Berberine: Diabetes, High Cholesterol, Obesity, Infection, & More
Berberine
Berberine is a plant alkaloid that is found in many different species of plants including goldenseal, barberry, oregon grape, and tree turmeric. Commonly used in chinese medicine, berberine has been shown to be an effective treatment option for many conditions as an oral supplement and even as a topical cream. This article will look more closely into the conditions that berberine has been shown to treat and the research to back it up. Conditions discussed include type II diabetes and insulin resistance, high cholesterol, infection, and obesity.
As with any supplement it is important to consult a physician before beginning, especially if you are currently taking other medications. Berberine has been shown to be safe in doses up to 2 grams per day for 8 weeks when used orally in healthy adults. Supplementation of berberine is not recommended for children, pregnant women, or lactating mothers. Like many supplements, berberine has been reported to cause minor side effects including headache, low blood pressure, slow heart rate, and nausea.
Type II Diabetes and Insulin Resistance:
Type II diabetes is a condition of severe insulin resistance in which the body no longer listens to a hormone (insulin) that is telling it to move sugar out of the blood and into the cells. This disease leads to high blood sugar and many other possibly severe symptoms. Robust clinical research suggests that berberine may be an incredible treatment for Type II diabetes by reducing blood sugar. A large study took 160 patients with type II diabetes and gave them one gram (500mg 2x) of berberine every day and compared them to a placebo group. After three months the subjects taking berberine had reduced glycated hemoglobin (average blood sugar over 30 days), lower fasting plasma glucose (blood sugar), and lower post-prandial glucose (blood sugar after meals) (1). Another study indicated that giving patients 500 mg of berberine 2-3 times daily for 2-3 months showed that it is as effective for treating type II diabetes as the common prescription drug metformin (2). It is thought that berberine is effective due to it's ability to increase cells' insulin receptor expression and allowing this hormone to do it's job and let sugar into cells (3).
Hyperlipidemia (High Cholesterol):
Hyperlipidemia, commonly known as high cholesterol is a disorder characterized by high fats in the blood. What makes high cholesterol famous is that high levels of a certain type (small particle LDL) have been linked to heart disease, heart attack, and stroke. Good news is that dietary changes, exercise, and supplements are extremely effective at lowering cholesterol levels (4), and berberine is one of those supplements. The evidence showing berberine to be effective at lowering high cholesterol suggests that 500 mg twice daily reduced total cholesterol, triglycerides, and most importantly LDL cholesterol ("bad cholesterol) after 3 months compared to a placebo group (1). This reduction in cholesterol is likely interconnected to the substance's ability to decrease blood sugar and control type II diabetes. The reported side effects of berberine are also very minor compared to those of cholesterol-lowering prescription statin drugs, which come with a long list of sometimes severe side effects (5). However, please be advised that if you are already taking a prescription medication it is not safe to discontinue use without the consent and management of a prescribing physician.
Infection:
Studies suggest that in addition to it's cholesterol and blood sugar lowering abilities, berberine also has antimicrobial properties to help fight off infection. A very difficult infection to get rid of with antibiotic drugs is a bacteria known as H. Pylori which commonly infects the stomach and other parts of the digestive tract. Berberine has been shown to be more effective in eliminating this bacterial infection than ranitidine, a common pharmaceutical prescribed for H. Pylori infection (6).
Obesity:
Likely due to it's blood sugar and cholesterol lowering abilities, berberine has also been effective in obese individuals trying to lose weight. Berberine supplementation of 1500 mg/day for 12 weeks has been shown to be effective for weight loss, with an average of 5lbs lost per subject over placebo. This study also reinforced berberine's ability lower blood lipids and showed possible implications for the plant alkaloid's ability to improve osteoporosis (7).
Other:
Berberine supplementation also has potential to be effective for many other conditions: