Wife and I have been taking a Berberine supplement for a couple years now. It is supposed to work on the same pathways as Metformin. I started taking it to hopefully lower my morning fasting glucose. Far as I can tell it has not done anything for me, but for some reason I keep taking it. There have been actual studies showing its efficacy working for diabetics help with glucose level control. But where I don't eat the normal high carb meals it may not apply to me, I just don't know. Metformin is a whole bunch cheaper, I do know that as I used to take it and still have a bottle of it in the cabinet.