Can someone give me a rundown on berberine?

I started taking it for blood sugar control, the NOW foods brand works great for me, has similar impact on blood glucose as my metformin. I don't much care for muscular size development, but I have had no problems training consistently and getting strong...again. Actually, come to think of it, at the time I was diagnosed with DM2, I had turned to jello all over, couldn't believe how much muscle I had lost. I feel like my muscle mass is back to my previous baseline, strength isn't quite there yet. But that could be age, hormones, etc. So I'm comfortable saying that I haven't seen that particular side effect. Also, I don't train for hypertrophy.

Thanks. I would appreciate the info.

Full systematic review of Berberine for its effects on obesity & obesity related health effects LINK

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Berberine is not only effective for obesity, but also for other systems and consequences of obesity such as diabetes and cancer.

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on muscle growth..

Berberine can impair muscle metabolism by two mechanisms:

-Impaired mitochondrial function

-Stimulating the expression of atrogin-1

the above was found in mice, but it does not seem to happen in humans or at least is overridden by stronger signals. Also the muscle atrophy was found only when the mice were injected, the opposite was found when taken orally.

LINK

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Muscle atrophy was induced by berberine injection. Oral administration of berberine led to improvement of muscle atrophy.

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So what we see in fat people, as that is where is is mainly studied, that they tend to have myostatin over-expression...which causes the following...

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Muscle atrophy
Loss of skeletal muscle mass
Increased epididymal fat pad mass

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well when berberine was given, the opposite actually happened. Metabolic syndromes corrected and Myostatin expression was down regulated and led to an increase in skeletal muscle.

LINK

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Our findings indicated that high caloric intake induced metabolic disorders was associated with Mstn over-expression, and the treatment with BBR could improve metabolic disorders, down-regulate Mstn expression, and increase skeletal muscle mass, which was associated with inhibiting the Smad signaling pathway.

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Berberine has a similar action to insulin, improving glucose uptake into cells. For those looking to build muscle, this boosts energy production, helps to prevent cell breakdown and increases energy storage, all of which are central to building muscle mass

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Berberine can support lean muscle mass. It can also:
Regulate blood sugar
Improve glucose disposal
Enhance glycogen stores
Prevent fat gain
Combat type II diabetes
Limit weight gain
Enhance brown adipose tissue (BAT) activity
However, berberine isn't likely to be a viable candidate for a muscle building supplement. This is because its core mechanism, raising AMPK, doesn't tend to help with muscle building much.
The effective dose of berberine ranges from 500 milligrams per day to 1,500 milligrams per day. Some studies even use doses as low as 300 milligrams. If you take more than 1.52g of berberine, you'll actually lower your blood glucose, causing you to get shaky and extremely hungry

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hopefully this clears some things up. Oral berberine essentially can be used during a muscle gain phase help drive nutrients into the muscle as a insulin mimicker, help control fat gain, by lowering myostatin and if you take over 1.5g you can really stimulate hunger pains from lowering blood sugar similar to the effects of how mk677 mimiks ghrelin.

can be used for fat loss phase by lowering blood sugar, increasing fat loss and lowering myostatin which decreases muscle atrophy.

Sounds like it has some muscle building benefits and maybe some negatives. I can live with that as long as it's a net neutral. I just don't want something that's a hindrance to strength training.

from my research the negatives are only from injected version from what i saw from studies. they didnt see negatives in the oral version from my research.

What brand and where did you get it? Thanks in advance

i personally think sns glycophase is the best but i think they quit making it. DPS still has some in stock

gives you berberine, na-R-ALA plus Gymnema Sylvestre and Corsolic Acid

next best would be chemix gda then gaspari proven gda

if you just want berberine than sns glucovantage is good for the dihydro version and toniq plain ole berberine is good too.

Yup, 2000mg a day of Metformin, 800mg a day of Berberine. Those are divided doses, 1000mg of Metformin in the morning first thing after I wake up, take the first 400mg Berberine after I do my morning fasted walk, thereafter I'll eat breakfast. With my evening meal I'll take my second 1000mg Metformin tab and take my PM supplements which includes another 400mg Berberine.

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Maybe coincidence, but after ~2 weeks My BP has dropped about 10 points.

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its not