berbering is getting more and more attention as the next Miracle supplement many promoted for his cardiovascular and metabolic benefits especially in people with diabetes heart disease and high cholesterol and some take it for its anti-inflammatory effects or is an immune boost that helps fight viral or parasitic infections well in this video I'll tell you which of these claim benefits actually have any evidence to support them I will also talk to you about who should and more importantly who should not be taking berbering and go over a safety profile hi I'm Dr Leonid Kim and on
this channel I discuss the most up-to-date and evidence-based information on the topics of metabolic Health weight loss and Longevity let's get into it berberine is an alkaloid derivative that can be isolated from many kinds of medicinal plants it's been used in traditional Chinese and ayurvedic medicine for thousands of years with uses ranging from diarrhea to type 2 diabetes and even in the treatment of certain types of cancer animal Studies have shown additional benefits with weight loss Improvement of gut health inflammation as well as in the treatment of fatty liver and heart failure one of the
most studied effects of berberine is its effect on glucose metabolism and cholesterol a meta-analysis of 27 randomized controlled clinical trials that included over 2500 patients show that berberine has effects on Diabetes Type 2 that is comparable to other therapeutic regiments more specifically one study of 36 adults with newly diagnosed diabetes compared the effects of berberine versus metformin and found that berberine reduce hemoglobin A1c by two percentage points which was similar to the change seen in the metformin group in fact compared to metformin berberine exhibited an identical effect of fasting blood glucose levels as well as
in fasting and postprandial insulin levels and when it came to cholesterol the berberine group showed a significantly lower levels of triglyceride rights when compared to metformin a subsequent study of 97 patients with diabetes found the berberine lower fasting blood glucose by 28 percent which was similar to the effects seen in the subgroup treated with metformin or another diabetes medication called Rosa glidosone brand name avandia this study also noted a decrease in insulin levels in patients treated with berberine suggesting an improvement in insulin sensitivity now when it comes to cholesterol berberine also seems to be quite
beneficial in treating lipid disorders there is a small but a randomized placebo-controlled double-blinded study of 106 subjects with type 2 diabetes and discipidemia and found that the treatment of the berberine for 12 weeks not only approved blood glucose levels and triglyceride levels but it also lowered LDL Levels by 21 and this finding Falls in line with an older study published in nature that found berberine to decrease LDL by 25 and there was an interesting study publishing metabolism they perform a head-to-head comparison between berberine and simvastatin and common Statin medication and what they found was their
group that was treated with berberine had a much better LDL reduction compared to the stuvastatin group and on top of that the combination therapy of simvastatin plus berberine gave an even greater reduction LDL at a whopping 31 percent lastly their recent animal studies that highlight berberine having a weak activity against inhibiting pcsk9 which is an enzyme that is a target of a newer class of cholesterol medications like evolokumab brand name ripatha other studies no berberine modulating your microbiome which in turn promotes your metabolic Health by increasing glp-1 hormone which is the basis of the insanely
popular weight loss and diabetes drugs like ozempic and Manjaro now let's discuss who should and should not be taking the supplement is this a good supplement to take for someone who has diabetes or cholesterol problems well despite all the impressive studies moving over those studies are still tiny compared to studies published on most diabetes and cholesterol medications so I personally would still favor common medications like metformin or as Statin over berberine the number of people studied taking these prescription medications just dwarf the small studies that looked into berberine and the formulation of the prescription drugs
is also highly regulated unlike what you see in the supplement industry where it's often hard to know for sure if the product you're buying has the right therapeutic dose and actually contains the medicinal components advertised but if you are for whatever reason are not able to take common oral diabetes medications or statins it may be worth it to talk to your doctor to see if berberine can be added to your treatment regimen just be aware that there's still not a whole lot of information on what interactions berberine has with other medications so your doctor may
be more comfortable recommending berberine if you do not have any major comorbidities or if that's the only medication you'll be taking however given the limited drug interaction data available I personally would not recommend it to someone who takes more than three or four drugs or supplements especially ones that require close monitoring like blood thinners or cardiac medications lastly if you are taking berberine let me know which brand of the supplement you prefer and why is there a brand that you trust more than others I hope this review was helpful and I'll see you in the
next one
