Berberine

This week we are talking about Berberine. For those of you who don't know, Berberine is a plant-based substance that has been shown to help improve things like blood glucose, insulin sensitivity, and cholesterol. Newer research has also shown that Berberine may even be helpful for lowering inflammation and improving gut health!
In this episode we talk about how Berberine works, who it may benefit, and who should avoid it.


If you have questions, or topics that you want to hear about, head over to our Instagrams https://www.instagram.com/bayleethedietitian/ or https://www.instagram.com/brianna.dietitian/ and send us a DM!

Featured Mocktails:
The Roasted Purpose - https://www.instagram.com/theroastedpurpose/
Hiyo - https://www.instagram.com/drinkhiyo/

**The information provided in this podcast is for informational purposes only and should not be considered medical advice. Always consult with a qualified healthcare professional or your physician before starting any new supplement. Individual needs and circumstances vary, and only a healthcare provider can determine what is appropriate for your specific situation.**

Click play, sip back, and be empowered.

Transcript

Baylee: 0:23

Hello, everyone. Welcome back to this week's episode of Mocktail Minutes. This is Bailey.

Brianna: 0:28

And this is Brianna.

Baylee: 0:30

This week, I am drinking a chai latte from Roasted Purpose. And if you haven't looked at the show notes, we do try and put our links to things we had discounts to. So Roasted Purpose is one I do have a discount with, but they're basically like protein coffee lattes. With like 18 grams of collagen in them. So I love to include them with a snack.

Brianna: 0:52

Oh, yeah, they're, you know, getting a little nutrition plus it tastes really good. So I am doing you had one of these a couple of episodes ago, but the high high. Oh,

Baylee: 1:00

Oh yes!

Brianna: 1:01

But I have the they're like an organic social tonic, but I have the peach mango. It's actually really good. I have like. Six different flavors of these in my fridge right now. One is watermelon lime. I will share how I feel about that on the Mocktail Minutes Instagram.

Baylee: 1:19

Yes.

Brianna: 1:21

Yeah, so this is good. I like it. Some ashwagandha kind of helps some stress.

Baylee: 1:26

I hate Ashwagandha. I can't do it.

Brianna: 1:29

I

Baylee: 1:29

ruins all my dreams.

Brianna: 1:31

but I feel like you can't taste in here, which is like the first time ever that I feel like it's happened because usually no matter what it's like earthy, like it tastes like dirt. It doesn't. Thank goodness. We'll see how the other ones taste

Baylee: 1:42

Today we are talking about berberine. It is a pretty popular supplement. It's one that we've actually mentioned a couple of times within our episodes. So we're going to dive into a little bit more, explain what exactly it is, who it may be beneficial for, who maybe it's not beneficial for, and yeah, we're just going to give you the 411 on berberine.

Brianna: 2:03

a natural compound found in several plants. Berberis, Goldensill, Oregon Grape, Tree Turmeric. And it's actually been used for a long time in like Chinese medicine because it has shown to have health promoting It's not new. So I'll say that. And it's very much mechanism of action is very similar to metformin. So that's kind of like, I feel like it's going around right now. People are like, it's nature's ozempic. No, it's kind of like, yeah, it's not

Baylee: 2:37

I mean, that's not a thing.

Brianna: 2:38

it's not a thing.

Baylee: 2:39

like,

Brianna: 2:40

It's not a thing because ozempic lasts for about seven days and natural, you know, GLP ones last for much, much, much shorter, like minutes. hours, maybe. But if anything, it's kind of like nature's metformin, I guess. It's not the same, but it's way more comparable to call it that than nature's ozempic. But I'm seeing that a lot right now with, so you've probably heard of it. It is not like ozempic, but it does help with blood sugar regulation, all that other stuff that we're going to get into. So there's that.

Baylee: 3:13

yes. So basically how BurrBrain works is that it It acts on a lot of different biological pathways that are going on in your body, but one of its key mechanisms of action is that it activates an enzyme called AMPK, which is kind of like your metabolic master switch. Now this enzyme plays a significant role in regulating your energy production and utilization at your cellular level. So this is how berberine can actually improve your glucose metabolism. It enhances insulin sensitivity. So you are better able to kind of like listen to insulin rather than being insulin resistant. You can reduce inflammation with verbarine. It helps positively affect your gut microbiome and it can actually support your heart health by reducing LDL, cholesterol, and triglycerides. So it can play a role in kind of a couple different things. Berberine, it can work to lower your LDLs, increase your HDLs, decrease your triglycerides, affects your pattern B, so it kind of, it plays a big role in lots of things that can actually be affected by blood sugar imbalances. Now, this is not to say you can go and live off of it. Twinkies and just take Burberry and you're going to be fine. Like that's not how these things work.

