Ok.
Awesome. Ok.
So um first of all, they're calling this nature's Ozempic.
Um Does it have the same um properties as nature's Ozempic or how, how does this work?
You know, berberine
is a naturally occurring compound that's derived from plants and,
and then social media has been calling it Natures Ozempic.
And the reason for that is then the physio
physiologic effects that we see with Ozempic such
as better blood sugar and some weight loss,
you can see some of these with Burberry
as well,
but it's important to note that it works
on a completely different mechanism of action.
So it works to regulate our metabolism, which is a little different than how,
you know, semaglutide or Ozempic works,
which is on a satiety
signal hormone that kind of helps us with satiety
and with how quickly our stomach is emptying.
Does it help um fasting? Like
does it help make your metabolism faster or
you know, the studies on
Burr
have been mixed because it's considered a food
uh and, and a supplement, not necessarily medication.
So a lot of them are observational but what
the data tells us if we put them all together
is that you can get some modest weight loss with it.
So about a half a point of your BM I or about 5% of your body weight,
which is substantially less than what we would see with semaglutide,
which is
Ozempic, um or you zet,
which is Manja
where we see 15 20%
weight loss.
You can also get some improvements in your uh glycemic controls,
your hemoglobin A one C or your insulin sensitivity can change
some studies but others have not shown effects on cholesterol.
But overall, the data,
even on those end points of sugar control and
weight loss is very mixed because you can imagine
the dose, the freak
the duration of exposure.
All of these are factors that you can't really control for when you're just sort
of observing whether people are taking burberry and
whether or not they're having weight loss.
And furthermore, if you're trying to take a medicine for weight loss,
you might be doing something else that might also be leading to weight loss,
you know, and so it's called confounding.
These are other variables that you can't control
for uh um in these particular observational trials.
Um
some people too were saying it lowers cholesterol
helps with um Polycystic Ovary Syndrome is that,
have we seen any of that,
you know, Polycystic Ovarian Syndrome, high cholesterol dyslipidemia,
these are all sort of,
you know,
along the same spectrum because there are a lot of overlapping risk factors.
And there are a lot of kind of common pathways,
common consequences that come from these.
So any of the medicines that help you
lose weight will help improve Polycystic Ovarian syndrome.
Naturally losing weight helps with many of the kind of
side effects and problems and consequences from PC OS.
Similarly, when it comes to, you know, insulin resistance or diabetes,
same thing with obesity, same thing with high blood pressure, high cholesterol,
it's all along the same pathway.
And I like to say, having extra weight on us is the first domino.
So that Domino causes all the other dominoes to fall.
So if you can target that upfront domino,
maybe you're gonna get benefit on all of those downstream factors.
But having said that, I don't think as a physician, as a cardiologist,
as someone who treats people all the time for these type of metabolic disorders,
there's nearly enough data for us to know
that Burberry works and that Burberry is safe.
So there's a huge amount of lacking data on the safety of this type of supplement.
Again, because of the lack of scientific evidence because it's a supplement,
it's not regulated by the FDA in the same way, it's more considered a food.
Um
So
would you like,
and there are some side effects that have been shown with this like diarrhea and,
and all that.
Um What would you say about, about those?
Yeah. So you have to be cautious, right? There's no such thing as a free lunch. And bur
is definitely not a free lunch.
So certainly you can have side effects like stomach upset,
gas, diarrhea, constipation, flatulence.
These are common side effects that can happen.
You can also have drug drug interactions.
So for somebody who actually takes a diabetic
medicine or a blood pressure medicine or others,
this bur
brain compound can interact with those medicines and cause problems.
So certainly not something to start without consulting with your doctor.
And then we've also seen more severe sort of uh problems happen in animal models,
liver failure, you know, damage to organs, low, uh white cell counts.
These are the infection fighting cells.
So more sort of significant side effects can also occur.
So this should be considered a drug.
I don't want people to just think of it like
a supplement just because it's marketed as a supplement because
it has many of the physiologic sort of effects on
the body good and bad that drugs can have.
And so we have to be really careful when we think about using it.
Um What would you suggest to people who are curious about it and and want to use it?
What would you say to them?
You know, I would say Burberry, no doubt may have some physiologic effect.
So it may help you lose a tiny bit of weight.
We don't know what happens if you stop it, but it could help with that.
It may help get your blood sugar down or improve your insulin sensitivity.
It may help with some of these other cardiometabolic things
we talked about such as cholesterol and blood pressure.
But before you embark on any kind of supplement, and
Burma
is especially included in that,
it's a really good idea to have a good conversation with your doctor.
Talk about your goals because it's possible that
there may be a safer alternative to Burberry
to get you to accomplish those goals.
And depending on what you're trying to do,
your doctor may want to write a prescription or may
want to get you in touch with the nutritionist.
There's just not enough scientific evidence for me as
a preventive cardiologist to recommend this to my patients.
And I certainly don't know that it works and I certainly don't know that it's safe,
which is why I tend to stay away from it.