Beating Diabetes Naturally
New research has looked at 46 studies of this natural ingredient and found that there is strong evidence that it can help treat your diabetes. Want to know what it is?
It’s berberine. You may not have heard of berberine, but you may have heard of some of the herbs it’s found in. The most famous one is probably goldenseal. Berberine is the active ingredient in goldenseal and many other herbs, including barberry, Oregon grape root, goldthread.
Several studies have found berberine to be highly effective for treating diabetes. Berberine is as effective as the drugs metformin and rosiglitazone for managing type 2 diabetes (Metabolism 2010;59:285-92). It is actually better than metformin because it has the added advantage of lowering cholesterol and triglycerides. When drugs are not able to successfully manage type 2 diabetes, adding berberine significantly improves the efficacy (Metabolism 2008;57:712-17). A meta-analysis of controlled studies found that, for type 2 diabetes, berberine is more effective than placebo and as effective as drugs and that adding it to drugs is superior to drugs alone (J Ethnopharmacol 2015;161:69-81).
As if that’s not enough, a new systematic review and meta-analysis has put together 46 controlled studies of diabetes and prediabetes and come up with even more convincing proof.
Alone or combined with conventional treatments, berberine significantly lowered HbA1c, fasting blood glucose and blood glucose after eating. HbA1c is the most important marker of long term blood sugar and diabetes control. It also significantly improved insulin resistance, triglycerides, and total, LDL and HDL cholesterol.
Berberine also markedly and significantly improve inflammation. Diabetes is associated with inflammation, and that inflammation makes blood sugar drugs work worse. This may be part of the reason why berberine improves the efficacy of drugs.
The researchers say that berberine lowers blood sugar as effectively as the drug metformin and that adding it to drugs improves their efficacy. It may be especially valuable for diabetics with cholesterol problems and who are overweight.
Berberine treatment was also safe and had a better safety profile than the control group.
Oxid Med Cell Longev. 2021; 2021: 2074610
