Got Your Berberine for Halloween?

Happy Hallows Eve, Samhain, and the offramp into Winter

Living in the northern hemisphere, especially in Canada, the change of seasons and weather around Halloween brings on a certain trepidation. Historically, not everyone makes it through winter.

There is dress up spooky and the there is that Ancestral shiver that your subconscious feels when the snow begins to fall kind of spooky.

Just setting the mood…

We are at a potential Zombie crisis in 2024. By Zombie, I mean the way it feels to live with chronic illness. As a person who has an autoimmune condition, I have felt that way a few times.

As a clinician who has done his best to help people (who feel like Zombies) for the last 30 years, I dread this time of year. Especially when it comes to children.

It is usually about a week after Halloween when many children with chronic conditions, a lot of kids with no illness, and most autoimmune patients who eat sugar call my clinic with a short list of problems that came out of nowhere, or have come back with a vengeance.

To put this as playfully as I can; sugar feeds bugs, elevates inflammation and tissue damage, messes with hunger and cravings. When the sugar binge is over, then a pound or two of bugs die, their ‘juices and body parts’ pour through your liver, kidneys, brain and skin. Oh ya, and about 100,000 km of vascular tissue.

Ouch!

In Traditional Chinese medicine, this has a lot to do with a pathogen referred to as Dampness. Dampness is a huge conversation, so instead of exploring that, today I will talk about the herbs that are the best for treating Dampness and many of its symptoms.

Before I dive in, in TCM Dampness is a Xie Qi, or a kind of erosive influence that erodes your vitality or certain tissues, or organs. Like water pouring down a hill and across a dirt road, a small amount, once in a while is not a problem. A constant flood for days, weeks and months – or even years will destroy everything in its path.

Sugar is very spooky! It can turn people of all ages into Zombies.

Have you heard of Berberine?

There is a chemical structure, technically called an Alkaloid, that exists in many yellow roots and plants named Berberine. Most of the roots are very bitter and have long histories of use in treating many chronic and acute conditions. It is likely that this class of plant medicines is among the oldest to have been used in human history.

In Chinese the word Huang means yellow, and is used to refer to several bitter roots and barks that treat Dampness.

What is Berberine?

Berberine is an alkaloid compound like morphine, nicotine, and caffeine. Alkaloids are produced in plants to protect themselves from environmental dangers like insects, mold, and pathogens. This highly active compound can provide consistent physiological mediation and support as an antioxidant, antimicrobial, and anti-inflammatory supplement.

Berberine works by stimulating the production and expression of an enzyme called Activated Protein Kinase (AMPK), which acts like a mitochondrial shift supervisor, watching over energy production and low energy (ATP) levels.

If your ATP gets low, AMPK works quickly to signal an increase in production inside your trillions of cells. More specifically, AMPK redirecting your entire metabolism to take glucose in your blood, and move through your cell’s Insulin receptor sites more efficiently. If you keep your AMPK high for a a few days, you will see increased fat buring  and trigliceride production in your liver, better Glucose uptake and fat buring in your muscles, reduced lipid (fat) and cholesterol production, as well as an increased secretion of Insulin.

The modern crisis of Insulin Resistance, chronic inflammatory diseases, Cardiovascular disease, cancer and alzheimers is robbinbg hundreds of millions of people around the world of vitality, and longevity.

If you are feeling like a Zombie, and/or have any of those conditions , Berberine can help support your health in many other ways.

Berberine Regulates Blood Sugar

“You have to eat bitter to taste sweet.”

~ TCM Proverb

Welcome to Holloween 2024! The most affluent counties in the world have the worst health statistics in modern history. I know this is not a suprprise, and yes, I know this makes everyone uncomfortable…

SUGAR IS BAD FOR YOU!!!

I hope you are doing your best is every way, especially with your health. If you are concerned at all with Hypoglycemia, Insulin Resistance, Diabetes (Types 2 and 2.5), Infallmatory Diseases, Cancer, and/or Alzheimer’s Disease, the rest of this article describes how Berberine can help slow, stop, and resolve these conditions (if npossible). Here is how:

Activating the AMPK pathway mobilizes Glucose from your blood, directly lowering blood sugar.

Berberine improves Glucose receptor sensitivity, directly lower Insulin Resistance (when your body gets stubborn about having too much Insulin, all day, every day, for years).

Berberine increases Glucokinase activity, an enzyme that controls insulin release, and helps the process of converting Glucose to Glycogen. Another boost to your Insulin metabolism by helping to regulate blood sugar.

Research shows that supplementing with Berberine significantly reduces Hemoglobin A1C (a common biomarker which assess chronic high blood sugar and Insulin).and post-meal Glucose levels compared to control groups.

Medically supervised use of Berberine is comparably effective to Ozempic and other pharmaceutical drugs that also target the AMPK pathway. There is a new extractof Berberine called Dihydroberberine, which is about 4 times more effective than rebular Berberine.

