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The Effect of Berberine on Metabolic Profiles in Type 2 Diabetic Patients: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis of Randomized Controlled Trials

Guo J, Chen H, Zhang X, Lou W, Zhang P, Qiu Y, Zhang C, Wang Y, Liu WJ

Oxidative medicine and cellular longevity 2021 2021:2074610

Bibliography

PubMed: PMID 34956436
PubMed Central: PMC8696197
DOI: 10.1155/2021/2074610
Funding: Reported funding sources: National Natural Science Foundation of China. Grant and funder-role details are in the publication.
Competing interests: The authors declared no competing interests in the publication.

Design	Systematic review and meta-analysis
Model	Published human studies
Sample	46 trials
Intervention	Evidence synthesis; interventions and comparators vary across included studies
Duration	No new treatment; included-study durations vary
Endpoints	Pooled clinical or metabolic outcomes; Risk of bias and heterogeneity; Adverse-event reporting

The review reported improvements in glucose, insulin-resistance and lipid measures with berberine alone or alongside standard therapy.

The review reported improvements in glucose, insulin-resistance and lipid measures with berberine alone or alongside standard therapy.

Mixed regimens and inconsistent trial methods limit a single estimate’s applicability to ordinary supplement use.

Editorial review

Last verified 22 October 2026