Berberine vs. Dihydroberberine aka DHB Supplements

When it comes to the supplement industry, there are generally two types of supplement companies:

Which is why even though this post is about berberine vs Dihydroberberine aka DHB, it’s inspired by the above.

That’s because [in all honesty] #1 is one of my biggest pet peeves about supplements due to it chronically undermining supplement safety and effectiveness around the world.

 This is Kate Mahoney, your food-first supplement expert and founder of the Supplement Academy, popping by with the Scoop on berberine vs. dihydroberberine aka DHB supplements so you can use your discerning critical thinking to make well-informed decisions about berberine supplements for yourselves and your clients.  

Like always, any supplement links I share are clean links [aka affiliate-free] to ensure I continue to provide you with comprehensive, unbiased and agenda-free supplement information, as is in alignment with my integrity. 💜

Now let's dive in! 😀

Dihydroberberine, or DHB, is a derivative of berberine naturally created in the body when berberine is metabolized. Berberine is conjugated into DHB in the liver, but can also be metabolized into DHB in the intestines via a happy and healthy microbiome. 

The DHB available in supplement form is synthetic.

Being synthetic doesn’t make it bad, it simply means more needs to be known about it to ensure it’s the correct molecular structure. This is because—just as an example—most synthetic nutrients in supplements are a molecular mirror of how the nutrient naturally occurs, which decreases bioavailability and effectiveness.  

So, while claims of synthetic DHB’s increased gut permeability could be legitimate, what I am most interested in are studies that focus on and clearly show the effectiveness of synthetic DHB.  

…And what I have seen thus far focuses on absorbability, not the effectiveness of synthetic DHB. 

Here’s the study most websites and influencers reference regarding synthetic DHB’s increased absorbability.
https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC8746601/ 

A few things make me go, “Hmm…” 

So, while there is research that synthetic DHB has higher gut permeability in five men, we can all see that the highly-referenced study isn’t as good as it could be.

Suffice to say, my discerning critical thinking is throwing up some yellow flags, especially considering how loudly some influencers are trying to convince everyone that synthetic DHB is the sh*t. 

What I found most interesting about this study are the references it cites, which are full of research on berberine! While some studies are on dihydroberberine, the majority of available research focuses on the medicinal benefits of berberine.

Synthetic DHB is relatively new, whereas berberine has been known about and therefore studied for much longer. Plus, berberine’s absorption isn’t as poor as synthetic DHB promoters suggest. It’s estimated at around 68%, which is quite high for a supplement. For every 500 mg berberine capsule, about 340 mg is absorbed into circulation, then conjugated by the liver into naturally occurring DHB.  

There’s also evidence that fat can increase berberine’s absorbability (check out the studies cited in the link above 😊). 

So, instead of taking a synthetic metabolite of berberine, what if we just focused on a more (call me crazy 😉) foundational approach such as:

For those interested, my favorite berberine supplement for the past 5+ years has been:

BRAND Enzymedica
NAME Berberine (or Berberine 800) 

That concludes this Supplement Scoop!

I hope this information is helpful, colleague. 💜  

Until next time, remember that critical thinking + discernment is a SUPERPOWER. 🌟

Warm regards,
Kate 💜 

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The Supplement Scoop blog is written by Kate Mahoney, FNTP, FSS, a food-first dietary supplement expert, functional nutrition practitioner, and former international functional nutrition instructor with nearly 30 years of experience. Her mission is to empower everyone with the ability to identify the less than 15% of supplements worldwide that are worth using, with the hope that doing so will lead to improved supplement quality and effectiveness around the world. To that effort, in 2020, she founded the Supplement Academy to provide health professionals and consumers around the world with comprehensive and unbiased dietary supplement information and education.

In her free time, Kate is a Muppet whose inner spark is rejuvenated by nature, dancing to super loud music with friends, caring for her rescued feline furbabies with her beloved spouse, and enjoying delicious homecooked food with loved ones.