

 

As you can see, the BioSchwartz turmeric supplement is costing you the most for the curcuminoids you’re buying out of all 5 brands, and by a very large margin too.

A turmeric curcumin supplement could have thousands of milligrams of turmeric in it, 1500 in BioSchwartz’s case.

But at only 3% curcumin AND an extremely poor absorption rate, those big turmeric powder numbers don’t provide you with any health benefits.

Knowing that, who cares how cheap it is; it’s still a waste of money.

 

Programming Note: 

In those comparisons of turmeric supplements, I standardized all of the brands to a net* 1000mg curcuminoids dose.

I picked 1000mg because that amount of curcuminoids is the low-end dose used in successful curcumin clinical research trials.

*Net = actual curcuminoid amount

For example:

Vitacost Root2 turmeric curcumin supplement facts - heydayDo image

You see 1160mg of curcumin in the turmeric extract.

You also see the “standardized to 95% curcuminoids” phrase.

Therefore, 1160mg x 95% = 1102 mg net curcuminoids.

 

Okie dokie, no more math lessons…promise.

 

BioSchwartz Curcumin Reviews

In this section I’ll share buyer reviews, and an independent 3rd party testing review.

 

* As turmeric supplements go, Bioschwartz’s has the most customer reviews online at this time, almost all on Amazon.

* Tens of thousands of positive reviews with a very good star rating from buyers, and top billing from Amazon.

 

Consumer lab’s bad grade

*In their review of 20+ turmeric supplements, third party product tester (Consumer Lab) flunked BioSchwartz’ product. And it was the only brand that was labeled “Not Approved”.

I detail why down below.

 

Amazon buyer reviews

BioSchwartz Turmeric Curcumin with BioPerine

BioSchwartz Turmeric Curcumin with BioPerine

This curcumin product from BioSchwartz is currently the #1 seller on Amazon in their Turmeric Supplements category, and it’s an Amazon Choice as well:

Bioschwartz is #1 turmeric supplement on Amazon - heydayDo image

BioSchwartz turmeric is Amazon Choice - heydayDo image

And it has a high buyer rating and a ton of reviews. As I mentioned earlier, the amount of buyer reviews for Bioschwartz is the highest among all turmeric supplements as of today.

4.6 33,000+ online reviews

90% buyer satisfaction rating

 

These numbers I got from gathering as many reviews online I could find at the time I started putting this article together.

My buyer satisfaction rating is the percentage of buyers who gave the BioSchwartz Turmeric Curcumin a 4 or 5-star rating.

See reviews on Amazon

 

 

BioSchwartz flunked by Consumer Lab test

Independent third party tester Consumer Lab tested around twenty turmeric curcumin supplements, including the one made by BioSchwartz.

Consumer Lab tests products in their lab for label accuracy, purity, ingredient strength, even for bug parts & more, then publishes their results for their subscribing members.

(Which includes me, as I mentioned earlier.)

BioSchwartz was the only tumeric curcumin product that was given the failure grade of NOT APPROVED out of the 20 or so brands.

They received the failing grade because two batches of their product were tested and both times, Consumer Lab found less curcuminoids than BioSchwartz claims on the Supplement Facts label.

 

Bioschwartz turmeric sourcing info

BioSchwartz makes sure you know that this turmeric curcumin supplement of theirs is made here in the U.S.

They tell you on the front of the bottle:

BioSchwartz Turmeric Made in USA front - heydayDo image

And they tell you again around the side, this time with an American flag too:

BioSchwartz Review made in USA flag 2- heydayDo image

The turmeric’s from India & not organic

But the pills that make up the BioSchwartz turmeric supplement are what’s made in the USA, since the turmeric curcumin contained within is grown in India.

That’s not much of a surprise, since India is the #1 exporter of turmeric in the world. (7)

Also in case you’re interested, BioSchwartz’s Indian turmeric is not grown organically.

 

Below is the only place on the BioSchwartz website where I could find any info on where the turmeric came from.

Here’s what I saw:

BioSchwartz FAQ on where turmeric is from - heydayDo image

To get there you need to do a fair bit of digging.

