Berberine

Berberine is a compound found in plants including European barberry, goldenseal, goldthread, Oregon grape, phellodendron, and tree turmeric. NCCIH’s June 2023 news note is the federal page this entry uses for identity and safety. NIH ODS has no dedicated berberine fact sheet (the health-professional URL 404s). This page does not review blood-sugar or weight-change research.

What is berberine?

NCCIH says berberine occurs in the plants listed above and that those plants have a long record in Ayurvedic and traditional Chinese practice. Today it is sold as an herbal dietary supplement. The same note says berberine is promoted for several metabolic uses. Promotion is not the same as a monograph, and those uses are outside the scope of this page.

NCCIH’s goldenseal fact sheet adds a practical distinction: berberine is a constituent of goldenseal, but when people swallow goldenseal, very little berberine may be absorbed, so berberine study results may not apply to goldenseal.

What safety information does NCCIH publish?

Taken by mouth, NCCIH says berberine is generally well tolerated and is not without risks. The most common adverse effects it lists are abdominal pain, constipation, diarrhea, nausea, and vomiting.

NCCIH says people who are pregnant or breastfeeding should not use berberine, and it should not be given to infants. The stated reason is that berberine can cause or worsen jaundice in newborns and could lead to kernicterus. NCCIH also says berberine might interact with medicines in negative ways.

The goldenseal page records a separate NCCIH-funded finding: goldenseal extract plus metformin lowered metformin levels about 25 percent in healthy adults. That result is about goldenseal extract, not isolated berberine. It is included here so the two are not collapsed into one claim.

Is there an ODS or NCCIH berberine monograph?

No dedicated ODS fact sheet exists at the usual health-professional path. NCCIH’s berberine item is a news note last updated June 2023, not a full herbs-at-a-glance monograph. NCCIH also publishes pages that discuss berberine in other contexts. This entry stays with identity and safety from the two pages named in the source list.

What this page does not cover

Social nicknames that compare berberine to prescription medicines are marketing shorthand. They are not on the NCCIH news note as a demonstrated equivalence, and they are not used as a heading here.