Than 110 million TikTok views Berberine,
a national botanical found in a number
of plants including Indian Barbary,
is now being called Nature's Ozempic.
Could it offer the edge for millions of
Americans struggling with their weight?
Pharmacist Sherry Torkos joins
us now with more on how much
effect this may actually have.
So Sherry like what is this exactly?
And then how did it become so popular?
Thanks for having me on. Yeah.
So Berberine is all the buzz right now.
Social media filled with a lot of
positive responses with people
that are are taking Berberine and
getting a lot of health benefits.
So this isn't new.
This has been around for a long time.
Berberine as a medicinal substance,
It's actually a compound that's
found in plants like barberry.
It's been around for thousands of years,
but it is enjoying a lot of popularity now
as there's been mounting clinical studies,
validating creating its benefits and
when real life users are using it
and then sharing it on social media,
it's it's created quite,
quite a frenzy.
And so is there any research out there
showing the benefits of Berberine? Yeah,
and there is a number of clinical
studies that have evaluated the
effects of berberine as showing that
it does have a positive effect on
many parameters of metabolic health,
helping with weight loss,
helping with improving blood sugar control,
insulin sensitivity,
as well as helping with cholesterol levels.
One in particular,
one publication which was a
meta analysis of 18 clinical
trials and that was published in
Frontiers and Pharmacology,
which is a medical journal,
found that it does,
it did offer significant
benefits in these areas.
Well, we all know that too much
sugar is bad for our health.
So how do we begin to curb the sugar
cravings and how does berbering,
how can that help us?
Yes. So berbering does help improve
blood sugar control and insulin levels
and insulin sensitivity and that in turn
does help to curb cravings for sweets.
So you can think of berberine and
I would look for the berberine
phytosome when you're looking
for supplement form of berberine.
I think because now this is becoming
so popular, a lot of companies are
rushing out and making berberine.
But there are differences in the
supplements that you'll see out there.
So you want to look for the stiff
phytosome form because that has
greater absorption in the body,
greater bioavailability.
And again,
this will help with improving blood
sugar control and insulin sensitivity,
which in turn will help curb
those sugar cravings.
Can it also help Rev up
a sluggish metabolism?
Yes, it can. In fact,
there have been a number of studies
that have found that burbering does
have a positive impact on metabolism.
And we know that when people
are trying to lose weight,
sometimes metabolism can stand in your way.
If you're if you're eating less
and exercising and that you're
still not getting results,
that sluggish metabolism
could be the obstacle.
So burbering does help to
improve metabolic health,
and so that is definitely
something to include when you're
trying to get that under control.
I'd also suggest people consider
doing some weight training exercises.
Things that help to build
your lean muscle mass,
working out with weights
or tubing or machines.
Those types of activities
increase lean muscle mass,
which will in turn help your body
to burn calories more efficiently.
The more muscle you have,
the more calories you burn,
so that's helpful.
And then also doing intermittent fasting.
Not always easy,
but if you can try to have periods of time,
whether it's 8 to 10 hours or so
where you're not eating any food.
That can also have a positive effect
on cranking up your metabolism.
And how does gut health impact
our ability to lose weight?
Yeah, so we're learning a lot
about how the microbiota,
the bacteria in our gut,
how that impacts so many different
areas of our health from our
immune system to our mood,
even appetite and our ability to lose weight.
So there's a specific bacteria that's
been identified, that's native,
natural to our digestive tract that does
play a role in regulating of metabolism,
realism and body weight.
And that bacteria is called Acramancia.
And studies have found that berberine
helps to boost levels of this
beneficial bacteria called Acramancia.
And researchers believe that's one of
the mechanisms by which berberine does
help to support weight management.
All right, Sherry, thank you so much.
Thanks so much. You can check out
my website For more information
which is Sherry torkis.com and I've
posted a A blog on berbering there.