25 Benefits of Barberry for Human Health (No.1 Is Super Shocking)

Barberry is actually a popular name of berberis. When it comes to berries, the first thing that might crosses your head is this kind of food is going to be awesome for diet. Well, that statement is not entirely wrong though perhaps you should be careful with the calories and sugar intake if you consume it in high amount. Just like any types of berries, barberry is healthy fruit that packed with high nutrients and the benefits of barberry for human health are a lot.

What is Barberry?

As mentioned above, barberry has real name, berberis. The native of this fruit is from subtropical region like Australia and Asia but some countries like Europe and North America are also the native of some varieties of barberry. Barberry has scientific name Berberis with some varieties like Berberis vulgaris, Berberis thunbergii, Berberis darwinii and many more. However, among those varieties, Berberis vulgaris which is also well known as European Barberry is the common and the most popular one. The fruit is edible but sometimes people prefer other berries due to its sour flavor that doesn’t suit most people taste. So, instead of being directly consume, barberry is widely and commercially used as flavor for soft drink, made into jam, used as ingredients to meat or sold in the form of dried barberry.

Nutritional Value of Barberry

From the sour flavor, people must have guessed that this variety of berry is supposed to be rich of vitamin C. Well, actually vitamin C is not the only vitamin found in barberry. To find out more below is the list of nutritional value of barberry.

Barberry Fruit (Fresh) Serving Size: 100 gram
Energy	316 Calories
Protein	3.6 g
Carbohydrate	63.9 g
Sugar	27.2 g
Fat	3.5 g
Dietary Fiber	7.4 g
Vitamin C	24 mg

From the table above at least you have a big picture of what are the benefits of barberry for human health. It is true that just like other types of berry, this one is probably less popular but it doesn’t mean it contains fewer nutrients. The fact is, the nutrients contained in barberry could give you more benefits than what you’ve known all this time.

Contains Antibacterial and Antifungal Agents

Some studies have stated that barberry contains some powerful antibacterial and antifungal agents and make this fruit a great solution to fight infection.

Eases Up Inflammation

Inflammation is actually the root of some health problems. Treating it may be easy but dealing with the symptoms is a bit harder. Well, barberry could help in easing up the inflammation to make the symptoms a bit bearable.

Solutions to Infection in Urinary Track

Infection in urinary track is not really easy to deal with but as long as you know how to fight the infection you could deal with it completely and barberry is excellent solution to fight infection.

Natural Treatment to Gastrointestinal Infections

One of the amazing benefits of barberry is it could help treating gastrointestinal infections because it contains some powerful antibacterial and antifungal agents.

Gets Rid of Sore Throat

The vitamin C contained in barberry is great to treat sore throat and some more light condition like cold.

Improves Digestion

All fruits that are rich of fiber is great of digestion and barberry is no exception. Besides the antibacterial and antifungal effects could help keeping digestion healthy and free from infection.

Treatment for Diarrhea

Diarrhea caused by certain bacteria could be treated naturally using barberry but when the condition is serious, contact your doctor immediately is much more recommended.

Home Remedy to Food Poisoning

It is true that barberry which is contains antibacterial agent could be used as home remedy for food poisoning but only for light case.

Prevents Diabetes

Berberine found in barberry is the reason why this fruit could prevent diabetes because while people are striving to control the blood sugar level, barberry is the natural solution to lower blood sugar level.

Controls Blood Sugar

The sugar found in barberry could be harmful for diabetes patient but studies have stated, due to its berberine compound consuming it moderate amount could help lowering blood sugar level effectively.

Great for Heart

All foods that could control cholesterol level, relax the blood vessels and manage blood pressure are great for heart and barberry is one of the fruits in the top of the list.

Improves Blood Flow

Normal blood flow will make sure optimal distribution of nutrients and oxygen in your body. Barberry could help you making sure the optimal blood flow by relaxing the blood vessels and easing up the work of heart.

