Tier 2 — strong

Probiotics, synbiotics and berberine in Type 2 diabetes mellitus: A systematic review, meta-analysis, and molecular dynamics simulation study

Shadin M, Bhuia MS, Alfaifi M, Altemani FH, Altemani AH, Alsenani F, Saleh N, Islam MT

PloS one 2026 21(5):e0348907

Bibliography

PubMed: PMID 42213651
PubMed Central: PMC13221027
DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0348907
Funding: Supported by King Khalid University research funding, project RGP1-112-46.
Competing interests: A complete competing-interest declaration was not available in the accessible source; no absence of conflicts is inferred.

Design	Systematic review and meta-analysis
Model	Human trials across probiotic, synbiotic and berberine intervention classes, with separate computational simulations
Sample	More than 30 trials; over 2000 participants across intervention classes
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

This review combined probiotic, synbiotic and berberine evidence and included exploratory enzyme-binding simulations.

This review combined probiotic, synbiotic and berberine evidence and included exploratory enzyme-binding simulations.

The overall pooled effect is not berberine-specific. Computational binding is not a clinical efficacy endpoint.

Editorial review

Last verified 22 October 2026