From time to time, I enjoy finding and sharing natural, safer solutions for disease with you that have nothing at all to do with taking a toxic drug. To that end, you may want to know about berberine, a compound found in the roots and bark several plants (Oregon grape and goldenseal), that may lower glucose levels in type 2 diabetics.

Up to now, berberine had been used for a spectrum of medicinal purposes including treating diarrhea, and specifically in Chinese medicine to treat diabetes, so scientists tested its beneficial effect by giving oral doses to mice and rats.

No surprise, a dose of berberine lowered blood sugar levels, worked better with insulin, reduced body weights and led to fewer fats circulating in the bloodstream. How berberine works: The plant compound switches on enzymes in body tissue, improving a patient's sensitivity to insulin, thus lowering blood sugar levels and decreasing fats in the blood.

Other natural treatments that will fight type 2 diabetes if you have it, or protect you from it if you don't:

• Eat the right foods based on your body's unique nutritional type.
• Reduce, with the plan of eliminating, grains and sugars from your daily diet.
• Get the right amount of sleep.
• Start an exercise program today.

Diabetes, Vol. 55, No. 8, August 2006: 2256-2264

BBC News August 12, 2006