Citrus Bergamot Amounts Used in Trials (BPF mg per Day)
Educational summary — not medical advice. See the hub for the statin/CYP3A4 interaction caution. This statement has not been evaluated by the FDA. This product is not intended to diagnose, treat, cure, or prevent any disease.
The honest answer
Trials we reviewed range 400–1300mg/day of bergamot polyphenolic fraction (BPF), with most positive results clustering in the 500–1000mg/day range. A 500mg/day dose reported no change in one independent trial. There is no government RDA or upper limit for bergamot polyphenols — it's a food-derived extract, not an essential nutrient, so every number here is trial-derived, not physiologically anchored the way a vitamin dose would be.
What the trials used
Bergamot dosing across the human trials is more scattered than a typical single-nutrient supplement, partly because different products (BPF, Bergavit®, Brumex™, BPE-C) use different extraction and standardization methods that aren't directly interchangeable milligram-for-milligram. Pierdomenico 2023 used a lower 400mg/day of a different extract (Brumex™) over 12 weeks and reported changes in lipid measures — the lowest amount with a reported change in the trials we reviewed. Capomolla 2019 tested two doses head-to-head, 650mg/day and 1,300mg/day of a pectin-enriched formulation (BPE-C), and reported larger changes in fasting glucose, triglycerides, and the atherogenic index at the higher amount — a weak signal, since it comes from one trial testing one specific formulation. Toth 2015 used a different metric entirely: 150mg/day of disclosed flavonoids (not total BPF weight) from a Bergavit®-branded extract. And Bruno 2017 used the lowest dose in this pack, 500mg/day, over 60 days in psychiatric outpatients on antipsychotic medication — and found no metabolic change, a null result in that specific population.
| Trial | Dose | Duration | Result |
|---|---|---|---|
| Pierdomenico 2023 | 400 mg/day (Brumex™) | 12 weeks | Reported changes in lipid measures |
| Bruno 2017 | 500 mg/day (BPF) | 60 days | No change reported (one small trial) |
| Capomolla 2019 (low) | 650 mg/day (BPE-C) | 90 days | Reported smaller changes than the high amount |
| Capomolla 2019 (high) | 1,300 mg/day (BPE-C) | 90 days | Reported the largest changes in the trials we reviewed (triglycerides, glucose) |
Doses across trials are not strictly comparable milligram-for-milligram, since BPF, Bergavit®, Brumex™, and BPE-C are differently extracted and, where disclosed, differently standardized products. Treat this as the honest range the evidence covers, not a single validated dose-response curve.
Dose checker: where does your bergamot product fall?
Enter the total bergamot extract mg per serving from your label and how many servings you take per day. This checks total extract weight, not polyphenol-adjusted content — most labels don't disclose that figure.
How to read these numbers
- Trials that reported changes mostly used 500–1000mg/day, and results were inconsistent across trials and populations. These are trial amounts, not recommendations.
- 500mg/day showed no effect in Bruno 2017. A product with 500-600mg/day and no standardization disclosed is a double caution.
- 1300mg/day is the highest dose tested. No trial we reviewed tested higher doses, so there is no data on 2,000mg/day or more.
- Standardization matters more than the milligram number. A precise-sounding "1200mg" on an unstandardized label tells you less than a lower dose with a disclosed polyphenol percentage — see the buying guide.
- Take prescription medication? Talk to your clinician before starting any supplement — see the safety note on the hub.
- Follow the label. We found no dedicated timing study.
The standardized pick
This is the one product in the comparison with disclosed standardization and an amount inside the trial range. Full ranking is on best citrus bergamot.
The only disclosed-standardization product in this comparison, at a dose inside the 400-1300mg range studied in trials.
As an Amazon Associate we earn from qualifying purchases. Ranked by disclosed standardization, never commissions.
Price check · Citrus Bergamot
What Citrus Bergamot actually costs across the brands we track
What you pay. The 6 Citrus Bergamot products here run $0.09 to $0.39 a day across 6 brands, a 4.3× gap. Some of these state a certification on the listing itself. That is a weaker claim than a certifier confirming it: a listing repeats what the brand says, and a registry entry shows what a certifier has checked.
Method: the 6 Citrus Bergamot products in our catalogue, each priced at its own labelled serving rather than by pack size, across 6 brands. How we price.
Frequently asked questions
What amounts did the trials use?
Trials that reported changes mostly used 500-1000mg/day BPF; the full range in published trials is 400-1300mg/day. A 500mg dose showed no effect in one trial. These are trial amounts, not recommendations; talk to your doctor before starting.
Is there an official RDA or upper limit?
No. Bergamot polyphenols aren't an essential nutrient, so no deficiency state or government-set dose exists. All figures here are trial-derived.
Do higher amounts do more?
Not established — one trial reported larger changes at 1,300mg than at 650mg. No trial tested above 1,300mg/day, so higher amounts are simply untested.
What did the 500mg trial find?
Bruno 2017 found 500mg/day did not change metabolic measures in antipsychotic-treated patients over 60 days — a null result in that population.
Related
- Citrus Bergamot: what it is
- Best citrus bergamot — ranked by standardization, then cost per mg
Sources
- Pierdomenico M, Cicero AFG, Veronesi M, Fogacci F, et al. "Effect of Citrus bergamia extract on lipid profile: A combined in vitro and human study." Phytotherapy Research. 2023. PMID: 37312672
- Bruno A, Pandolfo G, Muscatello MRA, et al. "Low-Dose of Bergamot-Derived Polyphenolic Fraction (BPF) Did Not Improve Metabolic Parameters in Second Generation Antipsychotics-Treated Patients: Results from a 60-days Open-Label Study." Frontiers in Pharmacology. 2017. PMID: 28443024
- Gliozzi M, et al. "Bergamot polyphenolic fraction enhances rosuvastatin-induced effect on LDL-cholesterol, LOX-1 expression and protein kinase B phosphorylation in patients with hyperlipidemia." International Journal of Cardiology. 2013. PMID: 24239156
- Capomolla AS, et al. "Atherogenic Index Reduction and Weight Loss in Metabolic Syndrome Patients Treated with A Novel Pectin-Enriched Formulation of Bergamot Polyphenols." Nutrients. 2019. PMID: 31167512
- Toth PP, et al. "Bergamot Reduces Plasma Lipids, Atherogenic Small Dense LDL, and Subclinical Atherosclerosis in Subjects with Moderate Hypercholesterolemia: A 6 Months Prospective Study." Frontiers in Pharmacology. 2015 (pub. 2016). PMID: 26779019
- Full product dataset: /citrus-bergamot/cost-by-brand.json (CC BY 4.0).