Liver Safety & Supplements

Warning signs come first. NCCIH lists fatigue, nausea, poor appetite, dark urine and jaundice (yellowing of the skin or the whites of the eyes) as liver damage symptoms to watch for, and says to stop turmeric or curcumin products immediately and talk with a health care provider if they appear. [1] The UK's NHS says jaundice can be a sign of something serious such as liver disease and needs urgent medical help. [2] MedlinePlus adds that liver disease can also show up as changes in the color of stool and urine, and that sometimes there are no symptoms at all. [3] If someone is confused, very drowsy, collapses or cannot breathe normally, call 911. Do not stop a prescribed medicine on your own; ask the prescriber or a pharmacist.

What researchers report

A 2025 review by liver specialists says herbal and dietary supplement liver injury now accounts for about 20% of cases of drug-induced liver injury in the US Drug-Induced Liver Injury Network. [4] The agents it lists as most often implicated include anabolic steroids, green tea extract, garcinia cambogia, kratom, ashwagandha, turmeric and multi-ingredient products. [4] The same authors point to the lack of regulatory oversight to confirm the ingredients of these products. [4] These figures describe groups of reported cases; they do not give the chance of harm for any one person.

Examples named by NCCIH

This table keeps each product and form separate, because a finding for one form does not carry over to another.

Each of these has its own page in the Herbs & Botanicals library, for example turmeric and green tea, and kava is covered under Specialty Topics.

Why the cause is hard to pin down

NCCIH notes that kava liver problems may relate to the plant variety or plant part used, alcohol use, or contamination, and that these are suggestions, not settled facts. [5] For black cohosh, mislabeled products complicate the picture. [6] The review authors list identifying the responsible ingredient among the challenges. [4] See product quality and contamination.

Who should ask first

• People with known liver disease. NHS notes that most types of liver disease cause no symptoms early on, so a person may not know. [9]
• People taking any medicine. NCCIH advises talking with your provider before using kava or other herbal products, because some herbs and medicines interact in harmful ways. [5]
• Anyone using several products at once. Combining kava with sedatives such as benzodiazepines or alcohol is specifically advised against by NCCIH. [5]

What this page could not verify

NIH's LiverTox database is the standard reference for supplement and drug liver injury, but its pages did not load for us (the site returned a browser-check screen), so we do not quote it. Proper evidence not found here for any numbers on how common liver injury is for a given product; the sources we read give group-level figures only.

What you can do

Bring every product to your pharmacist or clinician, including the bottle, and use the warning signs guide if symptoms appear. The how interactions work page explains the labels used here. For other conditions, return to Existing Health Conditions.