Bergamot dosage and evidence
Written by Aaron CuhaReviewed Sep 2026
The short answer
Fourteen randomised trials show large lipid changes, including LDL down 55 mg/dL. The effect sizes are implausibly large for a food extract, the trials are small and regionally concentrated, and no outcome trial exists.
- People given it
- 0
- Human studies
- 0
- Found nothing
- 0
Dose
No human dose established
No published study on this page has given this compound to people and reported a result.
no study of any kind on record
No first-hand reports gathered yet. That is a gap in what we have collected, not a finding that nothing has been reported.
What it has been measured to do
Nothing indexed yet
The 1 citation on this page do not report a result for any of the 36 goals indexed here. Registry entries, pharmacokinetics, safety reporting and regulatory records are not outcome evidence, and most of what sits here is one of those.
When this earns a spot
It earns a spot when LDL particle pattern is small and dense, or when ApoB is the conversation the clinician is already having. It does not earn a spot as a statin replacement. The trials are small lipid-panel studies.
Owner stack tier 2
Bloodwork that belongs beside the bottle
ApoB plus a standard lipid panel. Pattern testing is optional context.
Default retest window: 90 days. If the named marker did not move, stop.
- LDL-C can look acceptable when ApoB is not.
- Lp(a) will not move. Measure it once so you do not blame the bottle.
Reading the number
If ApoB did not move, stop. If a clinician started a real lipid medicine, they own the retest, and bergamot is not the hero of that story.
Marker glossary: ApoB, LDL cholesterol.
What people typically order
Ask for ApoB, a lipid panel, and one Lp(a). Partners on /bloodwork/partners vary in whether they include ApoB. Read the panel list.
Show full evidence
Overview
Bergamot is a citrus fruit whose polyphenol extract has a randomised literature on blood lipids, and the honest reading of that literature is that it is both real and hard to believe.
A meta-analysis of 14 randomised trials found total cholesterol down 63.6 mg/dL, LDL down 55.4 mg/dL and triglycerides down 74.7 mg/dL. For context, those numbers are in the range of a moderate statin dose, produced by a fruit extract. The same review's authors say the results for nutraceutical compounds containing bergamot were inconsistent and that clinical efficacy needs establishing through higher-quality studies.
When effect sizes look like that, the two possibilities are a genuinely potent compound or a literature with problems. This page reports the numbers and the reasons for caution together, rather than picking one.
Mechanism of action
The bergamot polyphenolic fraction is rich in flavanones, notably brutieridin and melitidin, which carry a side chain structurally similar to the statin pharmacophore. That has led to the hypothesis of partial HMG-CoA reductase inhibition, which would make it a weak statin rather than a generic antioxidant. Other proposed actions include AMPK activation and pancreatic cholesterol ester hydrolase inhibition reducing cholesterol absorption. The statin-like mechanism remains a structural inference supported by preclinical work, not something demonstrated in humans.
Human evidence
A modest randomised literature with strikingly large reported effects on lipid panels, and no trial measuring a clinical event.
- 14 randomised trials pooled: LDL down roughly 55 mg/dL and triglycerides down roughly 75 mg/dL against control.
- The individual trials are small and heavily concentrated in one research community in Italy, where the plant is grown and the extract is produced.
- Every endpoint is a blood lipid. No trial has measured heart attacks, strokes or deaths.
- The reviewers themselves report that results across nutraceutical products containing bergamot were inconsistent, which points at product variability rather than a single reliable intervention.
What this does not tell you: Effect sizes of this magnitude from a food extract should raise the question of whether the literature is measuring what it appears to. Small single-region trials with large effects are the classic setup for a result that shrinks as better trials arrive, and that pattern has played out repeatedly in nutraceutical research. There is also no standardisation across products, so a positive trial of one extract is weak evidence about a different bottle. Lowering a lipid number is not the same as preventing an event, and no bergamot trial has attempted the second.
