What is your experience with the nutritional supplement Berberine?

I stumbled onto information on Berberine tonight. Dr. Whitaker states the following on his website...

"A two-part study showed that folks taking 1,500 mg of Berberine daily achieved significant improvement in both fasting and postprandial blood glucose levels, along with hemoglobin 3-month average healthy blood sugar levels.1 A second double-blind, placebo-controlled study not only backed up the results from the previous study, but showed even more benefits with Berberine, including a full 25% decline in both total cholesterol and LDL cholesterol, as well as lower triglyceride levels.2"

1 Yin J, et al. Metabolism 2008;57(5):712–17.
2 Zhao W, et al. Biomed Pharmacother 2008;62(10):730–1.

Does anyone here have experience taking Berberine?

There's a few reviews here...

http://www.webmd.com/vitamins-suppl...ine&pageIndex=1&sortby=3&conditionFilter=1145

And Indy51 posted a link to this site a while back - (type "berberine" into the search field)...

http://www.greenmedinfo.com/search/google-cse#gsc.q=berberine

And here's yet more information...

http://examine.com/supplements/Berberine/

Well, Jenny Ruhl is concerned about the use of Berberine...

http://diabetesupdate.blogspot.com/2013/08/berberine-works-but-may-very-well-be.html

There was quite a bit of additional information in the comments section. Well worth the read. My plan was to buy the Thorne Research brand of this supplement. Now I'm not sure.

Going to sleep on it.

And here's the 2008 study on Berberine...

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2410097/

Good to know Indy51.

After reading about the adverse effects of Metformin, I don't think I'd be able to tolerate it.

When I first read about Berberine tonight, I thought it might be a possibility. Not sure. I noticed that Thorne Research has two doses available: 500 mg and 200 mg. During your 30 day trial, were you taking the 200 mg three times a day? My blood glucose is running between 105 and 145 mg/dL (5.8 and 8.1 mmol/dL). I'm curious as to how your blood glucose range compares.

I did a search on "adverse effects of berberine". Reviews are mixed. Works really well for some people, but others had difficulties due to the side effects. People either had no side effects, made adjustments in dosage and were able to continue taking it, or gave up.

Indy51, thanks for the additional information. I'm still thinking about trying it, but, if I do, I'll probably start with 200 mg per dose and work my way up, because I'm still recovering from my IBS flare.

Brunneria, I read one report that a person was ill for 48 hours after taking 1,000 mg, so it sounds like you're tolerating it well. That's good.

From what I read, if I'm remembering correctly, two-thirds of the people taking berberine tolerated it well. Remembering to take it three times with meals will be a challenge for me too. Please keep us updated.