Brianna: 4:39

Right.

Baylee: 4:40

They're good supportive actions where like, if you were to compare, and this is where it helps to work with someone who works with supplements. I honestly don't do a ton with supplements. I know the basics of them, but I would say people who are more into functional med have a greater wealth of knowledge when it comes to. the usage of these supplements. But like berberine compared to omega 3, omega 3 kind of has all the same benefits except it doesn't play as great of a role at decreasing LDL. Berberine is going to affect the LDL, HDL, triglycerides, your pattern B, and your moderate LDLs. Omega 3 is more HDL, triglycerides, pattern B, moderate LDLs. So different supplements are going to affect different things.

Brianna: 5:24

Yeah. And Ferbrin is, it's an interesting one because I feel like it's kind of like a powerhouse because if you are having high cholesterol, it has, there's plenty of research that shows that it doesn't prove it. Same with like the blood sugar, you know, management, we see a lot of people that have like PCOS or prediabetes that have a very good outcome from using Ferbrin. And it also. It does kind of play a role in your immune system, inflammation, that sort of thing, because it is like an antimicrobial. It has antimicrobial effects. Now, that being said, And again, I'm not a good health expert, but that kind of tells me you might want to pulse it. Like, I don't know if you want to be taking like an anti microbial kind of thing for like your whole life, But, kind of seeing how it affects you, playing around with it. There's not much that it interacts with that I know of. I do know that it does interact with certain medications that you take to not have, like, Like when you get after like an organ transplant so that your body doesn't reject it, I know that it can interfere with some of those. So obviously if you are on any medications, I would talk to your doctor before just like, Oh, I'm throwing this on there, you know, just to see. But there's like the most common form of Berberine is going to be your Berberine HCL. This is in most of the supplements. that's just in most of the supplements. So I think like thorn has it in this one ancient bliss, like most people are doing it with this. Sometimes it's in like a combined formulation. So it's paired with other ingredients like milk thistle to help enhance absorption and bioavailability. But I think the one most commonly researched is going to be that bourbon HDL.

Baylee: 7:02

And you could even like with the berberine, you could cycle it, which can help detour from having long term side effects, altering the gut microbiome in a negative way, or affecting your lens, lens, I'm liver enzymes.

Brianna: 7:18

Yeah,

Baylee: 7:18

So you could cycle it by doing like eight weeks on eight weeks off or like eight weeks on two weeks off. I mean, I think it helps to work with someone with doing this. So it's not something you have to necessarily take daily I actually recommend a lot of people to cycle it. And so that's an important thing to remember too is I mean with any supplement make sure you're using it in an appropriate way For you, so I don't think berberine is a bad one to just cycle on and off.

Brianna: 7:45

like with anything, probably pulse it, you know, if you've been taking it for a while. Okay, like play around with it. We've talked about its blood sugar regulation how it does help lower that LDL, how it can lower HbA1c. We it also helps to, I think more recently people are talking about like weight management and this is simply just because it's helping to improve that metabolic function. So it's acting on those, you know, activated protein kinase. enzymes. So,

Baylee: 8:14

there's so many different things that if we can find a way to relate it to weight loss, we do because that's what so many people are looking for is weight loss or fat loss. And so yeah, Burberry is going to help with weight management because it's helping your metabolism function better. It's helping your blood sugar be a little bit more balanced. So it's not like necessarily a direct impact. You take Burberry and you lose weight. Like that's,

Brianna: 8:41

right. Yeah. And I think that's kind of the misconception when people are like, Oh, nature's a zombie. It's not just like, Oh my gosh, I started taking Berberine and now I'm like, I lost 10 pounds. No, but it is impacting things that could be impacting why you're not losing weight. So, you know,

Baylee: 8:57

yeah.

Brianna: 8:58

yeah, but some,

Baylee: 9:01

I would say especially like inflammation because when you're reducing inflammation, I see this happen so many times When we focus on the inflammation or like when we first get started or if I have people that get started on a glp1 They lose like eight to nine pounds in a week or two, which is a lot of weight to lose. I don't get concerned if I know they're still eating and everything. A lot of times it's that inflammation weight coming off. So if I, a lot of times if I see that big jump in weight loss at the beginning, then I'm like, See, we have some inflammation going on. Now, it's not something I'd want you to lose eight pounds every week or anything, because that would not be good. That's way too much, way too fast.

Brianna: 9:45

that'll just cause more inflammation later.

