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Regulating plasma cholesterol levels is possible thanks to berberine extracts…
The use of extracts from the roots and rhizomes of various plants, very different from each other and with totally different habitats, is lost in the mists of time.
However, the Coptis Chinensis shrub (India and China) and the European Barberry (Berberis vulgaris) and the large tree of North America (Hydrastis Canadensis) are united by the presence in the bark and underground parts of notable quantities of bitter alkaloids of the isoquinoline type (in particular from Berberine).
The large family of alkaloids is characterized by:
- from the presence of amino groups (NH2) which make the substances basic and little or not at all soluble,
- from having some typical molecules (but often quite different from each other) as structural bases
- from having a very high effect on animal metabolism, so much so that they are used as medicines but with potential and significant risks of toxicity.
Both the Indians of North America and the populations of India and China have used extracts from Hydrastis and Coptis for the high disinfectant and antibiotic properties of Berberine, employing them in intestinal and urinary tract disinfection.
In recent times berberine It has had great importance in the preparation of solutions for the treatment of ocular trachoma and in other fields for antitumor applications, especially for brain tumors, where it has been shown to be capable of destroying 91% of proliferating cells and at the same time activating immunomodulation with high production of white blood cells.
But the therapeutic effect that has attracted the greatest interest throughout the world has come from applications following research at the University of Shanghai in the field of cholesterol and triglyceride control.
What doses of berberine should you take?
Daily administration of 750 > 1000 mg, divided into two doses, reduced blood cholesterol levels by 29% over three months in a large number of subjects with hypercholesterolemia; in particular, almost all of the reduction was attributable to LDL cholesterol, the true enemy of our arteries.
The side effects
Also of great importance is the almost total absence of side effects, generally expected as a consequence of prolonged administration of alkaloids: berberine has proven to be an atypical alkaloid, both due to the high level of the lethal dose in animals and the twenty-year monitoring of adverse effects in continuous administration, due to its remarkable safety of use and very low toxicity.
The permitted daily dose for food supplements is 500 mg, combined with reduced doses of herbal statins and protection with Coenzyme Q10 to achieve virtuous control against the most insidious and widespread risks to our cardiovascular system.
