Berberine has great potential in treatment of insomnia and might have better clinical significance.
Berberine might cause sleepiness and slowed breathing. Some medications, called sedatives, can also cause sleepiness and slowed breathing. Taking berberine with sedative medications might cause breathing problems and/or too much sleepiness.
The usual starting dose of berberine for blood sugar control is 500 mg per day. The supplement should be taken with dinner or at bedtime.
Can berberine be taken on an empty stomach? The recommended dosage of berberine is 500 mg three times a day. It should be taken half an hour before meals. It does not cause severe side effects, so taking it on an empty stomach should be ok.
Taken together, the results suggested that berberine inhibits melanin synthesis and tyrosinase activity by downregulating the expression of MITF and tyrosinase. Thus, these findings may contribute to the potential application of berberine in the prevention and treatment of skin pigmentation disorders.
In some people, supplementation with berberine has been reported to cause gastrointestinal side effects, including diarrhea, constipation, flatulence, and stomach pain. Due to its ability to reduce blood sugar, berberine may increase the risk for hypoglycemia in high doses.
Taking berberine along with medications that lower blood pressure might cause blood pressure to go too low. Monitor your blood pressure closely. Berberine might slow blood clotting. Taking berberine along with medications that also slow blood clotting might increase the risk of bruising and bleeding.
The mechanism for berberine extract is very unclear. For decades it has been a well-researched herbal treatment for intestinal infections, like Giardia, but it came with the warning to avoid long-term use due to the potential undesirable and antimicrobial effect in the gut.
How long should I take berberine? Continual use of berberine can impact cytochrome P450 (CYP) enzymes in the liver which may affect drug-to-drug interactions. Therefore, it's recommended to use it in a pulsed 8-week cycle with two to four weeks off, then starting again if symptoms have not resolved.
Depending on how healthy a patient's liver is, berberine's beneficial effects can persist for as long as 20 hours, meaning that a once-per-day dosing schedule is sufficient for most patients.
The effects of berberine are not immediately felt if you take it for only a few days. Instead, taking it for more extended periods is necessary to see its effects. Some studies suggest that berberine's effects can be seen when taking supplements for at least three months.
Berberine can cross the placenta and may cause harm to the fetus. Kernicterus, a type of brain damage, has developed in newborn infants exposed to it. It's unsafe to take berberine if you are breastfeeding, as it can be transferred to the infant through breast milk.
Taking berberine supplements regularly appears to lower total cholesterol, “bad” cholesterol, and triglycerides in people with high cholesterol. It works differently from today's standard cholesterol medications, so it may help treat people who are resistant to other cholesterol-lowering drugs.
The results (Table 1) indicate that among these stimulants, berberine induces the most robust activation of glucose uptake and that its effects are not enhanced by the other stimulants.
Berberine can cause digestive side effects, such as: upset stomach. constipation. nausea.
Emerging research suggests that berberine is beneficial for balancing hormones, especially when it comes to polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS). Berberine provides numerous benefits for women living with PCOS, including improved fertility, weight loss, and reduced inflammation.
Findings revealed that treatment of 300 mg of Berberine three times a day for 12 weeks resulted in a significant reduction of 5.2 cm in waist circumference. Berberine has the potential to reduce belly fat after 12 weeks of treatment. Significantly, all participants did not change their lifestyle during the study.
Recent evidence suggests that berberine inhibits the production of neuroinflammation, oxidative, and endoplasmic reticulum stress. These effects can further reduce neuron damage and apoptosis.
Short-term exposure to berberine alters the populations of intestinal bacteria by reducing the activity of Clostridium cluster XIVa and IV, and their bile salt hydrolase (BSH), thus leading to the accumulation of taurocholic acid (TCA).
Despite wide scale use as an herbal supplement, berberine has not been linked to published instances of clinically apparent liver injury.
In an earlier study published in the European Journal of Pharmacology, berberine also had a profound impact on mice induced to exhibit the symptoms of severe depression.
Caffeine is also a planar molecule which may interfere with the effectiveness of anti-cancer intercalating agents such as berberine by directly binding with the drug and preventing it from targeting the DNA of cancer cells.
Based on the findings of these two studies, a dose of 300-500 mg three times per day or 1200-1500 mg/day taken for at least three months can significantly reduce weight. However, there are still limited studies examining the prolonged health benefits of berberine in reducing weight.