Description
Through BerberinEx™, we deliver naturally derived berberine from Chinese goldthread, Coptis chinensis. It is designed to support the health of the cardiovascular and metabolic systems and balanced with other herbs to be gentle on the digestive tract.*
What Does our BerberinEx™ Formula Contain?
Our unique berberine formula BerberineEx™ consists of the following ingredients:
- Coptis chinensis rhizome – (10% berberine) 500 mg
- Aucklandia lappa root – 100 mg
- Glycyrrhiza glabra root – (20% glycyrrhizic acid) 50 mg
These herbs have been used extensively in Traditional Chinese Medicine for their anti-bacterial or beneficial gastrointestinal properties.*
BerberinEx™ comes in capsules made from cellulose and are suitable for vegans.
Like our other nutraceuticals, our BerberinEx™ is free from allergens such as gluten, soy, fish, lactose, milk, meat and wheat.
What Is the Recommended Daily Dosage?
We recommend 1 capsule per day or as advised by your healthcare professional. It can be consumed with meals.
What Does the Science Say?
Coptis Chinensis
Coptis chinensis has been used since long in TCM as an anti-bacterial & anti-inflammatory agent [1]. It is also a source of berberine, a chemical compound found in rigorous modern-day clinical studies to indeed be of many benefits to human health.
Berberine has been suggested berberine could be used therapeutically as an agent for conditions such as:
- Cardiovascular health: Atherosclerosis, cardiac hypertrophy & failure, myocardial infraction, arrhythmia, abdominal aortic aneurysm & stroke [1,2]
- Metabolic health: Non-alcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD), obesity, diabetes, diabetic vascular injury & diabetic cardiomyopathy [1,3,4,5,6,7]
- Neurological health: cognitive decline [8]
In a study on 32 hypercholesterolemic patients lasting 3 months, Kong et al. (2004) observed that oral administration of berberine (1g/day, extracted from Coptis) lowered serum cholesterol by 29%, triglycerides by 35% and LDL-cholesterol by 25% [2].
A 2008 landmark double-blind placebo-controlled study on 116 type 2 diabetes patients by Zhang et al. showed that berberine contributed to lowering the blood glucose and cholesterol (total & LDL) levels at a dose of 1g/day [3]. In particular, blood glucose decreased by ca 20%, HbA1c by ca 12% and LDL cholesterol by ca 21%. A modest decrease in body weight was observed as well. No major side-effects were noted.
A smaller study on 36 type 2 diabetes patients given 1.5g/day of berberine by Yin et al. (2008) corroborates the glucose-reducing results, concluding that “berberine has similar hypoglycaemic effects to [the drug] metformin” [4].
Clinical trials have also found Berberine to beneficial to liver health. In a 2016 study by Chang et al., NAFLD patients were given berberine & lifestyle intervention. Their hepatic fat content (HFC) dropped by 57.2%, (compared to 36.4% through lifestyle intervention only) [5]. A study by Sun et al. (2017) also supports the fact that orally administered berberine can modulate the metabolism of fat (lipids) in the liver [6].
Berberine has also been shown to promote the increase and activation of brown adipose tissue in humans, and also helped controlling weight in a one-month trial on 10 NAFLD patients [7].
In addition, berberine is now also known for its ability to help maintaining a healthy condition within the brain tissue (it has even been reported to decrease amyloid formation [8]).
The Coptis chinensis extract is the cornerstone of our BerberinEx™ formula thanks to the berberine it contains. Its aim is to support the health of the cardiovascular and metabolic systems, assisting the maintenance of healthy blood glucose & lipid levels.
Aucklandia Lappa
Root extract from Aucklandia lappa (sometimes Saussurea lappa) – Saussurea costus, a South Asian thistle – is a common remedy in TCM against gastrointestinal problems and obesity.
Aucklandia has been observed to have gastro-supportive properties, as noted by Zhang et al. (2015) [9].
Pharmacological studies conducted in China, Korea and Japan showed that the active constituents may have anti-ulcer, anti-carcinogen, anti-inflammatory, anti-mycobacterial and vast-relaxant properties [10].
We have added Aucklandia lappa to our BerberinEx™ formula as a balancing, GI-friendly herb.
Glycyrrhiza Glabra
Recent studies have confirmed Licorice’s positive effect on the health of the lipid metabolism and insulin resistance through glycyrrhizin, one of it’s major constituents.
Commonly known as licorice, Glycyrrhiza glabara is one of the most commonly used herbs in TCM. It has been used to treat many ailments, such as shortness of breath, cough, wheezing, fatigue, weakness, loose stool, diarrhoea, arrhythmia and muscle spasms to name a few.
In the context of metabolic health, glyccyrhizin has been showed to decrease insulin resistance, hyperglycemia and dyslipidemia [12]. A double-blind placebo-controlled study on 50 patients found glycyrrhizin to be beneficial to intestinal health by reducing dyspepsia [13].
In other contexts, such as that of neurological health, liquorice has has also been observed to be beneficial to neurological health, potentially improving memory & cognitive decline by increasing the brain-derived neurotrophic growth factor (BDNF) [14].
