When Savannah Crosby started posting videos on TikTok about using berberine, a dietary supplement, for weight loss, she had about 500 followers.
About two months later, Crosby now has over 21,000.
“I feel very happy and grateful that sharing my experience has helped other women who are facing the same problems as me,” said Crosby, 34, who lives in San. Antonio and works for a real estate management company.
Crosby’s popularity is part of a larger trend. People have nicknamed the supplement, which is available online and in convenience stores, “nature’s Ozempic,” referring to the prescription weight-loss drug that has also received a lot of attention for its effectiveness in helping people shed pounds.
Because Ozempic is expensive and can be difficult to obtain, some users seem to have turned to Berberine. TikTok videos about the addition have received more than 92 million views.
But doctors and nutritionists caution that there is little evidence that berberine can actually help people lose weight and that the long-term effects of its use are unclear.
In short, they say, berberine may just be the latest weight-loss fad.
“People see a little bullet, something that they think might help, and it hits; it’s huge for a little while, and then it kind of goes away,” said Deborah Cohen, a registered dietitian and assistant professor. in the Department of Clinical and Preventive Nutritional Sciences at Rutgers University.
According to a study published in the journal Frontiers in Physiology, berberine is derived from the roots and bark of several plants and has long been used as a medicinal plant in China.
Weight loss is, of course, always a big topic of discussion in the United States, as 41.9% of the population is obese, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
While doing research to determine if insulin resistance might be the reason she was eating healthy but not losing weight, Crosby found an article about berberine.
“It was telling me something was going on with my body,” Crosby said of the lack of results.
A report in the journal Clinical Nutrition Espen states that “obesity-induced inflammation may exacerbate insulin resistance” and that “berberine has anti-inflammatory effects.”
Crosby said she would have asked her doctor for Ozempic but was turned down by health insurance because of its cost. Even if she were covered, many insurers wouldn’t pay for the drug, which can cost more than $900 a month, according to GoodRx.
Instead, Crosby paid $24 for a three-month supply of berberine.
But it “doesn’t compare in any way, shape or form” to Ozempic, said Dr. Pieter Cohen, an assistant professor at Harvard Medical School who studies supplements.
There is significant evidence that Ozempic not only reduces weight but also reduces the risk of health problems such as diabetes, heart disease or stroke, Cohen said.
A New England Journal Medicine study of nearly 2,000 obese people found that those who took Ozempic and made lifestyle changes lost 15% of their body weight over 68 weeks.
According to a review published in the journal Clinical Nutrition Espen, studies of berberine typically lasted only one to three months, involved fewer than 70 participants, and typically did not measure its effects on body weight.