Digestery
Everyday supplements › Berberine, Weight and Blood Sugar › Studies

Randomized trial · measured other health measures

18-week HTD1801 trial in 100 adults with fatty liver and diabetes: less liver fat

Harrison and colleagues · Nature communications · 2021

Original title: A phase 2, proof of concept, randomised controlled trial of berberine ursodeoxycholate in patients with presumed non-alcoholic steatohepatitis and type 2 diabetes.

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

Liver fat fell more with 1000 mg twice a day than placebo (-4.8% vs. -2.0%, p = 0.011). This group also had better blood sugar control and weight loss than placebo; abstract gives no numbers for these.

The study at a glance

Type of study
Randomized trial
Who or what was studied
100 people · Adults with fatty liver disease and type 2 diabetes
What was tested
HTD1801 (a berberine and ursodeoxycholic acid salt), up to 1000 mg twice a day for 18 weeks, vs placebo
What it measured
Several kinds of outcomes
Daily amount
2000 mg a day
How long
18 weeks
Trial registration
NCT03656744
Who has a stake
Company stake
One author is a HighTide Therapeutics employee; three others are its contractor or consultants. Several report grants from HighTide and other drug firms.
Journal
Nature communications, 2021
Source
PubMed record 34535644. 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: 100 people.
  • •Lasted 18 weeks.
  • •Measured several kinds of outcomes.
  • –Company stake: One author is a HighTide Therapeutics employee; three others are its contractor or consultants. Several report grants from HighTide and other drug firms.
  • •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

  2. Trials in people: other measures

    7

    5 benefit, 1 mixed, 1 no difference

    ↑ This study is the ringed dot

  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: 4 benefit, 1 mixed, 1 no difference. 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
Not yet. Required before search engines may list this page.

Spot an error? Email a flag with a link to your source, or use the form on the question page.