TikTok, Boom!

There's been much activity (92 million views) on TikTok about the possibility of using a dietary supplement in weight loss exercises. Berberine is a Chinese medicine, extracted from the root of a bush. Some folk have even claimed that berberine is 'nature's Ozempic'. Ozempic is an expensive drug, marketed for weight loss (https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2023/jun/11/berberine-weight-loss-supplement-tiktok-ozempic). This is a rather worrying development. Although the numbers of views are impressive (making my own blogging efforts seem feeble, by comparison), there's no way the viewings add to our understanding of berberine's effects/lack of effects. There's, obviously, no attempt at double blind experimentation with controls. Supplements are also not medical grade and can be very variable in potency. They're not even tested for potential side effects. This might be an effective way of deseminating a fad but it doesn't add to knowledge.