The Real Reasons To Use Berberine for Diabetes

Dr. Stengler: Berberine is a tremendous herb that lowers blood sugar levels. In this video, I'm going to cover the real science behind berberine's effect on diabetes. Many of you have pre-diabetes or type 2 diabetes and are looking for more natural ways to lower blood sugar. Berberine is a phenomenal herb that I've used with thousands of patients, and studies demonstrate that it lowers blood sugar levels quite effectively in both pre-diabetes and type 2 diabetes. It also helps with weight loss, because improving insulin resistance helps the body shed excess weight.

Berberine has been documented for use in human health for over 400 years — widely used in Chinese and Asian medicine, and in the Middle East as well. In the last decade, there has been a great deal of research on it, and what we're finding is that the results are remarkable. Berberine is known to reduce blood glucose levels, increase insulin secretion, reduce body weight and lipid levels, balance glucose tolerance and insulin, and activate a cellular messenger called AMPK — which helps get glucose into cells to be burned as energy.

Let's look at the studies. In the Journal of Clinical Endocrinology and Metabolism, researchers took 116 people with type 2 diabetes and elevated lipids and gave them either 1,000 milligrams of berberine daily or a placebo for three months. The berberine group saw a reduction in hemoglobin A1C — the three-month blood sugar average — of about one full point. If you're familiar with A1C, one point is dramatic. Going from a 7 down to a 6 means going from type 2 diabetes levels down to pre-diabetes levels. That's a very significant reduction.

In the Journal of Diabetes and Metabolic Disorders, 80 people with type 2 diabetes were given either berberine at 480 milligrams or metformin at 1,000 milligrams daily for three months. Berberine was as effective as metformin in reducing blood glucose and controlling type 2 diabetes, and weight loss occurred in both groups.

In the Journal of Diabetes Mellitus, 70 patients with pre-diabetes — where fasting blood glucose is between 100 and 124 mg/dL, or hemoglobin A1C is between 5.7 and 6.4 — were given either berberine or placebo three times daily for three months. Those receiving berberine showed significant declines in fasting blood glucose, two-hour post-meal glucose, and hemoglobin A1C.

A larger meta-analysis published in a health journal combined 13 randomized controlled studies with over 1,100 participants comparing berberine to metformin in people with type 2 diabetes. The results were essentially equal. Importantly, they also found that combining berberine with metformin reduced glucose levels even further. So if you're on metformin and want better results, talk to your doctor about adding berberine.

A final large analysis published in the Journal of Oxidative Medicine and Cellular Longevity reviewed over 40 clinical trials — including four studies in pre-diabetes — with over 4,000 total participants and study durations ranging from four weeks to six months. The authors concluded that berberine remarkably decreased hemoglobin A1C and showed effectiveness in lowering blood glucose comparable to metformin.

For dosing, I typically have patients use at least 1,000 milligrams of berberine per day, up to 2,000 or sometimes 3,000 milligrams. One important note: standard berberine is not well absorbed. I prefer forms with enhanced absorption technology, such as the berberine phytosome form, which has studies demonstrating significantly higher bioavailability. I'll often use the phytosome form alone or combine it with regular berberine to get the doses up, adjusting based on the person's blood sugar levels.

Of course, berberine works best in combination with dietary improvements — reducing simple carbohydrates, getting quality protein and high fiber, exercising properly, improving sleep, and managing stress. All of these work together to bring blood sugar levels down effectively.

For more videos on the benefits of berberine, visit my YouTube channel.

‍