Did you know that prednisone, a powerful corticosteroid that is often used to treat inflammation, can also have a number of side effects, such as weight gain, osteoporosis, and high blood pressure? Well, there’s good news! A natural herbal compound called berberine may help to reduce these side effects.

Berberine is a compound found in plants like barberry and goldenseal. It has been shown to have a number of health benefits, including reducing inflammation, lowering blood sugar, as well as improving cholesterol levels.

In this blog post, we’ll take a closer look at how berberine can help to reduce the side effects of prednisone. We’ll also discuss how to get berberine and what the potential side effects are.

So, if you’re taking prednisone and are concerned about the side effects, keep reading or watch my video now.

Watch now!

What is Berberine?

Berberine is a natural compound found in plants like barberry and goldenseal. Some on social media have started calling it Nature’s Ozempic. The prescription weight loss drug, for its many health benefits.

It has been shown to have a number of health benefits, including reducing inflammation, lowering blood sugar, and improving cholesterol levels.

Berberine and Prednisone Side Effects

Prednisone is a powerful corticosteroid that is often used to treat inflammation. It’s a glucocorticoid known for increasing blood glucose.

However, prednisone can also have a number of side effects, including weight gain, osteoporosis, and high blood pressure.

How Berberine can help?

One of the most well-known benefits of berberine is its ability to reduce blood sugar (glucose) levels. Berberine has also been shown to help with weight loss, improve cholesterol levels, and reduce inflammation. In addition, berberine may be able to help prevent osteoporosis.

Berberine may help to reduce the side effects of prednisone by Reducing Inflammation

Berberine regulates glucose metabolism and lipid metabolism, improves energy expenditure, reduces body weight, and alleviates nonalcoholic fatty liver disease. In addition, berberine also improves cardiovascular hemodynamics, suppresses ischemic arrhythmias, attenuates the development of atherosclerosis, and reduces hypertension.

Thus berberine shows potent neuroprotective effects, including antioxidative, antiapoptotic, and anti-ischemic. Furthermore, berberine exerts protective effects against other diseases. Check out the Biological Properties and Clinical Applications of Berberine

Berberine helps with blood glucose, diabetes, insulin resistance, cholesterol and triglycerides, improves energy, helps lose weight, improves heart, rhythm, reduces blood pressure, and helps build bones. Plus it’s protective of your brain as an antioxidant, and may help protect against cancer and other diseases like my own, ITP, NAFLD, PCOS.

Berberine is Possibly Effective for:

According to the Natural Medicines Database Effectiveness Rating, berberine is possibly effective for the following conditions:

Diabetes

• Taking berberine by mouth seems to slightly reduce blood sugar levels in people with diabetes.

High levels of cholesterol or other fats (lipids) in the blood (hyperlipidemia)

• Taking berberine by mouth, alone or with other ingredients, might help lower total cholesterol, low-density lipoprotein (LDL or “bad”) cholesterol, and triglyceride levels in people with high cholesterol.

High blood pressure

• Taking 0.9 grams of berberine by mouth daily along with the blood pressure-lowering drug amlodipine reduces blood pressure better than taking amlodipine alone in people with high blood pressure.

PCOS: A hormonal disorder that causes enlarged ovaries with cysts (polycystic ovary syndrome)

• Taking berberine by mouth might lower blood sugar, improve cholesterol and triglyceride levels, and reduce testosterone levels. It also lowers the waist-to-hip ratio in people with PCOS.

Berberine for Improving Bone Health

“Berberine has a definite effect in promoting the proliferation and differentiation of osteoblasts as well as inhibiting the production of osteoclasts to promote bone regeneration.”

How to take Berberine?

The following are the recommended dosage of berberine and how to take it.

• As low as 15 mg per day or as high as 1500 mg per day, taken as 500 mg three times per day.

Potential Side Effects of Berberine

• Diarrhea, constipation, gas, and upset stomach.

Who is Berberine NOT for?

1. Berberine Drug Interactions: People taking drugs that interact with berberine, such as tacrolimus for kidney transplants.

• Cyclosporine, transplants
• Cytochrome P450 medications: CYP2C9, CYP2D6, or CYP3A4 substrates
• Since berberine is helping improve the condition for which certain medications are prescribed, medications for blood pressure, diabetes, blood glucose, etc. may need a dose adjustment for less drug than before berberine.