Controls Cholesterol Level

The dietary fiber found in barberry is great to bind unnecessary cholesterol in the intestine. This will promote and optimize the production of good cholesterol to control cholesterol level.

Fights Metabolic Syndrome

Metabolic syndrome is not easy to deal with but barberry contains some powerful compounds that could help you fights this kind of condition effectively.

Rich of Antioxidants

Antioxidants are very essential to fight free radicals and improve immunity system. Luckily, barberry is one of the fruits that could provide enough antioxidant required by your body.

Detoxifies Blood

One of the benefits of barberry is to detox your blood. Do you know what part in your body to detoxify your blood? The answer is liver. Barberry could help improving liver function to optimize the blood detox in your body.

Acts as Liver Cleanser

Liver may has function to clear your body from toxins and some harmful properties but those stuff could be harmful for liver as well. Consuming barberry regularly could help cleansing the liver so it will function optimally.

Treats Skin Disorder

There are some types of skin disorders that could be treated by using barberry like acnes and psoriasis. It is because barberry contains some effective antibacterial and antifungal agents to fight infections.

Promotes Eye Health

Barberine, the main natural compound found in barberry could promote eye health. It means, it is not only able to improve vision but also able to prevent any macular degeneration related to vision.

Stimulates the Production of White Blood Cells

Barberry contains specific chemical compound called berberine. This chemical compound could help in stimulating the optimal production of white blood cells to promote normal blood clot and accelerate the wound healing.

Useful for Regular Period in Women

There are some factors that could cause irregular period in women but there is only one effective and natural solution to deal with it, barberry. Some studies have stated that this type of berry is very useful to deal with this condition.

Solution to Anemia

Anemia occurs when body is suffering from iron deficiency. The cause of iron deficiency could vary but the most common one is when body cannot absorb iron optimally due to some factors. Well, barberry which is rich of vitamin C could help you dealing with this condition.

Lowers Blood Pressure

Hypertension is not a condition that is easy to deal with but it is not impossible. Barberry could help in relaxing the blood vessels so it will improve the blood flow and help the heart work; the result is lowering blood pressure.

Optimizes the Iron Absorption

Iron is one of the essential compounds for human health but sometimes the absorption of iron is not optimal due to some factors. Vitamin C is one of the chemical compounds that could optimize the iron absorption.

Eases Up the Side Effects of Chemotherapy

One of the side effects of chemotherapy is the white blood cells production will be disturbed. As mentioned in point number twenty, barberry could help in easing up the side effect of chemotherapy but promoting the production of white blood cells.

Cautions of Barberry

From the list above, you must be in awe about the benefits of barberry but still some considerations should be taken into account because sometimes great thing comes with reverse effect and barberry is no exception.

Some studies have shown that barberry is great to treat diarrhea but you must know that diarrhea could lead to serious problem if you deal with wrongly. The fact that barberry could act as antibiotic to kill bacteria that causes diarrhea, using it together with antibiotic could cause some drug interactions. So, consult it with your doctor first, unless the diarrhea case is not really serious.
Taking barberry in low dosage will not cause any side effects but some cases were ever reported when barberry consumed in large amount. The symptoms are like nosebleed and vomiting.
Barberry might be great for liver but for young children, barberry may cause problem in the liver. So, be careful with this type of berry. It is better to keep it away from your children.
Barberry should be avoided by pregnant mother because some cases about this berry could cause miscarriage was once reported though the case is very rare but it is better to avoid it than to deal with it.
As mentioned above, barberry could help controlling blood sugar so it could help preventing diabetes because it is very effective in lowering the blood sugar level. If you are diabetic patient who are currently taking special medication to lower blood sugar level should not combine it with barberry.

There are a lot of ways to stay healthy in the most natural way though sometimes you should find out more information first before you decided to use the remedy. The benefits of barberry are a lot but not all of them could be taken without any considerations. Learn more about the fruit or at least talk to your doctor is the best thing you could do before you add barberry to your daily diet.