Baylee: 9:47

Yes. Yes. But yeah, if you're losing at the beginning, it's inflammation. So berberine does help with that. And also, like we mentioned, it can have positive effects on gut health, but it can sometimes have long term effects on poor gut health too.

Brianna: 10:02

Yeah. So I guess kind of going into like some of the cons for it is it does have some GI side effects, so it can cause some stomach upset, diarrhea, constipation, that sort of thing. Very similar to like metformin. So with with metformin and with this, I say kind of start like low and slow. So I think it's like what 500 to 1500 milligrams per day is like the recommended dose. And usually people are splitting those. Yeah. Like usually people are splitting. Yeah, definitely not all at once. And so for some people, I'll just say maybe start once a day at like morning or night, whatever, and just kind of progress slowly and see how you feel. Usually when people progress slowly, they're fine. If you start to take 15 milligrams, just day one, you're probably not going to feel great. Just don't do it. So kind of like easier, easier way up. So it can kind of cause some GI issues. It can have some, you know, like we talked about drug interactions.

Baylee: 11:00

They can interfere with the metabolism of certain drugs, so how a drug is processed in your body, like blood thinners, antidepressants, statins, antibiotics, which are pretty important drugs that if you're on them, you're on

Brianna: 11:14

we're usually taking them for a reason. Yeah. So there's a website that you guys can look at too. I mean, your, your doctor is going to be able to tell you if there's any interactions, but there's like websites that you can use on Google for like drug and food or drug and supplement interactions just to make sure, especially if you are taking multiple medications, maybe multiple supplements, you want to make sure that you're not decreasing the effectiveness of, you know, some of those.

Baylee: 11:41

It could also have like overlapping effects like it could amplify the effects of medications for diabetes, high cholesterol, high blood pressure, so it could lead to potential adverse outcomes. And that's why we just have to stop. buying whatever we're seeing online because someone said it helps with blood sugar and you will be better off there. Just like even the magnesium, we did an episode of magnesium, but too much of magnesium is also not a great thing. Like just because yes, magnesium can help with your sleep, help with restless leg syndrome, help with your nervous system regulation. If you don't need that it could be doing more harm than good. So wherever You can get help, get help. Don't just blindly start adding things into your diet.

Brianna: 12:30

No, test, not guess. And also just because something is good or could be good for something doesn't mean it's good for you. I have to tell people that all the time, like when they're like, well, I thought I was eating healthy or I thought I was doing the healthy thing. I'm like, healthy is so relative. Like what's healthy for one person is not for another. So, you know,

Baylee: 12:47

cottage cheese is great for you, but it would make me explode out both ends. We don't want that. That's not my healthy.

Brianna: 12:55

Don't eat cottage cheese. Exactly. So work with someone. And then also whenever I bring in kind of like an intervention, I do like to kind of follow lab work. So, okay, we started this intervention. Let's test again in maybe three or four months and see, are any of those markers that we're trying to improve coming down? If so, great. Because again, you probably don't need to be on it forever, but yeah. Those drug interactions is definitely a con. Same with short half life. So, again, it only lasts about four to six hours, so this is why people are taking it multiple times a day. I think the three times a day can be a little cumbersome, so sometimes I just tell people whenever you're going to be consistent. And a lot of people can take it in the morning, and then before they go to bed, or before they have dinner. Great. Like, Use it in a way that's going to be consistent, because I think that's the answer with all supplements. Everyone's like, when's the best time to take it? I'm like, the time you're going to take it all the time, for the most part.

Baylee: 13:51

Yeah, that's like I'm taking a neutrophil and there are times where I've not been very consistent about it. So what I do is I keep a thing of it at work and I keep a pack of it at home. So it's like I'm gonna get it in at some point no matter if I'm at work or at home. So whatever you need to do to be consistent and you mentioned labs, so some labs that I would look at that would be like, okay, maybe we need to look at starting some verbrain would be Like your fasting blood glucose, your fasting insulin, hemoglobin A1c, what does your LDL look like, what does your triglycerides look like, your total cholesterol CRP is one, because, I mean, anything over one would be, you got some inflammation going on, so CRP would be something good to look at maybe even your liver enzymes, because berberine can also be impactful, we're seeing on like non alcoholic foods, fatty liver disease, it may help reduce that build up in your liver. So it's going to protect against that. So maybe looking at some liver enzymes, these are all things I check usually when I'm running labs, even like your kidney function you want to make sure it's safe to use this for brain. Yeah, those are kind of the main things I would look at as far as labs and deciding, do we need to add this? Because if you have impaired glucose. Metabolism going on affecting your, your glucose levels, your A1c and your insulin resistance. If we have our like dyslipidemia going on with elevated LDL triglycerides and low HDL, it could also benefit there. We have inflammation, so it's going to kind of kill all these birds with one stone. But again, we have to also make sure it's safe for you specifically.

