The research on the natural medicine berberine, is truly remarkable in documenting the many health benefits of this compound, derived from a plant alkaloid in several different plant species that have been used in Ayurvedic and traditional Chinese medicine for centuries for various therapeutic applications.
What is new in modern clinical use (and demonstrated in animal research) is that a berberine metabolite dihydroberberine (DBH) is up to 5 times more bioavailable than regular berberine. It is this metabolite, DBH, that is the basis of the berberine formulation TruBerberine™ 5X that I selected for our Truth for Health weight management recommendations.
Berberine has many health benefits beyond its reputation as “Nature’s Ozempic” to help with a safer approach to reducing appetite and facilitating safer weight loss. And today I’d like to discuss some of those added benefits, which are some of the reasons I have added our berberine supplement to my own daily natural medicine regimen.
Berberine has been called “Nature’s Ozempic” because of its effects to assist in healthy blood sugar metabolism and weight loss without the side effects. And for good reason. Support for the beneficial effects of berberine in weight loss was demonstrated in a 2020 study associating berberine use with significant reduction in body weight, BMI, and waist circumference, as well as decreases in C-reactive protein, an important systemic inflammation marker. The most interesting note in this study was the decrease in waist circumference, which demonstrates healthy body composition changes. This is a simple measure that shows the weight loss is coming from the dangerous visceral “belly” fat.
Berberine’s benefit on actual fat loss is very different from the popular weight loss RX medicine injectables that studies show cause significant loss of lean body mass along with only modest loss of actual body fat.
Loss of lean body mass (muscle and bone) is a serious detrimental side effect of the prescription medicines used for rapid “weight loss.” Lean body mass is our most metabolically active tissue, and when weight is regained after stopping drugs like Ozempic and others, the regained weight is fat mass. Increase in fat mass creates a vicious cycle of getting more and more body fat and less muscle and bone.
In addition to healthy weight loss support, other studies of berberine have indicated that berberine can treat several metabolic health conditions, including diabetes, obesity, and heart problems. Berberine can be so powerful that it is important for patients taking Metformin NOT to take both berberine and Metformin together. If you have a metabolic condition, it is important to talk to your physician before starting any supplemental berberine.
Another benefit of berberine may include improving gut health by removing harmful bacteria in the gut and thus enhancing the growth of healthy bacteria. Scientists have proposed that this positive gut response may be responsible for berberine’s healthy effect on glucose metabolism and insulin sensitivity.
Berberine also has anti-cancer properties with its inhibitory effects in colorectal, lung, ovarian, prostate, liver, cervical cancers and may even interfere with cancer progression and may play a role in killing cancer cells. For this reason, TruBerberine™ 5X is also featured as component of our Cancer Risk Reduction Formula.
There are hundreds of berberine products on the market. What makes our Truth for Health Foundation product unique? Why choose TruBerberine™ 5X over the many others out there?
TruBerbine™ 5X contains the berberine metabolite dihydroberberine (DBH) that is up to 5 times more bioavailable than regular berberine. This greater potency means you get greater benefits than you do with regular berberine, and we can use it at a lower dose. Here are some of the differences between regular berberine and DHB:
- Berberine displays poor bioavailability and increased potential for GI distress at the oral doses required to improve biomarkers associated with glucose homeostasis. The structure of the DHB derivative of berberine is comparably open, making it more amenable to uptake and can be used in lower doses.
- In one study, berberine had to be administered at a nearly 5-fold increased dose of 560 mg/kg/d to establish the same effects demonstrated by DHB at 100 mg/kg/d.
- Animals treated with the substantially lower dose of DHB showed markedly reduced adiposity, improved glucose tolerance and insulin sensitivity.
- A small, randomized, double-blind, crossover pilot study (N = 5) investigated the absorption kinetics and compared the dosing of berberine and DHB required to achieve peak plasma concentrations. Subjects completed a 4-dose protocol of placebo, 500 mg of berberine, 200 mg of DHB, and 100 mg of DHB. The doses of 100 mg and 200 mg of DHB produced significantly greater concentrations of plasma berberine across the 2-hour measurement window than the 500-mg dose of berberine or placebo, suggesting that irrespective of dose, DHB achieves a greater peak berberine concentrations when compared with oral ingestion of regular berberine.
For these reasons, TruBerberine™ 5X only contains DHB, dihydroberberine. TruBerberine™ 5X uses this highly bioavailable metabolite of berberine from berberine sourced from Berberis aristata which is naturally extracted through an enzymatic process to create such a high-quality product.
I hope you will give our natural medicines and healthy lifestyle changes a chance to help you achieve your weight loss goals before you turn to the riskier prescription medicines for the “quick fix” that may be costlier to your health and your pocketbook!
To Your good health,
Dr. Vliet
