Everyday supplements › Berberine, Weight and Blood Sugar › Studies

Randomized trial · measured the question itself

A 12-week berberine plus cinnamon trial in type 2 diabetes found lower blood sugar

Mansour and colleagues · European journal of nutrition · 2025

Original title: The efficacy and safety of berberine in combination with cinnamon supplementation in patients with type 2 diabetes: a randomized clinical trial.

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What the study found

Points to benefit

Fasting blood sugar (P = 0.031) and HbA1c (P = 0.013) were lower with berberine plus cinnamon than with placebo. No difference in other body measures.

The study at a glance

Type of study
Randomized trial
Who or what was studied
Adults with type 2 diabetes
What was tested
Berberine 1200 mg plus cinnamon 600 mg a day for 12 weeks, vs placebo
What it measured
The question itself: body weight and blood sugar
Daily amount
1200 mg a day
How long
12 weeks
Who has a stake
Company stake
One author is an employee of Pajoohesh Gostran Taghzie asan Company, which is named in the disclosure.
Journal
European journal of nutrition, 2025
Source
PubMed record 39998703. 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.
  • •The abstract does not say how many people took part.
  • •Lasted 12 weeks.
  • ✓Measured the question itself: body weight and blood sugar.
  • –Company stake: One author is an employee of Pajoohesh Gostran Taghzie asan Company, which is named in the disclosure.
  • •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 two reads agreed on every checked field. 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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