Berberine is a great supplement most commonly used for helping to balance blood sugar and is often used by diabetics or pre-diabetic people to help get their blood sugar more under control. Interestingly, it also has the side benefit of helping with lowering cholesterol levels (most research on berberine and cholesterol was after a three-month period, but the benefits were impressive). It's even shown to help with improved liver health and functioning.
Lately, berberine has been in the news and all over social media as a "miracle weight loss cure". I keep seeing tons of headlines touting berberine as "Nature's Ozempic". Ozempic is a prescription approved for helping with type 2 diabetes, but has been in the news for its "off label" use for weight loss supposedly used by a number of celebrities, though I would caution against frivolously using prescription drugs and because they often come with side effects.
The main use of berberine is for lowering blood sugar, but it also helps with insulin resistance which goes hand in hand with weight gain. Insulin is a hormone produced in the body that basically helps us to convert food into energy, specifically by helping blood sugar to enter the cells so it can be used to fuel our bodies. Over time, people can become insulin resistant, usually from a combination of poor diet and excess weight, particularly around the midsection, which when untreated, can lead to type 2 diabetes.
When your cells become resistant to insulin, they don't have enough glucose (or blood sugar) and that makes your body feel hungry (because it's kind of like your cells are starving), which makes you eat more; then that excess food and glucose is stored as fat. Berberine can help your cells to respond better to insulin and help needed blood glucose to go into your cells to be used. When your cells have more glucose, you feel satisfied and less hungry. It’s also just really beneficial to your body. High blood sugar levels and insulin resistance over time not only can cause type 2 diabetes, but it can be damaging to our organs and cardiovascular health.
Insulin resistance is directly connected to weight gain and problems losing weight. Also, more stable blood sugar can also help with reducing cravings, particularly cravings for sugar and carbohydrates. High blood sugar over time can also damage the body in lots of different ways, leading to nerve damage and an increased risk of heart attack and stroke.
Research has found that berberine may have similar effectiveness in lowering blood sugar and helping insulin resistance as the prescription drug metformin. Scientists have also researched using berberine and metformin together for a greater benefit, but I would speak with your doctor before changing your health plan or adding natural products to a prescription regimen.
Berberine has also been shown to have both neuroprotective and cardiovascular-protective effects and a host of other benefits.
It really seems like berberine is joining a select group of supplements that research is showing to be good for all sorts of things, from helping blood sugar and cholesterol to cardiovascular health and blood pressure to digestive issues like leaky gut, and even possibly helping the brain with anxiety disorders. Research is still ongoing about a number of different aspects of berberine's potential benefits, and it will be interesting to see what new benefits are discovered in the coming years.
A standard dose of berberine is a 500 mg capsule taken two or three times a day, but we've just gotten in a new lipo-micellar form at Pass Health Foods that's better absorbed, which may mean you could take a smaller amount with similar effectiveness.
This new form greatly increases absorption. Berberine is great and has shown to be really effective but it's hard for the body to absorb (and yet it shows such promise in research even with low absorption).
Supplements in the lipo-micellar form have been shown to have a much higher absorption rate, making them more useful in the body since they are in a form that the body is able to easily absorb and use.
With any supplement, it's really about what you're absorbing. Regular berberine is great, though I would say that this new lipo-micellar form is definitely better, and it may be that one pill of the lipo-micellar form of berberine is equal to two or even three pills of a regular berberine. It's brand new though, so there isn't really any research that has compared the two in an actual study yet.
Regardless of which form you use I think it's a great supplement with good research behind it. I also love supplements that help a variety of things vs. just doing one beneficial thing in the body.
As with any supplement, it's a good idea to speak with your doctor or pharmacist first. Berberine is not recommended for people taking certain cancer medications or immunosuppressant drugs and is not recommended while pregnant or breastfeeding.
Stop by and see us at 7228 W. College Drive in Palos Heights, we have a great selection of berberine on sale and have a kind, knowledgeable staff.