How much berberine should you take a day?

Electric Tiger Berberine provides about 73 mg of berberine per two-capsule serving — 800 mg of extract standardized to 8%. That's our label dose. Clinical trials on berberine have generally used far more, 900 mg to 1.5 g a day, so our serving sits at roughly 8% of the low end of that range.

What our label directs

Two capsules a day, with 6-8 oz of water, or as directed by a healthcare professional. That's 800 mg of berberine HCl extract — 790 mg standardized to 8% plus 10 mg standardized to 97% — for about 73 mg of berberine total. Thirty servings a bottle, as low as $17.34 a bottle on subscription, about $0.58 a serving.

What trials have used, and why ours is different

A 2024 analysis of 50 studies found most clinical trials clustered between 900 mg and 1.5 g of berberine a day, taken for one to three months. A separate pooled analysis of 12 placebo-controlled trials found doses as low as 300 mg a day at the bottom of the range. Our 73 mg serving doesn't reach even the lowest dose in either analysis. See how much berberine did the studies use for the dose used in each individual trial. Because of that gap, we don't claim this product produces the results those trials reported.

Is more berberine better?

No trial has tested berberine at anything near our 73 mg dose for any outcome, so there's no research describing what a dose between ours and the studied range would do. Higher doses aren't automatically safer, either: in one three-month trial at 1.5 g a day, split into three 500 mg doses, about a third of participants had transient stomach upset that eased over time. Taking more than our label directs isn't something the research supports, and it isn't something we recommend.

Splitting the dose

Our label directs two capsules once daily. Trials that used higher amounts often split them across two or three doses a day, partly for tolerability. See when is the best time to take berberine for more on timing.

Questions people ask

How much berberine should I take a day?

Our label directs two capsules a day, providing about 73 mg of berberine. That's well under the 900 mg-1.5 g a day used in most clinical research.

How much berberine per day is too much?

There's no established upper limit for berberine, and no safety data at our 73 mg dose specifically. Stick to label directions — two capsules a day — and don't exceed the recommended dose. Ask a doctor before taking more than a label directs.

Can you overdose on berberine?

The main documented risk from taking too much is stomach upset — diarrhea, cramping and nausea — reported in trials at much higher doses than ours. We don't have safety data for doses above what our label directs, so we don't have a basis for saying what a much larger dose would do.

Is 500 mg of berberine enough? Is 2,000 mg too much?

Both numbers are common on other labels, and both sit inside or near the 900 mg-1.5 g range used in trials — well above the 73 mg our serving provides. We can't tell you what any dose "does," because that depends on the research at that specific dose and form, which we haven't independently verified for other products.

How much does berberine cost?

Electric Tiger Berberine is as low as $17.34 a bottle on subscription — about $0.58 a serving, 30 servings a bottle.

Related reading: what is berberine and berberine side effects.