*click on FAQ in the footer at Bioschwartz.com, then find the question where they answer with a reference to the Help Center.

Click on that link and then type in the word “turmeric” in the search engine box.

When I did it there were 3 pages’ worth of questions, and the question about where the turmeric comes from” was the second-to-last question on the last page.

BioSchwartz Review Treasure map metaphor - heydayDo image

I also thought it was kinda cheesy for the company response to follow up the India disclosure with

“home of Ayurveda, one of the world’s oldest holistic (whole-body) healing systems…”

😄 I mean, I laughed out loud when I saw that.

 

Why not go the extra mile and also say it’s proudly made in the USA, “where for centuries ancient Native Americans conducted sacred ceremonies & healed themselves with roots (you do know turmeric’s a root, right?).”

 

About BioSchwartz the company

Here I provide a brief overview of the company behind the BioSchwartz brand name, so we can get to know who’s behind the curtain pulling the levers a little.

While trying to determine who owns this & where their offices were, I came across a couple of things worth sharing with you.

 

BioSchwartz is owned by a private equity firm

BioSchwartz LLC appears to be privately-held by an equity investment company named Purple Rock Capital Partners based in the money capital of the world, New York City.

Purple Rock Partners owns BioSchwartz - heydayDo image

So info on the actual working company isn’t readily available online, aside from what BioSchwartz carefully says about themselves on their website.

The BioSchwartz contact info I provided is from the main page of their website, and lists an Orlando, FL address which looks like this in Google Maps:

11825 High Tech Ave. Orlando, FL 32817

 

No execs or employee names on website

No actual employees or executives are pictured or mentioned by name on the BioSchwartz website.

It looks like they used a lot of generic stock images — a researcher here, a smiling, healthy-looking older couple there…that sort of thing.

The three managing partners of BioSchwartz’s parent company PurpleRock Capital can be found on this page:

https://www.purplerockcapital.com/our-team/

 

BioSchwartz was Schwartz BioResearch

Though there is no mention of it anywhere on their website that I could find, I found enough info online — including images of older product labels — to guess that BioSchwartz is the new name for what started out as Schwartz BioResearch.

BioSchwartz Review they were Schwartz BioResearch - heydayDo image

Old Schwartz BioResearch label on BioSchwartz Turmeric - heydayDo image

 

Review wrap-up

OK, so there you have all that I’ve put together on the BioSchwartz Turmeric Curcumin with BioPerine 1500mg supplement.

See current price & reviews on Amazon

You can click on that if you want to check out its product page.

 

Related turmeric curcumin resources here on heydayDo

I’ve researched the main turmeric curcumin formulas used in clinical trials and many of the brands that use them.

Here are other curcumin articles I’ve published:

CurcuminMD Review

Spring Valley Turmeric Curcumin Review

7 Best Curcumin Supplements with the Curcuminoids We Need

All About BCM-95

Theracurmin Review

Solgar Full Spectrum Curcumin

4 Best Longvida Optimized Brands 

CuraMed vs. CuraMin

Primal Force Curcumin Triple Burn

Life Extension Super Bio Curcumin

Terry Naturally CuraMed Review

BioSchwartz Review Turmeric Curcumin supplement - heydayDo featured image small

I hope that my review article on BioSchwartz Turmeric Curcumin & the company that makes it is useful to you, and I wish you well on your fitness journey.

– greg


About The Author

heydayDo author Greg Simon

Hi, I’m Gregory Simon. Fitness training & nutrition researching since 1982. ISSN (International Society of Sports Nutrition) Pro Member. MBA, B.Sc.

Author. Surfer. Organic food grower. Congenital heart disease survivor (so far).

heydayDo.com is my wellness blog that’s about encouraging a healthy lifestyle as we age. 

I share my fitness training experience as well as the sports science research I’ve done on the many benefits strength building, exercise, & good eating habits offer us. 

I also write review articles after product testing and evaluating home gym equipment & fitness supplements.

My hope is that you’ll find useful or encouraging information here on my website that will benefit your unique fitness journey.

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