The internet has decided berberine is Nature's Ozempic. In this episode, the hosts unpack Dr Luke Iggulden's research-led clinical analysis of that claim, and what they find is considerably more nuanced than the TikTok consensus.

Dr Luke's blog pulls no punches. Ozempic works. Semaglutide is effective. But when you put the side effect profiles side by side and apply the foundational principle of medicine, first do no harm, the case for berberine as a first-line metabolic tool becomes hard to argue against.

This episode traces the pharmacology of berberine from the ground up: its origins as a benzylisoquinoline alkaloid found in plants like Berberis vulgaris, Hydrastis canadensis, and Phellodendron amurense; its clinical use as a broad-spectrum GIT microbiome modulator; and its activation of AMPK, the master energy sensor of the cell,  ...