NNB Nutrition - NNB Released its Safety Assessment of GlucoVantage® (DHB)

On 11 July, 2022, a toxicological assessment of GlucoVantage® (Dihydroberberine) was published by NNB on Elsevier, the authoritative academic journal. This study were conducted at Vedic Lifesciences, Pvt. Ltd., Mumbai, India. All studies were sponsored by NNB Nutrition, 90-day sub-chronic toxicity study with a 28-day recovery period the NOAEL for GlucoVantage® was found to be 100 mg/kg bw/day, which was the highest dose tested. None of the animals in the study died prematurely and noclinical signs were associated with GlucoVantage®, indicating that GlucoVantage® is safe to use in human and exhibited greater bioavailiability than BBR.

This assessment described the first toxicology study published on GlucoVantage®. An acute oral toxicity study in female Sprague Dawley rats determined that the LD50 of GlucoVantage® was greater than 2000 mg/kg bw. GlucoVantage® was described as Class 5, i.e., having relatively low acute oral toxicity, based on the Globally Harmonized System of Classification and Labelling of Chemicals. A 14-day dose range finding oral toxicity study in male and female Sprague Dawley rats found that the maximum tolerated dose of GlucoVantage® was 120 mg/kg bw, which was the highest dose tested. In a 90-day sub-chronic toxicity study with a 28-day recovery period the NOAEL for GlucoVantage® was found to be 100 mg/kg bw/day, which was the highest dose tested. None of the animals in the study died prematurely and no clinical signs were associated with GlucoVantage®. Differences in body weight were considered incidental due to the lack of a doseresponse relationship. Increases in feed consumption for males and females were sporadic, did not exhibit a dose-response relationship or correlate with changes in body weight, and as a result, were considered incidental. All of the evidence proved that GlucoVantage® is safe to be taken orally and appears to be no more toxic than BBR, despite its substantially greater bioavailability.

GlucoVantage® (DHB) is a highly bioavailable metabolite of berberine. Essentially, gut microbes reduce berberine into its body-ready form DHB, which is then converted back to berberine after intestinal absorption. Compared to berberine, GlucoVantage® has 5-fold higher intestinal absorption rate, which is due to the fact that berberine has to first be converted to DHB by gut microbes. In essence, GlucoVantage® overcomes the shortcomings of berberine’s poor oral bioavailability. In addition, it’s been shown that oral administration of antibiotics further suppresses berberine absorption via decreased levels of intestinal microbes, resulting in lower levels of berberine in the blood, which ultimately reduces efficacy. Simply put, GlucoVantage® is the body-ready form of berberine. While GlucoVantage® works similarly to berberine in terms of stimulating both glucose uptake and AMPK, more importantly, GlucoVantage® can work at lower doses because it bypasses the rate-limiting step of microbial reduction of berberine. GlucoVantage® has been shown to reduce adiposity and improve insulin sensitivity, which helps support healthy glucose tolerance and glycemic control. GlucoVantage® has greater anti-inflammatory, anti-atherosclerotic and hypolipidemic activities than berberine, and it is considered to be more conducive to supporting cardiovascular, metabolic and cerebrovascular health.

Highly bioavailable form of berberine (up to 5x more effective) Less potential GI distress than berberine Requires 1/3 the mg dose of berberine Non-GMO and derived from natural berberine More Insulin Sensitivity, Glucose Disposal Patented Ingredient