Reading the research record
Bergamot sits in the awkward zone this site exists to describe accurately. The randomised evidence is not absent, which is where most supplements sit, and it is not robust either. Publication and small-study effects would both push in the direction seen here, and the concentration of the literature in the region that produces the extract is a reason for care rather than an accusation. The fair statement is that a reader with a difficult lipid panel has a plausible, cheap, low-risk thing to try with a measurable marker attached, and no basis for believing it prevents cardiovascular events.
The evidence, charted
Fig. 1a · evidence scale
0people have taken this in any study cited here
0 participants · 0 human studies
What this page cites instead is 1 review. None of it involved giving the compound to a person.
Counted from the citation list on this page. A figure is drawn here only when a human study is cited; an empty one is the finding, not a gap in the page.
Fig. 1b · evidence mix
None of the 1 citation here is human work.
- Review · summarises other work1100%
Counted from the citation list on this page, typed as this page types it. It understates any literature larger than the sources we cite, and a review counts once however many studies it covers.
Fig. 2 · evidence over time
Every citation here was published in 2022.
Too few distinct publication years on this page to plot as a timeline.
Fig. 3 · legal status at a glance
US
Not approved
UK
Not approved
AU
Not approved
CA
Not approved
Not approved in any of the four jurisdictions shown. A jurisdiction's classification is a regulatory fact, not a verdict on the science; see Legal status below for the full text and any notes.
Fig. 4 · dose response
No human dose response curve exists
We draw this figure where the data supports it. For this compound in humans it does not, so the panel stays empty rather than borrowing an animal curve and implying it transfers.
Fig. 5 · molecular identity
- Modality
- Supplement
- Molecular weight
- Not a single molecule. A standardised polyphenol extract, and products differ in flavanone content, which is the main reason results may not transfer between them.
- Half-life
- Stated in words, not a number
- Sequence length
- None on file
see the exact wording below
Half-life as stated on file: Not well characterised in humans. Citrus flavanones are extensively metabolised by gut microbiota and conjugated in the liver, and plasma appearance of metabolites differs substantially between people.
No amino acid sequence is on file for Bergamot, which is expected: a supplement is not built from residues.
Key studies & citations
- Review2022The effect of bergamot supplementation on lipid profiles: a systematic review and meta-analysis of randomized controlled trials
14 randomised trials. Total cholesterol minus 63.60 mg/dL (95% CI minus 78.03 to minus 49.18), triglycerides minus 74.72 mg/dL, LDL minus 55.43 mg/dL and HDL up 5.78 mg/dL, all p < 0.001. The authors state that results for nutraceutical compounds containing bergamot were inconsistent and that clinical efficacy needs establishing through higher-quality studies.
Frequently asked questions
Has Bergamot been tested in people?
Fourteen randomised trials show large lipid changes, including LDL down 55 mg/dL. The effect sizes are implausibly large for a food extract, the trials are small and regionally concentrated, and no outcome trial exists. no study of any kind on record. 0 people given it across 0 completed trials. 0 found nothing.
What is the Bergamot dosage?
No human dose established. No published study on this page has given this compound to people and reported a result. no study of any kind on record
Is Bergamot FDA-approved?
Sold as a dietary supplement. Not approved to treat dyslipidaemia or anything else.
Does bergamot really lower LDL by 55 points?
That is what the pooled meta-analysis of 14 randomised trials reports. It is also a large enough effect to warrant scepticism from a food extract, the trials are small and regionally concentrated, and the reviewers themselves call for higher-quality studies. Treat it as promising rather than established.
Is it a natural statin?
The interesting version of that claim is structural: two of its flavanones carry a side chain resembling the statin pharmacophore, which makes partial HMG-CoA reductase inhibition plausible. That has not been demonstrated in humans. Calling it a natural statin overstates what has been shown.
Does the product matter?
Probably a great deal. This is a standardised extract rather than a single molecule, products differ in flavanone content, and the meta-analysis found results inconsistent across nutraceutical products containing bergamot. If you try it, match the extract to one used in a trial.