We use licorice in our BerberinEx™ formula to, together with Aucklandia lappa, balance the cold nature of Coptis chinensis and make it suitable for longer term use.
Scientific References & Relevant Research
[1] Feng X, Sureda A, Jafari S, et al. Berberine in Cardiovascular and Metabolic Diseases: From Mechanisms to Therapeutics. Theranostics. 2019;9(7):1923-1951.
[2] Kong W, Wei J, Abidi P, et al. Berberine is a novel cholesterol-lowering drug working through a unique mechanism distinct from statins. Nat Med. 2004;10(12):1344-51.
[3] Zhang Y, Li X, Zou D, et al. Treatment of type 2 diabetes and dyslipidemia with the natural plant alkaloid berberine. J Clin Endocrinol Metab. 2008;93(7):2559-65.
Notes:“Randomized, double blind placebo-controlled and multi-center trial showed that treatment with berberine 0.5 g twice a day for 3 months in 57 diabetic patients significantly reduced levels of fasting and postprandial plasma glucose and Hb A 1C 1.4 and 3.1 nmol/ L and 0.9% respectively, which was accompanied with decreasing triglycerides and total cholesterol concentration by 35.9% and 18% respectively”
[4] Yin J, Xing H, Ye J. Efficacy of berberine in patients with type 2 diabetes mellitus. Metab Clin Exp. 2008;57(5):712-7.
Notes (Study A; Human, In Vivo): “Berberine significantly decreased Hb A1C levels in diabetic patients who took 500mg 3 times daily for 13 weeks from 9.5% to 7.5% and the effect of decreasing HbA1C was comparable with metformin” in study B , Hb A1C was reduced from 8.1 to 7.3 , fasting plasma insulin and HOMA -IR were reduced by 28.1% and 44.7% respectively”
[5] Chang X, Wang Z, Zhang J, et al. Lipid profiling of the therapeutic effects of berberine in patients with nonalcoholic fatty liver disease. J Transl Med. 2016;14:266.
Notes: “After treatment hepatic fat content (HFC) decreased by 57.2% in the LSI / Life Style Intervention/ plus berberine , and by 36.4% in the LSI group. Treatment with LSI plus berberine caused more reduction of HFC as compared to LSI alone. Moreover the effect of berberine on HCF was no smaller than that of PGZ 15mg/ day. Liver enzymes were also reduced in all groups after treatment…
[6] Sun R, Yang N, Kong B, et al. Orally Administered Berberine Modulates Hepatic Lipid Metabolism by Altering Microbial Bile Acid Metabolism and the Intestinal FXR Signaling Pathway. Mol Pharmacol. 2017;91(2):110-122.
Notes: “Orally administered berberine modulates hepatic lipid metabolism by altering microbial bile acid metabolism and the intestinal FXR signaling pathway. . 5.Berberine increases adipose triglyceride lipase in 3T3-L1 adipocytes through the AMPK pathway”.
[7] Wu L, Xia M, Duan Y, et al. Berberine promotes the recruitment and activation of brown adipose tissue in mice and humans. Cell Death Dis. 2019;10(6):468.
[8] Cai Z, Wang C, He W, Chen Y. Berberine Alleviates Amyloid-Beta Pathology in the Brain of APP/PS1 Transgenic Mice via Inhibiting β/γ-Secretases Activity and Enhancing α-Secretases. Curr Alzheimer Res. 2018;15(11):1045-1052.
[9] Zhang T-Y, Wang P, et al. Saussurea Lappa Modulates Gastrointestinal Motility, Motilin and Cholecystokinin Expression in Ulcer Rats. J Gastroent Hepat Res. 2016;5(2):2021-2027. doi:10.17554/j.issn.2224-3992.2016.05.625
[10] Choi JY, Na M, Hyun hwang I, et al. Isolation of betulinic acid, its methyl ester and guaiane sesquiterpenoids with protein tyrosine phosphatase 1B inhibitory activity from the roots of Saussurea lappa C.B.Clarke. Molecules. 2009;14(1):266-72.
[11] Chen JK, Chen TT, Crampton L. Chinese Medical Herbology and Pharmacology. AOM Press; 2004. pp. 493-494.
[12] Sil R, Ray D, Chakraborti AS. Glycyrrhizin ameliorates insulin resistance, hyperglycemia, dyslipidemia and oxidative stress in fructose-induced metabolic syndrome-X in rat model. Indian J Exp Biol. 2013;51(2):129-38.
[13] Raveendra KR, Jayachandra, Srinivasa V, et al. An Extract of Glycyrrhiza glabra (GutGard) Alleviates Symptoms of Functional Dyspepsia: A Randomized, Double-Blind, Placebo-Controlled Study. Evid Based Complement Alternat Med. 2012;2012:216970.
[14] Ko YH, Kwon SH, Lee SY, Jang CG. Liquiritigenin ameliorates memory and cognitive impairment through cholinergic and BDNF pathways in the mouse hippocampus. Arch Pharm Res. 2017;40(10):1209-1217.
