Can berberine be taken for a long time?

Berberine is a traditional Chinese medicine that can be extracted from Tripterygium wilfordii, Coptis chinensis and Phellodendron chinense. Its essence is a biological alkali. In medicine, berberine is mainly used to treat gastrointestinal diseases such as diarrhea. However, other studies have found that berberine can also treat heart disease, cardiovascular and cerebrovascular diseases. Although it is very bitter, it has high medicinal value. Berberine is a medicine after all, and as a medicine it is toxic. So is long-term use of berberine harmful to the human body?

1. Berberine is one of the main pharmacological components of berberine. The scientific name of berberine is "berberine hydrochloride", which is a biological alkaloid extracted from Coptis chinensis and Phellodendron amurense. Berberine is a commonly used medicine for treating digestive tract diseases such as bacterial gastroenteritis and dysentery. The side effects of berberine are relatively small, but that does not mean that it has no side effects. Medical experts point out that medical research and clinical practice have found that the main side effect of berberine is that it can cause excessive stomach acid, which is what Chinese medicine calls "bitterness that damages the stomach."

2. At the same time, the most common side effect of berberine is constipation. Large-scale use may occasionally cause nausea, vomiting, rash and fever, and may even lead to rhabdomyolysis and lactic acidosis. What we need to be most vigilant about is that regular use of berberine may lead to absorption disorders of B vitamins, resulting in peripheral neuritis.

3. From the research progress, it has not yet been clarified how berberine affects nutritional metabolism. Zhao Liping's team is also working hard to find the answer. In fact, just as we can supplement protein by eating eggs, if we eat too many eggs in order to supplement protein, it will also have negative effects such as high cholesterol. Therefore, berberine in berberine may have the effect of weight loss, but this does not mean that berberine can be used as a weight loss drug. The desire for beauty is understandable, but it is more necessary to be rational in order to lose weight healthily.

4. In in vitro studies on berberine, its usage concentration was at the milligram level. However, a large number of studies have shown that the bioavailability of berberine is very low. It is difficult for berberine to enter the blood after oral administration and is basically excreted from the body in the form of the original drug in the feces. Its concentration in human blood can only reach the microgram level. A drug cannot work if it cannot enter the blood, so the mechanism of action of berberine on diabetes is like a mystery.