HerbilousOpen the interactive guideHERB PROFILE · EDUCATIONAL REFERENCE
Barberry
Important safety information: Contraindicated in pregnancy and avoid during breastfeeding; never give to newborns or infants because berberine may worsen jaundice and cause kernicterus. Review all medicines, especially diabetes, blood-pressure, anticoagulant, antiplatelet, transplant and narrow-therapeutic-index drugs. Do not self-treat jaundice, gallstones, infectious diarrhoea or eye disease.
Herbal actions
- Antimicrobial
- Cholagogue
- Choleretic
- Antiemetic
- Mild laxative
- Bitter tonic
Traditional and practitioner uses
These uses are presented for historical and educational context. They are not treatment claims.
- Practitioner use for digestive and bile-flow support
- Historical use for infectious diarrhoea and other gastrointestinal conditions
- Traditional support for gallbladder inflammation, gallstones, jaundice and dyspepsia
- Topical historical use for mouth ulcers and lip sores
- Not equivalent to isolated berberine
Main constituents
Isoquinoline alkaloids including berberine, jatrorrhizine, palmatine and berbamine
Preparation overview
Tea: Professional guidance recommended. Root and bark are potent berberine-containing materials; the edible fruit is a different preparation. Herbilous does not recommend homemade eye preparations.
Liquid extract reference: 1:2 liquid extract: 3–6 mL/day (20–40 mL/week)
Preparation strengths are not interchangeable. Open the interactive guide for the complete evidence notes and sources available for this herb.
Herbilous provides educational information only. It does not diagnose, prescribe, or replace professional medical advice. Seek urgent care for severe or worsening symptoms.