Cholesterol and blood fats
Berberineand Total cholesterol
All three sources here measured lower total cholesterol.
How sure anyone can be
High certainty, level 4 of 4Further research is very unlikely to change this.
The most certain of the three findings here; each record carries its own.
The numbers reported
One source’s range, drawn against its own line of no difference and scaled to its own numbers.
-0.63-0.48 mmol/L-0.33
This range stays on one side of the no-difference line.
Three sources, newest first
What we read is the published abstract, not the full paper, so a blank below may still be printed in the paper itself. A fixed rule worked this out from the source’s own fields. Nobody checked this rating by hand.
Systematic review, 2025
Moderate certainty, level 3 of 4Efficacy and safety of berberine on the components of metabolic syndrome: a systematic review and meta-analysis of randomized placebo-controlled trials.
Front Pharmacol. 2025;16:1572197. doi:10.3389/fphar.2025.1572197. PMID:40740996.
- Number reported
- -0.451 mmol/L
- Which way it went
- Lower
- Likely range
- -0.631 to -0.271
- Source’s own words
- mmol/L total cholesterol, weighted mean difference vs placebo
- Who was studied
- Adult with metabolic syndrome
- Compared with
- placebo
- Amount taken
- Not in the abstract
- For how long
- Not in the abstract
- Disagreement between studies
- Not in the abstract
- Kind of record
- Journal article
How this rating was reachedstarts at High, one step down: imprecision
- Starts at High
- Imprecision brought it down to Moderatethe abstract does not state how many participants were pooledNot in the abstract
- Ends at ModerateOne step down.
- Checked, nothing to step it down for
- risk of bias and indirectness
- Inconsistency
- No disagreement reported, and no count of studies behind it
Imprecision stops at the first check that applies; others may apply too.
AI review could not confirm it — an AI agent re-read this finding against the saved source and at least one check failed. The batch record names the check and quotes the sentence that caused the doubt. No person read it.
Systematic review, 2023 · 17 studies pooled · 1,637 participants
High certainty, level 4 of 4Overall and Sex-Specific Effect of Berberine for the Treatment of Dyslipidemia in Adults: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis of Randomized Placebo-Controlled Trials.
Drugs. 2023;83(5):403-427. doi:10.1007/s40265-023-01841-4. PMID:36941490.
- Number reported
- -0.48 mmol/L
- Which way it went
- Lower
- Likely range
- -0.63 to -0.33
- Source’s own words
- mmol/L total cholesterol, mean difference vs placebo
- Who was studied
- Adult with dyslipidemia
- Compared with
- placebo
- Amount taken
- 900 to 1,500 mg/day berberine (dose range from the record's plain-language summary)
- For how long
- 28 to 168 days
- Disagreement between studies
- Not in the abstract
- Kind of record
- Journal article
How this rating was reachedstarts at High, and nothing brought it down
- Starts at High
- Ends at HighNothing brought this one down a step.
- Checked, nothing to step it down for
- risk of bias, indirectness and imprecision
- Inconsistency
- No high disagreement reported between the 17 studies it pooled
AI-reviewed & signed — an AI agent re-read this finding against the saved source and checked that the quote, the numbers, the units and the direction match it. No person read it. The owner authorised the agent to sign the batch with the owner's key, and every build rechecks that signature against these exact bytes.
Systematic review, 2013
Moderate certainty, level 3 of 4The effects of berberine on blood lipids: a systemic review and meta-analysis of randomized controlled trials.
Planta Med. 2013;79(6):437-46. doi:10.1055/s-0032-1328321. PMID:23512497.
- Number reported
- -0.61 mmol/L
- Which way it went
- Lower
- Likely range
- -0.83 to -0.39
- Source’s own words
- mmol/L total cholesterol, mean difference vs control
- Who was studied
- Adult
- Compared with
- control (comparator not detailed in the abstract)
- Amount taken
- Not in the abstract
- For how long
- Not in the abstract
- Disagreement between studies
- Not in the abstract
- Kind of record
- Journal article
How this rating was reachedstarts at High, one step down: imprecision
- Starts at High
- Imprecision brought it down to Moderatethe abstract does not state how many participants were pooledNot in the abstract
- Ends at ModerateOne step down.
- Checked, nothing to step it down for
- risk of bias and indirectness
- Inconsistency
- No disagreement reported, and no count of studies behind it
Imprecision stops at the first check that applies; others may apply too.
AI-reviewed & signed — an AI agent re-read this finding against the saved source and checked that the quote, the numbers, the units and the direction match it. No person read it. The owner authorised the agent to sign the batch with the owner's key, and every build rechecks that signature against these exact bytes.
What is still missing from these readings
- Two do not say how many people took part.
- Amount taken — Two of Three readings: Not in the abstract.
- For how long — Two of Three readings: Not in the abstract.
Something nobody wrote down is never a zero and never a guess.
Still to read for Berberine
Five of the 14 things on our list for Berberine have no reading here yet:
- Diastolic blood pressure
- Interleukin-6
- Sex hormone binding globulin
- Systolic blood pressure
- Total testosterone
Still to read means nobody here has got to it, not that it was tried and did nothing or that no research exists. A pairing on no list is not a gap: we never set out to read it.
Read next
Berberine
Eight other questions read for it
Cholesterol and blood fats
65 questions read under it
Total cholesterol
15 other ingredients read against it
First six, alphabetical, and by nothing else. The rest are on Cholesterol and blood fats.
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