A flavone pigment found in celery, parsley, peppers and chamomile, sold as an isolate usually extracted from peanut hulls or Sophora. It is poorly water-soluble and poorly absorbed.
Luteolin has an extensive laboratory reputation as a mast-cell stabiliser and inhibitor of microglial activation, and this has made it a fixture in supplements marketed for brain fog, mast cell activation and long COVID. Almost none of that has been tested properly in people. The few human studies are small, often open-label, and usually test a combination formula containing luteolin alongside other flavonoids, so the contribution of luteolin itself cannot be separated. There is no established human dose and no long-term safety data at supplemental amounts.
Sold as
Capsule, Liposomal, Combination formulas with quercetin or rutin
Standardised to
Percentage luteolin; frequently sold as a peanut-hull-derived extract — a product without this marker may not resemble what was studied.
Regulation: A dietary supplement in the US with no pre-market efficacy review. Marketed for neuroinflammation and mast cell conditions on the basis of laboratory rather than clinical evidence.
What the research used
The amounts, forms and durations published trials of Luteolin actually administered.
These are the amounts published trials administered — not a recommendation, and not a dose to copy. Trial participants were screened, supervised and given a characterised preparation. What is in a retail bottle is frequently not what was studied, and the amount that suits one person is not general advice.
Studied for Small combination-formula studies
100–200 mg
Not enough
Capsule, usually within a multi-flavonoid formula · 4–26 weeks
Doses used in small open-label studies in children with autism spectrum conditions and in brain fog. Because the products contained several flavonoids, these numbers do not establish a dose for luteolin alone.
This is general information about food, not medical advice. It cannot diagnose, treat or replace guidance from a clinician who knows your history.
When it was taken
Each window says whether a trial compared it against an alternative, or whether it is convention and pharmacology. Most timing advice is the second kind.
None of the timings below were directly compared in a trial. They reflect how the research happened to dose, or what the pharmacology implies — which is not the same as a timing being better.
🍽️With food
Not enough
Taken with fat-containing food on solubility grounds. No timing or fed-versus-fasted comparison has been published for luteolin.
Timing was not directly compared. This reflects convention or how the compound behaves in the body, not a trial showing this window works better.
The evidence in depth
Best supported: Not enough
What each association actually rests on, and the papers behind it. A rating describes the state of the research, not how promising the supplement sounds. How we rate evidence.
Brain fog and cognition claims come from small uncontrolled studies of combination products. There is not enough human evidence to attribute anything to luteolin.
Not enough evidence. Not enough human research to say anything useful yet.
Randomised controlled trial · Clinical neurophysiology : official journal of the International Federation of Clinical Neurophysiology · 2023 · PMID 36455453
Deep research mode adds each paper’s own conclusion and stated limitations.
The anti-inflammatory case rests on cell culture and rodent work at concentrations that oral dosing is unlikely to reach. Human trials measuring inflammatory markers with luteolin alone are essentially absent.
What may be going on: Luteolin inhibits mast-cell mediator release and microglial activation in vitro, and interferes with NF-κB signalling.
Not enough evidence. Not enough human research to say anything useful yet.
Deep research mode adds each paper’s own conclusion and stated limitations.
Things to know
Interactions, contraindications and dose limits, most serious first. Concentrated extracts interact with medication in ways the whole plant does not, so this section carries more weight here than it does on a food page.
Allergy
Peanut hull sourcing
Much commercial luteolin is extracted from peanut hulls. Purified flavonoid should not contain peanut protein, but processing controls vary between suppliers and anyone with a serious peanut allergy should establish the source before using it.
Interaction
Flavonoid enzyme inhibition
Interacts withCYP3A4 and CYP1A2 substrates
Like other flavones, luteolin inhibits cytochrome P450 enzymes in laboratory work, so interactions with medicines cleared by CYP3A4 and CYP1A2 are plausible. No human interaction studies exist.
Worth knowing
No established dose or long-term safety data
Published human exposure is limited to small studies of combination products. Neither an effective dose nor a safe long-term dose has been established, and there is no data in pregnancy or breastfeeding.
In the food catalogue
The whole-food form, where one exists. The evidence for a concentrated extract rarely transfers to the food, or the other way round — these are cross-links, not equivalents.