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Everyday supplements › Berberine, Weight and Blood Sugar › Studies

Randomized trial · measured other health measures

A 12-week berberine-blend trial in 93 adults with obesity: lower BMI and body fat

Xenos and colleagues · Nutrients · 2026

Original title: Effects of Berberine, White Mulberry Leaf Extract and Chromium Picolinate on Body Composition and Insulin Resistance in Adults with Obesity: A Randomized Controlled Trial.

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What the study found

Points to benefit

Compared with placebo, body mass index fell more (-1.24 kg per square meter; 95% CI -2.15 to -0.33) and body fat mass fell more (-2.35 kg; 95% CI -4.12 to -0.58). Insulin sensitivity improved 28% more (ratio 1.28).

The study at a glance

Type of study
Randomized trial
Who or what was studied
93 people · Greek adults with obesity and no chronic disease
What was tested
Berberine 1000 mg plus white mulberry leaf extract and chromium picolinate each day for 12 weeks, vs placebo
What it measured
Several kinds of outcomes
Daily amount
1000 mg a day
How long
12 weeks
Who has a stake
No stake declared
No conflicts declared; internal grant from the Hellenic Institute of Nutrition.
Journal
Nutrients, 2026
Source
PubMed record 42738972. 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: 93 people.
  • •Lasted 12 weeks.
  • •Measured several kinds of outcomes.
  • ✓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

  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
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