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<keyword id="123712" type="General" weightage="80" keywordseo="metformin" source="Orion">Metformin</keyword>, a commonly prescribed <keyword id="6359018" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="diabetes" source="Orion">diabetes</keyword> medication, can help lower the odds of emergency department visits, hospitalisations, or death due to Covid-19 by over 50 per cent if prescribed early in onset of symptoms, finds a study. "Our trial suggests that metformin may reduce the likelihood of needing to go to the emergency room or be hospitalised for Covid-19," said <keyword id="14759788" type="General" weightage="80" keywordseo="carolyn-bramante" source="Orion">Carolyn Bramante</keyword>, Assistant Professor of internal medicine and paediatrics at the <keyword id="5052916" type="General" weightage="50" keywordseo="university-of-minnesota-medical-school" source="Orion">University of Minnesota Medical School</keyword>. The study examined whether metformin, low-dose fluvoxamine, an antidepressant; and ivermectin, an antiparasitic, or their combinations could serve as possible treatments to prevent ER visits or hospitalisation, as well as Long-Covid in 1,323 participants including pregnant women. The findings, published in the <keyword id="401051" type="General" weightage="50" keywordseo="new-england-journal-of-medicine" source="Orion">New England Journal of Medicine</keyword>, found no positive effect from treatment with either ivermectin or low-dose fluvoxamine. The study also included both who were vaccinated and those who were not. "Although we know Covid-19 vaccines are highly effective, we know that some new strains of the virus may evade immunity and vaccines may not be available worldwide. So we felt we should study safe, available and inexpensive outpatient treatment options as soon as possible," said Bramante. "Understanding whether outpatient treatments could ensure more people survive the illness if they contract it and have fewer long-term symptoms is an important piece of the pandemic response. "Observational studies and in vitro experiments cannot be conclusive but do contribute to bodies of evidence," Bramante noted. SEE ALSO : <a target="_blank" class="c-link c-message_attachment__title_link" href="https://www.businessinsider.in/business/news/india-inc-sees-steepest-decline-in-deal-values-report/articleshow/93658897.cms">India Inc sees steepest decline in deal values: report</a> <a target="_blank" class="c-link c-message_attachment__title_link" href="https://www.businessinsider.in/india/news/all-india-consumer-price-index-for-agricultural-rural-labourers-rose-in-july/articleshow/93658813.cms">All-India Consumer Price Index for agricultural, rural labourers rose in July</a>

