special subjects
Goldenseal
Evidence
Efficacy of goldenseal alone as a cold remedy has not been supported ( References ). In 2 relatively well-designed but small studies, berberine, the major alkaline constituent isolated from goldenseal, reduced diarrhea ( Emerging evidence shows that in patients with diabetes, berberine can decrease fasting and postprandial glucose and hemoglobin A1C. A meta-analysis of berberine in 28 studies (2313 subjects) compared berberine to lifestyle modifications, diabetes medication monotherapy, or berberine combined with diabetes medications. In this analysis, berberine significantly lowered fasting glucose, postprandial glucose, and hemoglobin A1C and was more effective in combination with oral diabetes medications than the diabetes medications or berberine used as monotherapy ( References ). However, effects were attenuated with treatment duration > 90 days and in people older than 60 years. For hyperlipidemia, a meta-analysis of 16 studies (2417 subjects) found that compared to placebo berberine significantly lowered total and low-density lipoprotein cholesterol and triglycerides, and increased high-density lipoprotein cholesterol ( References ). However, there was a high degree of heterogeneity in results and risk of bias. 