Brianna: 15:36

100%. And then the other thing is just like the limited research in the long term use, which I feel like is the case with most supplements.

Baylee: 15:44

in nutrition.

Brianna: 15:45

Most supplements, nutrition interventions, even like some drugs, I feel like there's not a lot of like, Oh, longterm, just because it's so hard to track that in humans. Like we can't be like, Hey, for the next five years, you're going to be in this very controlled living situation, you know? So a lot of the research is on short term. And again, that's why I like to kind of just follow the labs. Cause that's usually, you know, we can follow it. Do we still need to have this on board? Can we reduce it? Maybe we don't need it right now. I think there, I think what I came across was one research thing had said, like, it's probably safe to consume consistent every single day, 1, 500 milligrams for like five years or something. And then it's like, and then you shouldn't do that anymore. I don't think anyone needs to be taking 1, 500 milligrams of it every single day for five years. So, but again, I think that's like where they're, where they draw the line with it. So there's that,

Baylee: 16:38

Other things, so I guess basically, who is it for if you have type 2 diabetes, if those lab markers are off that I mentioned, high cholesterol, or even if you're kind of just looking for some support with your metabolic health and anti inflammatory benefits, it could be an option for you. Now, with anything that we talk about, disclaimer here, we are not your healthcare professional, we are not your dietician. So, Again, I just want to reiterate, don't just take this information and adhere anti inflammatory and go start taking it because what if you have an interaction? Like, what if you don't need it? What if there are other options for you? Now, yeah, I should just leave it at that.

Brianna: 17:23

right? The only other thing I would add for people is a PCOS. because of its help with it, because of its help with blood sugar regulation. So, and honestly, I'm so shocked. And I don't know if we've ever talked about PCOS on here. PCOS is a little complicated. Have we talked about it?

Baylee: 17:38

think we

Brianna: 17:39

don't think so. That would be a good one, but I talked to so many women who are like, okay, I'm trying to lose weight. I have PCOS. It's hard to lose weight when you have PCOS because of the insulin resistance. And I, 95 percent of the women that I come across have zero clue that insulin resistance is why it's so difficult to lose weight with PCOS. I'm like, what? Who's not telling you this? So that's kind of frustrating, but

Baylee: 18:04

them that. Yes. But

Brianna: 18:05

So, which is why a lot of women will be prescribed metformin because it's just that protective thing of like, okay, well, you're probably going to have blood sugar issues. It's in the works. We're just going to get ahead of it. So I do like to, tell them, Hey, Berberine can be helpful. So if you're not a Metformin yet, or you don't want to take Metformin, maybe try this, but there's definitely people. It's not for weird child.

Baylee: 18:31

Like, it was funny when we were researching our topic this week, it's like, don't give to an infant. Yeah, please don't just, especially be blinding, blindly supplementing your children.

Brianna: 18:44

Don't do that. Especially your, your toddlers or infants. We're not doing

Baylee: 18:48

I am a freak about Ganon, I don't know, it's, maybe it's one of those things, like, I know too much. And, so like, there are foods, like, I'm only giving him peanut butter, that the only ingredient in it is peanuts and salt. Oh.

Brianna: 19:04

it. I'm only doing it. Well, and this is the time where you can be in control of it. This is the time you can be in total control of it. So I say do it.

Baylee: 19:13

Yeah, and then it's like Supplements I worry about like he did get vitamin D because he needed that like that's a common thing We did the vitamin D drops, but I don't know. I feel like I'm just being a freak about some things

Brianna: 19:27

It is because you know, That's how I feel too

Baylee: 19:30

much. Even like that way he goes yogurt That has stevia in it Even though it's not added sugars, I'm still just giving him the plain yogurt, like the FIAA 5%. Because I'm like, I don't want to affect his taste buds right now, and he likes it, so

Brianna: 19:46

His little gut bacteria, his taste buds, yeah.

Baylee: 19:49

I know too much. And, again, disclaimer, this is not to say like, Oikos is bad or anything. I just know that even Stevia, it's a great alternative to sugar. It's not going to affect your glucose levels, really. But it's still going to enhance your sweet cravings. So

Brianna: 20:08

it's like a blessing and a curse, you know?

Baylee: 20:11

Like, I am very particular, like, every time I feed him, because we're starting the foods and everything, I make sure he has a fruit and or a veggie, and then he gets a protein or a fat source. Because we're not so much into the meat yet, so I'm like, I don't want to give him too much dairy in, like, for his stomach. See, I know too much. So, it's like, he'll have cottage cheese, or avocado, or peanut butter, or yogurt, or egg. So, I don't want to So it's either protein or fat, and then he has fruit and veggie, just like last night. Or like, I don't want to give him too much starchy carbs, like last night he had an orange which he absolutely devoured, like almost ate the rind. He was

Brianna: 20:54

He's like, I love it.

