Barberry helps leaky gut

Dried barberries

According to the University of Maryland Medical Center website barberry has been used for over 2500 years to treat gastrointestinal complaints and lower fever. In Iran it’s now being used medicinally for gallbladder disease and heartburn. The active component is berberine, which is found in barberry and goldenseal. In test tube studies (meaning not tested on live humans or animals) berberine has yielded antimicrobial activity against parasites and bacteria, anti-inflammatory and blood pressure lowering properties, in addition to sedative and anti-convulsive benefits. Berberine/barberry has quite a few contraindications, especially for pregnant women and the UMD website tells us it shouldn’t be taken for more than a week without the supervision of a doctor [1].

Please refer to the UMD site for a full list of contraindications.

A 2009 study published in Fitoterapia, the Journal for the Study of Medicinal Plants, found that extracts of berberine could reduce epithelial gut permeability in vitro using human cells [2].

A number of other studies have come to similar conclusions based on test tube (in vitro) studies, including one published in the European Journal of Pharmaceutical Sciences in 2010 [3].

Authors of an interesting but scary sounding 2014 study in the Journal of Marine Drugs used a nano carrier based on chitosan and fucoidan to deliver berberine locally to restore barrier function compromised by bacteria-derived lipopolysaccharides (LPS) which play a role in IBS and other inflammatory bowel conditions [4].

The studies I’ve read explain that berberine works by strengthening/protecting the intestinal epithelial tight junctions which prevents bacteria and others from coming into contact with the immune system.

A comparative study of berberine on colitis in rats rounds up quite a bit of information pointing to its benefits in treating inflammatory bowel changes [5]. In this vein moringa oleifera [6], caraway [7] and rosemary oil [8] have also been found to be beneficial.

You’ll find recipes full of foods with antihistamine and anti-inflammatory properties my books Anti-Recipes and The Anti-Cookbook

CLICK HERE TO CREATE YOUR OWN PERSONALISED HEALING HISTAMINE PLAN.

I didn’t come across too many studies on barberry/berberine as an antihistamine, just one of interest from 1999 published in the Journal of Ethnopharmacology [9]. The University of Maryland website says that barberry may increase the effects of antihistamines so please do take that into account when speaking with your doctor.

I’m in love with medicinal foods. At this point in my life I’ve finally managed to let go of the reigns and just enjoy the fact there are studies out there showing that X food has X beneficial property rather than spend hundreds of dollars monthly compromising my liver/kidneys as they struggle to clear massive amounts of exotic supplements.

I believe that part of my success with healing comes down to eliminating the stress of finding, paying for and testing new supplements in favour of a more “organic” approach. Like sticking the barberries into a gluten free cake, but if you’re still in the early stages of trying to heal your gut, baked/sweet goods probably shouldn’t be on the menu right now.

My muffin recipe was used as a base and then added in half a cup of barberries to make this fruit cake. I also enjoy a cup of barberry tea brewed with a tablespoon of dried barberries!

You’ll find recipes full of foods with antihistamine and anti-inflammatory properties my books Anti-Recipes and The Anti-Cookbook

CLICK HERE TO CREATE YOUR OWN PERSONALISED HEALING HISTAMINE PLAN.

———–REFERENCES ————–

[1] https://umm.edu/health/medical/altmed/herb/barberry

[2] http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0367326X09000410

[3]http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0928098710000552

[4] http://www.mdpi.com/1660-3397/12/11/5677/htm

[5] http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3869597/

[6] http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/25050310

[7] http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/24459470

[8] http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/22049274

[9] http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/10197751

9 responses to “Barberry helps leaky gut”

Jan

December 29, 2015

Interesting info Yasmina.

Your barberry fruitcake looks delicious, and I started researching to find out where you can buy them – only to realize that I have barberry bushes growing in my yard (Japanese barberries if I’m not mistaken – they were here when we bought our house). I’d considered removing them as they’re considered potentially invasive on our ravine property. After this I may reconsider – had no idea you could eat the berries! (The red berries also make nice additions to Christmas arrangements.)

There are several species of barberries – do you know if the research you’re citing refers specifically to Berberis vulgaris, or generically to any/all of the Barberry species? I believe they are all edible (e.g. http://eattheplanet.org/archives/712 ), but would be interested to know if they all provide similar medicinal benefits?

I’m keen to try out your fruitcake recipe.
Jan
Seeme Faiyaz

December 29, 2015

Me too. I’d love to know where I can source these. Apart from olive leaf tea, I don’t drink any other and would love an alternative.
Just wanted clarification on this:

The University of Maryland website says that barberry may increase the effects of antihistamines so please do take that into account when speaking with your doctor.

Would this affect quercetin as well and if so, in what way? I don’t take any antihistamines apart from the veg I eat from Yasmina’s shopping list. I took berberine for two months for my gut dysbiosis and felt a lot better during those two months. At the time, I had no idea that histamine played a role in this so I was eating a lot of high histamine foods.
IceColdScotch

December 30, 2015

Hi Yasmina, I know the goal here is to stay as natural as possible and avoidance of pharmaceuticals is preferred, but I ran across Berberine a few years ago when diagnosed as pre-diabetic and used it to manage my dietary blood sugar and found it to be far superior to anything like Metformin or other prescribed meds. The pleasant side effects I found include the reduction in leaky gut and IBS symptoms, and anything related to systemic inflammation. Berberine was a Godsend and is a phenomenal natural supplement whether in capsule form or through the ingestion of the barberry fruit. I won’t post direct links as it may be against your rules here, but the product I used was called Glycosolve from Leaner Living. Highly recommended. Thanks again for all you do for those of us who are the histamine sensitive people of the world. You’ve helped give us our lives back!
Bea Garth

December 30, 2015

Thank you for having an article here on barberry. I have been using barberry bark for years. It really helps especially if I am getting a headache or migraine from food sensitivities, including a histamine reaction. I have also found it works well against colds and flu. That’s interesting about using the berry itself. Once I move up to the northwest I will consider growing some barberry bushes. They sound like they will be beautiful with their red berries in the fall–and now perhaps very useful as a berry we can have despite histamine sensitivity. I am assuming these berries you used are fresh and not dried??
Bea Garth

January 6, 2016

One thing to remember with barberry is to only take it every other day, or straight for 10 days and then go off it a week or two–and make sure to take (the kinds safe for us) probiotics to repopulate the gut. The berberine builds up. Its related to Oregon Grape Root and Golden Seal so its a strong antimicrobial. I think its good to take it with ginger root to energetically warm up the tea (or whatever else you make/or have with it!) plus alternate it with olive leaf.
Aron Stack

January 18, 2016

hi – do the berrys have the same benefit as the herbal root form itself or is the fruit much weaker? thanks
Aron Stack

January 18, 2016

hi – do the berrys have the same benefit as the herbal root form itself or is the fruit much weaker? thanks
Yvonne

April 29, 2016

Can you link the source of barberries? I live in Canada and would like to purchase them
Yvonne

April 29, 2016

Can you link the source of barberries? I live in Canada and would like to purchase them

Welcome!

Yasmina was an award-winning broadcast journalist with a decade of experience covering war zones for CNN and the BBC. She devoted her journalism skills to researching and writing about histamine. Click here to learn about her. Each post is carefully and fully referenced with the latest scientific research. Not sure where to start? Here’s a four week meal plan and overall Histamine Reset.