Welcome everyone to another edition of the Doctor’s Note where we talk about what’s on our minds when it comes to your health.
Since May 2023, we have seen a surge of interest in the supplement Berberine. Berberine is a chemical compound extracted from plants like goldenseal and barberry, often sold as a supplement to help treat hypertension and insulin resistance. It has been a favorite supplement of mine for years, and even more so now that there’s promising research for weight loss.
In this week’s podcast, I do a deep dive on how and why Berberine is being called “Nature’s Ozempic”. Click here to watch the full episode on our YouTube channel.
PODCAST NOTES
- Ozempic is a GLP-1 Receptor Agonist. It mimics the action of a hormone in your gut called glucagon-like-peptide 1. When you eat, your blood sugar goes up. As your blood sugar starts to rise, medicines like Ozempic stimulate the body to produce more insulin to lower the blood sugar. They also delay gastric emptying so you’re less hungry and decrease the form of sugar that comes from your liver called glucagon.
- Acting as a natural GLP-1 agonist, Berberine shares a similar mechanism. Berberine is also a GIP agonist, a feature shared with another medication called Mounjaro. These properties make Berberine a dual action powerhouse, impacting blood sugar management and appetite control in multiple ways.
- Compared to Ozempic or Mounjaro, you won’t lose weight quite as fast, but you will lose weight. What I’m seeing with my patients is about 0.5 pounds to 1 pound per week.
- Berberine is a naturally occurring alkaloid that is found in several plants like goldenseal and barberry. It’s long been known for its anti-inflammatory and anti-cancer properties, but it also has antibacterial, antiviral, and even anti-proliferative attributes.
- Berberine activates an enzyme known as AMPK, a very important enzyme in regulating metabolism and energy levels.
- Children, pregnant women, and/or nursing mothers should not use Berberine.
- Berberine is often compared to Metformin. It’s more natural, with less side effects (a lot easier on the stomach). I think it works as well as Metformin.
- If you’re on other medications (i.e., diabetes medications, high blood pressure medications, blood thinners, etc), you need to check on those parameters,because you may need to lower some of those other medications to compensate for it. Always check with your practitioner. If you’re a diabetic, you may need to adjust down some of the other medicines that you take.
- Can you take Metformin and Berberine? You could, but you’re probably going to have to drop down on your dose of Metformin (or Ozempic or Mounjaro). It will lower your blood sugar. A lot of times I will just replace Metformin with Berberine.
- With the regular form of Berberine, it’s dosed at 500mg/ 3 times a day. With a new form of Berberine, called Dihydroberberine, it’s dosed at 200mg/ twice a day for weight loss. For maintenance, it’s once a day. Dihydroberberine is 4 times more potent than Berberine HCL (what most people get), plus it’s much easier on the stomach. Doctor Rogers Berberine is Dihydroberberine.
Berberine is a powerful supplement, packed with health benefits. Weight loss and metabolic syndrome are only a few. Lowering blood pressure, lowering cholesterol, heart health, plus the anti- inflammatory, anticancer effects make Berberine a great choice of supplement. It’s definitely mine. As always, do your own research.
Stay educated. Stay healthy.
Till next week.