Baylee: 20:55

Good god, like it's like the watermelon eating contest, he was having an orange eating contest with himself. So like he had that with wheat peas and cottage cheese. So it's even like, and I think that's cool about what we teach is that you can literally do this for anyone. I am having my kid eat the way I eat, but I'm being a little crazy. I will admit that.

Brianna: 21:20

It's fine. Because they're going to, you know, go through their teenage years and you're going to feel like you have zero, it hasn't happened for me yet, but I, people have told me you're going to feel like you have zero control. Over it. So it's like, alright, well, I'm going to control it now, I'm going to let

Baylee: 21:35

set them up and let them do his thing.

Brianna: 21:38

hopefully by the time you're a young adult, you have some good balance.

Baylee: 21:41

yes. Yeah. And it's also a thing. Like I don't, I'm not going to be like a crunchy mom where I'm like, you do not get the cupcakes when you go to a birthday party, but I'm also not giving him like desserts or anything until after he's one years old.

Brianna: 21:55

I'm a scrunchie. I like to say scrunchie. I'm like semi crunchie. You know, like saying, like, there's a lot of things I don't buy for the house, but if they go to a birthday party and they do it, like, I'm not panicked.

Baylee: 22:05

Mm hmm.

Brianna: 22:05

Cause they're not, they're not getting it all the time, you know,

Baylee: 22:07

and that's how you create that balance, which is just nothing what we're talking about today. I,

Brianna: 22:14

excite for, don't give your child

Baylee: 22:17

oh yeah, just at the end of the day, just give your child whole foods. And then if something comes up and you need a supplement, that's what your doctor is there for, or dietitians, because they can help guide you, or a functional med, don't just finally start supplementing things. So that is one person who does not need berberine. I mean, I guess like if you're pregnant, probably not.

Brianna: 22:40

Yeah. Pregnant breastfeeding. You want to make sure it's safe, certain medications. And then we did, I don't think we touched on it, but individuals with low blood pressure or like hypoglycemia, because. you know, it is helping that glucose regulation. So if you do have low blood sugar, I would be careful about taking anything that could exacerbate that. But yeah,

Baylee: 23:02

make sure you're working with someone Berberine has lots of potential health benefits, particularly for metabolic and cardiovascular health. However, it's always important to consider possible side effects and interactions that it could have, so don't forget our disclaimer that we are not your medical professional. Always speak with your doctor or someone who you are specifically working with to see if this is beneficial for you to add in.

Brianna: 23:29

exactly. So that's kind of our little take on, yeah, it's our little take on berberine. You guys have asked about a couple of different supplements recently. So we're going to do some of those, like the Armour.

Baylee: 23:41

like doing them because it gives some clarity where it's like when you're on TikTok, like exactly what you're saying. It's like take berberine because I lost weight. I'm like, God, we got to tell the whole story. And it's hard on social media because like you only got 30 seconds to tell your whole story. And that's not going to sell the goods. So. Mm hmm.

Brianna: 24:03

And usually people are trying to profit from it. So, you know, or they're trying to get, go viral or get a large following or all the things. So we like to do takes on them. We are going to do Armour at one point. And if there is any other ones that you guys are like, oh, I want to know about these, let us know on the Mocktail Minutes Instagram and we'll add those to the list.

Baylee: 24:21

Yes. Because there's lots of supplements out there. I would say any supplement that we talk about, we're not saying every single person needs to go get it, or every single person needs to avoid it. Again, it depends. And that should be our merch. It

Brianna: 24:33

Yes. It depends. That's like, I think I say that more than anything else. I say it on a daily, daily basis. It depends.

Baylee: 24:41

All right, everyone have a great rest of your week be sure to follow mocktail minutes on instagram And we are hosting our first workshop. We're gonna call our workshops morning sips. So we will put a sign up link On Instagram, we'll also drop it into the notes section on the podcast, but we're going to have it on January 31st at 8am central time. If you can't make it still sign up, we'll send out the replay. So it's totally fine, but we're just going to stick with us in the morning. We're talking about 25 and fine. We're going to get you feeling 25 again.

Brianna: 25:17

2025. Yeah. So come chat with us again. You can't make it still sign up. We'll send you the replay. It'll be fun.

Baylee: 25:26

All right, everyone have a great rest of your week and we'll see you next week. Bye.