The Effects of Active Ingredients of Barberry Root (Berberine) on Glycemic Control and Insulin Resistance in Type 2 Diabetic Patients

Abstract

Background: Diabetes mellitus is one of the most common metabolic diseases in the world. Recently, willingness to use alternative treatments to control and reduce blood sugar levels has noticeably increased. The general objective of this study is to investigate the hypoglycemic effect of the active ingredient of Berberis (Berberine) in patients with type 2 diabetes. Methods: In this double-blind randomized controlled placebo trial, 84 patients with type 2 diabetes were evaluated. The patients were divided in 2 groups (42 each). In addition to their previous drugs, new diet, and life style each group received Berberine capsules 500 mg or placebo twice daily for 4 weeks. At baseline, weight, height, blood pressure, and BMI were calculated for all patients. Fasting plasma glucose, post-meal plasma glucose, fructosamine, lipid profile, fasting blood insulin levels, BUN, creatinine, and liver enzymes were taken from all patients before the study and after 4 weeks. HOMA-IR and HOMA-β% were calculated.

Overall and sex-specific effect of berberine for dyslipidemia: systematic review and meta-analysis of placebo-controlled trials

“…Trial duration ranged from 4 to 24 weeks. Patients enrolled in the studies most frequently had type 2 diabetes mellitus,(23, 24, 32, 35, 39, 40) PCOS,(17, 18, 33, 38) dyslipidemia,(16, 31, 34, 36) or schizophrenia. (29, 37) One study exclusively enrolled men,(16) four studies exclusively enrolled women with PCOS,(17, 18, 33, 38) and the remaining studies enrolled both men and women.…”

“…(32, 34) Given its ability to reduce blood glucose, berberine was associated with greater hypoglycemic events and fewer hyperglycemic events than placebo in 4 studies. (24, 29, 37, 39)…”

“…(32,34) Given its ability to reduce blood glucose, berberine was associated with greater hypoglycemic events and fewer hyperglycemic events than placebo in 4 studies. (24,29,37,39) Subgroup Analyses Stratified analyses suggested sex-specific differences in the effect of berberine on HDL cholesterol (women: 0.11 mmol/L, 95% CI 0.09 to 0.13; men: -0.07 mmol/L, 95% CI -0.16 to 0.02; women and men: 0.06 mmol/L, 95%CI -0.01 to 0.13; P <0.01; Figure 3D). There was less evidence of sex-specific differences for TC (P=0.16), LDL cholesterol (P=0.34) and TG (P= 0.21), although heterogeneity was greatly lowered in the sex-specific analysis, where the heterogeneity was lowest in the studies that enrolled women with PCOS for the outcomes of TC and LDL cholesterol (Figure 3A and 3B).…”

The effect of berberine and fenugreek seed co-supplementation on inflammatory factor, lipid and glycemic profile in patients with type 2 diabetes mellitus: a double-blind controlled randomized clinical trial

“…Another RCT study was conducted in the south-west of Iran showed that 500 mg twice daily berberine supplementation for 4 weeks led to a significant reduction in the FBS, but not fasting insulin, HOMA-β%, and HOMA-I than the control group [ 34 ]. A recent meta-analysis of 18 clinical trials showed that berberine supplementation significantly reduced TG, FBS, LDL, increased HDL; reduced insulin resistance to improve type II diabetes, and prevent diabetic encephalopathy [ 21 ].…”

Phytopharmacology and Clinical Updates of Berberis Species Against Diabetes and Other Metabolic Diseases

“…BBR played an important role in the treatment T2DM through downregulating the higher levels of free fatty acids (Gu et al, 2010). In another study, BBR reduced the fasting plasma glucose, post-meal blood glucose, and fructosamine; however, no signification changes were found in lipid profiles, fasting insulin, HOMA-IR, and HOMA-b% in T2DM patients (Rashidi et al, 2018). In addition, BBR improved the glycemic parameters comparable to metformin in T2DM patients (Dange et al, 2016).…”