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Everyday supplements › Berberine, Weight and Blood Sugar › Studies

Randomized trial · measured the question itself

A 12-week HTD1801 trial in 113 adults with type 2 diabetes: lower blood sugar

Ji and colleagues · JAMA network open · 2025

Original title: Berberine Ursodeoxycholate for the Treatment of Type 2 Diabetes: A Randomized Clinical Trial.

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

HbA1c was lower than placebo by -0.4% (95% CI -0.79% to -0.03%) with 500 mg and -0.7% (95% CI -1.10% to -0.35%) with 1000 mg. Fasting blood sugar fell -13.0 and -18.4 mg/dL.

The study at a glance

Type of study
Randomized trial
Who or what was studied
113 people · Adults with type 2 diabetes not controlled by diet and exercise, in China
What was tested
HTD1801 (a berberine and ursodeoxycholic acid salt), 500 mg or 1000 mg twice a day for 12 weeks, vs placebo
What it measured
The question itself: body weight and blood sugar
Daily amount
2000 mg a day
How long
12 weeks
Trial registration
NCT06411275
Who has a stake
Company stake
Three authors hold stock options in Shenzhen HighTide Biopharmaceutical; one reports fees from many drug firms. HighTide Therapeutics staff authored HTD1801 trial PMID 34535644.
Journal
JAMA network open, 2025
Source
PubMed record 40029660. 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: 113 people.
  • •Lasted 12 weeks.
  • ✓Measured the question itself: body weight and blood sugar.
  • –Company stake: Three authors hold stock options in Shenzhen HighTide Biopharmaceutical; one reports fees from many drug firms. HighTide Therapeutics staff authored HTD1801 trial PMID 34535644.
  • •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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