Guide
Berberine and fish oil: taking them together
No trial has tested berberine and fish oil taken together. Here's what each is, why people stack them, and what's involved in taking them at the same time.
No trial has tested berberine and fish oil taken together as a two-ingredient combination. Each has its own separate research base — berberine mainly for blood sugar and lipid markers, fish oil mainly for triglycerides and cardiovascular outcomes — and pairing the two in a daily stack is common, but pairing them in a product isn't the same as testing the pairing in a trial.
What is berberine and fish oil?
They're two separate supplement ingredients from different sources: berberine is a plant alkaloid extracted from the bark and root of plants like barberry, goldenseal and Oregon grape, while fish oil is a marine-derived concentrate providing the omega-3 fatty acids EPA and DHA. Both get marketed toward similar goals — lipid and metabolic health — which is why they're often stacked, but they're chemically unrelated and act through different mechanisms.
The closest research that exists
We searched for a trial testing berberine and fish oil (or omega-3s generally) as a defined combination and didn't find one. What turns up instead are broader reviews of nutraceuticals for cardiovascular or metabolic health that mention both as separate options among many, not trials that dosed people with both and measured a combined result. Each ingredient's own research is reported on its own page: see berberine and cholesterol: what the research does and doesn't show and fish oil and cholesterol: what the research does and doesn't show for what each has shown separately, at what doses, and where the evidence is thin.
A reason to mention both to a doctor together
Fish oil has a mild, dose-related antiplatelet effect that becomes more relevant when combined with a blood-thinning or antiplatelet medication — documented in a review of the clinical literature from 1980–2017. Berberine has a separate, broader interaction profile across several liver enzymes and drug transporters, and can add to the effect of medications that lower blood sugar. Neither profile is a documented reason to avoid combining the two supplements with each other, but taking both alongside a prescription medication is a reason to mention the full combination to a doctor or pharmacist. See fish oil and medications and berberine and medications for what's documented on each.
Our product
Electric Tiger Berberine is 800 mg of berberine HCl extract, standardized to 8%, for about 73 mg of berberine per two-capsule serving — the ingredient discussed above, on its own. Full label here.
Questions people ask
Can you take berberine and fish oil together?
No trial has tested the two-ingredient combination directly, and we haven't found a documented interaction between them. Each has its own separate safety profile — see berberine side effects and fish oil side effects — and if you take a blood thinner or a blood-sugar medication, mention both supplements to a doctor.
Can you take berberine with fish oil?
Same answer as above: untested as a pair, with no documented problem from combining them, which isn't the same as a tested-and-cleared combination.
Related reading: what is berberine, berberine benefits: what's established and what isn't, and how to choose a good berberine.
Sources
- Role of Fish Oil in Post-Cardiotomy Bleeding: A Summary of the Basic Science and Clinical Trials A review of the literature found fish oil has a weak blood-thinning effect on its own, which becomes more noticeable when combined with antiplatelet drugs or, to a lesser extent, warfarin or factor Xa inhibitors; fish oil alone wasn't linked to a meaningful increase in surgical bleeding risk.
- Berberine-Drug Interactions: Mechanisms, Clinical Relevance and Risk Stratification-A Narrative Review A 2026 review named barberry, Chinese goldthread and goldenseal as berberine's plant sources and found it can raise blood levels of some other drugs even though very little berberine itself reaches the bloodstream.
*These statements have not been evaluated by the Food and Drug Administration. This product is not intended to diagnose, treat, cure, or prevent any disease.
