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Randomized trial · measured the question itself

12-week berberine trial in 409 adults with new type 2 diabetes: lower blood sugar

Zhang and colleagues · Nature communications · 2020

Original title: Gut microbiome-related effects of berberine and probiotics on type 2 diabetes (the PREMOTE study).

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What the study found

Points to benefit

HbA1c changed by -1.04 with berberine plus probiotics and -0.99 with berberine alone, versus -0.59 with placebo and -0.53 with probiotics alone (percent units, P < 0.001). Berberine caused more stomach side effects.

The study at a glance

Type of study
Randomized trial
Who or what was studied
409 people · Adults with newly diagnosed type 2 diabetes in China
What was tested
Berberine alone, berberine plus probiotics, probiotics alone, or placebo, for 12 weeks
What it measured
The question itself: body weight and blood sugar
How long
12 weeks
Trial registration
NCT02861261
Who has a stake
No stake declared
No competing interests declared.
Journal
Nature communications, 2020
Source
PubMed record 33024120. 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.
  • ✓Large: 409 people.
  • •Lasted 12 weeks.
  • ✓Measured the question itself: body weight and blood sugar.
  • ✓No competing interests declared.
  • •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 2 fields 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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