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Everyday supplements › Berberine, Weight and Blood Sugar › Studies

Randomized trial · measured the question itself

A 3-month berberine trial in 116 adults with type 2 diabetes: lower blood sugar

Zhang and colleagues · The Journal of clinical endocrinology and metabolism · 2008

Original title: Treatment of type 2 diabetes and dyslipidemia with the natural plant alkaloid berberine.

Under review. A person has not yet checked this summary against the paper. It is written from the PubMed abstract. Until a person checks it, search engines are asked not to list this page.

What the study found

Points to benefit

With berberine, fasting blood sugar fell from 7.0 +/- 0.8 to 5.6 +/- 0.9 and HbA1c from 7.5 +/- 1.0% to 6.6 +/- 0.7%, both differing from placebo (P < 0.0001). Five people had mild to moderate constipation.

The study at a glance

Type of study
Randomized trial
Who or what was studied
116 people · Adults with type 2 diabetes and high blood fats
What was tested
Berberine 1.0 g a day for 3 months, vs placebo
What it measured
The question itself: body weight and blood sugar
Daily amount
1 g a day
How long
13 weeks
Who has a stake
No disclosure in PubMed
No disclosure in PubMed.
Journal
The Journal of clinical endocrinology and metabolism, 2008
Source
PubMed record 18397984. This page is based on the abstract only.

How much this study counts

  • ✓Randomized: people were put into groups by chance, so the groups start out alike.
  • ✓Compared with a placebo, a dummy treatment.
  • •Medium size: 116 people.
  • •Lasted 13 weeks.
  • ✓Measured the question itself: body weight and blood sugar.
  • •The PubMed record has no conflict-of-interest statement.
  • •Summarized from the PubMed abstract only. The full paper may hold details the abstract leaves out.

✓ Strength– Limit• Note

These points come from fixed rules about the type of study, its size and length, what it measured, and who has a stake. Every study on Digestery gets the same rules.

Where this study sits

Each dot is one on-topic paper on this question. Steps near the top answer the question more directly.

↑ Stronger evidence

  1. Trials in people: weight and blood sugar

    7

    7 benefit

    ↑ This study is the ringed dot

  2. Trials in people: other measures

    7

    5 benefit, 1 mixed, 1 no difference

  3. Trials in people: lab tests or safety

    2

    1 benefit, 1 no difference

  4. Population studies

    2

    2 benefit

  5. Blood levels and genes

    0

    None among the papers we read.

  6. Animals

    1

    1 benefit

↓ Weaker evidence

  • Points to benefit
  • Mixed
  • No difference
  • No direction
  • Points to harm

How it fits with the other research

The short answer to “Does berberine help with weight loss and blood sugar?”

Lowers blood sugar in diabetes; weight unclear.

Confidence: low. Based on 28 on-topic papers.

Read the full answer

Of the other 6 papers on the same step: 6 benefit. This one found benefit. It agrees with most of them.

Other papers on the same step

See all 28 studies on this question

How this page was made

Label

First read of the abstract
Claude Sonnet
Independent second read
Claude Haiku
Differences settled
The reviewer corrected 1 field after reading the abstract. Claude Opus 5.5.
Headline
Claude Sonnet, from the checked study record. A script checked its numbers and wording.
Numbers
Checked against the abstract by a script
“How much this study counts”
Fixed rules, the same for every study
Source check by a person
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