2. Pregnancy

3. Breastfeeding

 Conclusion:

Berberine is a natural plant compound that has many potential health benefits for people on prednisone. Research suggests it may help reduce total cholesterol, LDL cholesterol, triglycerides, blood pressure, and glucose levels as well as improve heart rhythm and increase bone and platelet production in those taking prednisone. It may also help protect the brain, prevent or slow cancer progression, and treat non-alcoholic fatty liver disease. However, Berberine should not be taken by pregnant or breastfeeding women or those taking Tacrolimus (Prograf) or Cyclosporine.

Get the Berberine you need

Good sources of Berberine are included in Nutranize Zone, Integrative Therapeutics, and Designs for Health brands. 

Nutranize Zone

Nutranize Zone contains berberine and other ingredients to help support the needs of people on prednisone, such as a healthy weight, blood sugar, blood pressure, and support bones.

If you need more berberine than is in Nutranize Zone, add on one of these excellent manufacturers:

Frequently Asked Questions about Berberine and Prednisone

Is it safe to take berberine and melatonin spaced apart?

Yes, taking berberine and melatonin should be fine spaced apart. In fact, that’s exactly how I designed it in my supplement, Nutranize Zone. It’s made for people on prednisone but could be helpful for anyone who’s needing both ingredients.

Regarding Barberry, that’s the name for berberine, which is a wonderful supplement ingredient. It might be my favorite ingredient in Nutranize Zone after the chromium picolinate…
Berberine helps keep a stable blood sugar.
Berberine also helps keep off the weight (and maybe lose weight)
Berberine helps you keep healthy cholesterol and a healthy heart.
All of these are concerns for people on prednisone, so it’s like a triple-whammy!

I know you use berberine in Nutranize Zone Morning to suppress the dawn phenomenon in individuals using high doses of cortical steroids. The dose of berberine sometimes used for type 2 diabetes in place of metformin is several tens of times higher than the dose of berberine in Nutranize Zone. Do you feel like the safety profile of the barberry root extract you use is safe to crank the concentration on? Or is that why you use the Cr picolinate?

Yes, you can crank the dose of berberine as needed. Start at 15 mg like in Nutranize Zone and increase from there up to 1500 mg per day, divided into three doses.

References

1. Song D, Hao J, Fan D. Biological properties and clinical applications of berberine. Front Med. 2020 Oct;14(5):564-582. doi: 10.1007/s11684-019-0724-6. Epub 2020 Apr 25.
2. Guo J, Chen H, Zhang X, Lou W, Zhang P, Qiu Y, Zhang C, Wang Y, Liu WJ. The Effect of Berberine on Metabolic Profiles in Type 2 Diabetic Patients: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis of Randomized Controlled Trials. Oxid Med Cell Longev. 2021 Dec 15;2021:2074610. doi: 10.1155/2021/2074610.
3. Zhang Y, Ma J, Zhang W. Berberine for bone regeneration: Therapeutic potential and molecular mechanisms. J Ethnopharmacol. 2021 Sep 15;277:114249. doi: 10.1016/j.jep.2021.114249. Epub 2021 May 29.
4. MedlinePlus.gov “Berberine”
5. Berberine ameliorates diabetic nephropathy by inhibiting TLR4/NF-κB pathway | Biological Research | Full Text
6. Effects of berberine on the blood concentration of cyclosporin A in renal transplanted recipients: Clinical and pharmacokinetic study
7. Berberine pharmacology and the gut microbiota: A hidden therapeutic link 
8. Berberine May Correct Corticosteroid Resistance Induced By Gut Microbiota Dysbiosis in Immune Thrombocytopenia | Blood | American Society of Hematology
9. Treatment of Type 2 Diabetes and Dyslipidemia with the Natural Plant Alkaloid Berberine 
10. Berberine in the Treatment of Type 2 Diabetes Mellitus: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis
11. Efficacy of berberine in patients with type 2 diabetes mellitus
12. Berberine lowers blood glucose in type 2 diabetes mellitus patients through increasing insulin receptor expression
13. Effect of berberine bisulfate on platelet hemostasis in thrombocytopenia patients