Has Antioxidant Properties

Oxidative Stress contributes to more rapid aging and almost every Chronic Illness. High levels of Free Radicals, and Reactive Oxygen Species (ROS), are similar in effect to the process of rust. Image rusty pipes as your blood vessels rusty metal gates as your joints, and rusty coins as your DNA.

Berberine has been shown to reduce markers of Oxidative Stress (by lowering Malondialdehyde – MDA) and increasing levels of other antioxidants in your body like Glutathione.

Reduces Inflammation

Both Functional Medicine Aand TCM are focused on the root causes of any and all illness. Chronic inflammation is involved in the volume, intsenity, and tissue  damaget of many diseases.

By reducing blood sugar and oxidative stress, berberine creates a secondary change in your immune system. With less chaos (glycation/oxidative stress), the conversation in your immune system settles down from an action movie to a family friendy adventure.

As well, Berberine reduces several blood levels of inflammation, including C-Reactive Protein (CRP), Interleukin-6 (IL-6), and Tumor Necrosis Factor-α (TNF-α).

Reduces Risk of Cardiovascular Disease

At present, Cardiovascular Disease (heart disease or CVD), is one of the most common conditions in the developed world.

CVD is a combination of the following risk factors:

• High blood pressure,
• Chronically high triglycerides,
• Oxidized cholesterol and other lipid pathologies and imbalances( atherosclerosis),
• Vascular glycation (stiffening of arteries – arteriosclerosis),
• Chronic inflammation ( high C-Reactive Protein).

Berberine, taken in cycles with medical supervision, has been found to significantly reduce total cholesterol, triglycerides, and LDL (used cholesterol) while increasing HDL (fresh cholesterol).

Berberine increasing the production of a vasodilating compound called Nitric Oxide (NO), which relaxes your blood vessels and supports healthy blood pressure. This is due to an increase in mitochondrial NO due to more efficient energy production.

I am not suggesting that Berberine containing herbs can replace any medication you are taking. If you choose to begin taking Berberine supplements, you may faint from drastically low blood pressure. Please work with a clinician if you are taking medication of any kind.

Promote Consistent Weight Loss

Given that Berberine help to regulate all of the above phyiological processes, it is no surprise that it helps people lose weight. Although some research show that Berberine alone can reduce body weight (as fat), it works much better when all other factors are addressed. There is some evidence that Berberine reduces Adipocytes (fat cells) growth by regulating the activity of certain genes.

Measurably Improves Cognition and Memory

The human brain naturally ‘shrinks and stiffens’ as we age. High blood glucose, insulin, oxidative stress, <?>and inflammation are the three most destructive influences on the longevity of your brain. In fact, Alkzheimer’s Disease is now referred to a sDiabtes Type Three!

Berberine is one of the rare compounds that can cross your blood-brain barrier, helping reduce and remove Amyloid Protein (plack), while also helping clear dysfunctional neurons by inducing autophagy, or your body’s way of recycling damaged cells and cell parts. (Autophogy means self-eating).

Research is slow with natural substances, but animal studies have shown that Berberine significantly improves memory in animals with cognitive impairment.

Most of my patients report feeling cognitively ’10 years younger’ after 3 cycles. A cycle is 3 weeks on and one week off. The dosage depends on each person’s medical histopry and medications. It can take a month to get a person up to the therapeutic dose of 500 mg three to four times per day.

Because Berberine has a short half-life of action, it must be taken 2 – 4 times per day for consisitent metabolic effect.

Stimulates and Regulates Liver Function

berberine has been shown to improve liver function, including reducing fatty liver (hepatic steatosis).

In addition to lowering liver fat levels, which is a precursor to non-alcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD), berberine has also been found to reduce liver fibrosis—a buildup of scar tissue in the liver that leads to cirrhosis.

Research has shown that people with NAFLD who took 1500mg of berberine per day for 16 weeks had significantly improved liver health, especially when paired with lifestyle changes.

Specifically, the group with berberine supplements added had a decrease in liver fat content by 53%, compared to a 36% reduction in the lifestyle modification group.

Increases ’good’ gut bacteria

As mentioned at the beginnning of this article, in TCM certain yellow (Huang) roots are very effective at treating Dampness. One aspect of Dampness is an imbalanced Microbiome. 25 years ago, this very complex situation was simply refered to Candida Overgrowth.

Berberine reduces harmful bacteria while encouraging good bacteria to grow. It also supports your gut lining’s ability to repair itself, helping repair a Leaky Gut!

It is nice to know that you are not pooiping into your blood, liver, and brain.

Potential Side Effects of Berberine

Berberine is good for your gut, but ironically, its most common side effects involve the digestive system and include:

• Abdominal discomfort or distension (swelling),
• Constipadihydrodihydroberberine berberine tion,
• Diarrhea, and
• Nausea.

Not everyone experiences side effects, which should become tolerable if you reduce the dose.

I cannot stress this enough – If you are suffering from a complex condition or combination of them, PLEASE work with a knowledgable clinician.

Berberine can be a literal Life-Changer, if you use it in the most effective way.