Diabetes drug effective in reducing severity in Covid patients: Study

<ul class="summary-list"><li>Zyn pouches are surging in popularity for their stimulant effects.</li><li>Some users are also buzzing about the appetite-suppressing effects of the nicotine in Zyn.</li></ul>Zyn has captured the hearts, minds, and mouths of Americans.The wildly popular nicotine pouches, which sit in your gumline like hard candy, ostensibly give users a "high" and a boost of energy. Truck drivers use them for endurance, gym bros pop them before a workout, <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/chuck-schumer-nicotine-zyn-republican-right-wing-2024-1">Tucker Carlson said</a> they can "free your mind." Carlson, who says he uses Zyn every second he's awake, also claimed (incorrectly) that Zyn improves sexual performance.Now, Zyn users are buzzing about another purported side effect: Some claim that their habit has triggered weight loss.Andrea Hernández, author of consumer trend newsletter <a target="_blank" href="https://www.snaxshot.com/">Snaxshot</a>, pointed out this craze this week, sharing a collection of social media posts about Zyn and weight loss."Your boy's down like 30 pounds in a month. O-Zyn-pic. It works," an Instagram user, who runs <a target="_blank" href="https://www.instagram.com/p/C456a4su9VY?utm_source=substack&amp;utm_medium=email">a popular golfing page</a>, said in one of the videos.Diet pages on Reddit are filling up with Zyn chatter, too. "I've used Zyn nicotine pouches occasionally over the past few years but have started to use them regularly because they help me focus and curb my hunger," a Reddit user wrote in r/intermittentfasting.If history has taught us anything, it's that nicotine products do suppress appetite somewhat and they will be used for weight loss. Plus, there's high demand for a quick and inexpensive hack to replace new blockbuster drugs like Ozempic and Wegovy, which are currently in shortage, causing <a target="_blank" href="https://www.axios.com/2024/05/16/weight-loss-drug-shortage-wegovy-ozempic?utm_source=newsletter&amp;utm_medium=email&amp;utm_campaign=newsletter_axiosvitals&amp;stream=top">widespread anxiety</a>.Dr. Carolyn Bramante, an assistant professor of medicine at the University of Minnesota, said while it "makes sense" that people are trying this out, she has concerns about the unknown potential effects of nicotine pouches on a person's heart and blood vessels.Nicotine may trigger inflammation of the molecules that fat cells release. None of this is well-studied, Bramante, who works in adult and pediatric weight management clinics, told Business Insider."There are so many FDA-approved treatments for obesity now. It's important to think about safety," she said.<h2 id="d94c1c49-592e-472d-a831-5ca2a1468563">The history of nicotine marketed for weight-loss</h2><div type="image" title="old ad for lucky strikes &quot;light a lucky and you'll never mess sweets that make you fat&quot;" height="1024" width="738" msid="110206193" hostid="261"></div>In the 1920s, Lucky Strike cigarettes were marketed as a healthier, less "fattening" alternative to candy, helping smokers "keep a slender figure." It's an idea that persisted in cigarette ads for the next <a target="_blank" href="https://tobacco.stanford.edu/cigarettes/keeps-you-slim/">50 years</a>, despite <a target="_blank" href="https://www.govinfo.gov/content/pkg/STATUTE-79/pdf/STATUTE-79-Pg282.pdf">regulations</a> introduced in the 60s to block tobacco companies from advertising cigarettes as slimming.When e-cigarettes and vapes came on the scene it was no different. A <a target="_blank" href="https://www.npr.org/2014/03/03/284006424/e-cigarette-critics-worry-new-ads-will-make-vaping-cool-for-kids">2014 ad</a> in Sports Illustrated's swimsuit issue has a woman on the beach wearing a tiny triangle bottom, promoting Blu e-cigarettes as "Slim. Charged. Ready to go."Zyn is different. It is not marketed as slimming or feminine. Its branding is simple and masculine. And it's gamified: When you buy a can of 15 pouches for $4.90 — in flavors like citrus, smooth, and chill — you can generate points. 5630 points earns you a pair of Apple AirPods, 9000 points earns you a Samsung TV, 8650 points earns you a pizza oven. You get 15 points per can.In fact, this is not a marketing ploy by Philip Morris, which owns Zyn. It is Zyn users who are driving the narrative of these pouches as a diet hack — like a cheat code you can unlock if you buy in. Forget a Sonos sound system, what about losing that belly weight you can't seem to shift?"It's like… 'this is something that I can literally buy in a gas station, that I'm still getting points on, that has this byproduct effect that it wasn't intended for, but I've found it,'" Hernández, who has been watching this trend bubble up for years, told BI.Many <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/ozempic-celebrities-denied-semaglutide-wegovy-weight-loss-drugs-khloe-kardashian-2023-3">male celebrities</a> (Elon Musk, Charles Barkley) have reported dramatic weight-loss after taking GLP-1 drugs like Ozempic, Wegovy, and Mounjaro. But those drugs cost over $1,000 for one month's supply, and are incredibly hard to access."That's why I said it's the Ozempic for the masses," Hernández said, jokingly. "People want to lose weight, but it's something people can't afford and don't want to talk about. This feels like a discreet way to lose weight."<h2 id="e7bbb663-333e-45bf-80a7-3fcc53e65cdb">Zyn may suppress appetite short-term but the collateral damage is huge</h2><div type="image" title="zyn flip can with pouches inside" height="683" width="1024" msid="110206194" hostid="261"></div>Scientists suspect the reason nicotine works as a mild appetite suppressant is because it activates neurons in the brain that control hunger.And because Zyn users absorb more nicotine than cigarette smokers, the appetite-suppressing effect of popping a Zyn pouch in your gumline might be even greater than lighting up.There has even been <a target="_blank" href="https://www.cell.com/cell-reports/fulltext/S2211-1247(23)00477-1">some recent study</a> (in mice) combining Ozempic and nicotine together to produce a greater weight loss effect, Dr. Beverly Tchang, an endocrinologist at Weill-Cornell's comprehensive weight control center in New York, said. But, Tchang emphasized, that doesn't mean people should use nicotine as a weight loss aid. We have no idea how <a target="_blank" href="https://www.mountsinai.org/health-library/poison/nicotine-poisoning">toxic</a> this might be for people, nor what a proper dose might look like.Ozempic boosts the action of a hormone we produce naturally in our gut. That's how it helps people feel full quickly, and manage blood sugar. "It's almost like hormone replacement for people who have low levels of GLP-1," Bramante said.<div type="image" title="a GLP1 injection pen" height="1414" width="2121" msid="110206197" hostid="261"></div>Nicotine isn't like a hormone. It's an addictive stimulant, and one that (unlike Ozempic) has not been studied in randomized, controlled trials, to evaluate safety and efficacy.While nicotine pouches circumvent the health effects of cigarettes that are caused by tobacco, they still do a number on your body. They're highly addictive, and bump up your blood pressure. This gives Bramante pause. She worries that "we don't fully understand how nicotine works to regulate appetite in people, specifically with obesity."Inflammation, high blood pressure, and cardiovascular issues are all at play when people carry around excess weight, and popping a Zyn could tip the scales even further.Bramante is especially concerned about people with obesity trying nicotine out for weight loss, because it could increase the amount of inflammatory molecules that fat cells release (leptin)."I would advise them to seek care for obesity treatment from their primary care clinician and/or an obesity medicine specialist, with the mindset that it's a long-term relationship with follow-up and with multiple treatment options that we can now adjust to meet an individual's needs," she said."Philip Morris International and its affiliates — including Swedish Match, the manufacturer of ZYN — fully meet and exceed the regulations governing the industry," a Philip Morris spokesperson said in response to BI's previous reporting on the <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/zyn-pouches-what-are-nicotine-does-to-heart-body-brain-2024-2">health effects of Zyn</a>.

Step aside, Ozempic &mdash; Zyn is being touted as the new (delusional) weight-loss quick fix 

<ul class="summary-list"><li>Metformin is a cheap, easy-to-access drug that used for diabetes, weight loss, and even anti-aging. </li><li>A new study found that it also reduced the risk of developing long COVID by 40% in some patients. </li></ul>The decades-old diabetes drug metformin seems to be all the rage right now. Not only is it thought to be able to help with <a href="https://www.insider.com/what-is-metformin-2019-4">weight-loss</a> and potentially <a href="https://www.insider.com/metformin-diabetes-weight-loss-anti-aging-drug-long-covid-prevention-2023-2">even anti-aging</a>, but a new study found it could be the most effective drug yet in preventing long COVID. <a href="https://www.thelancet.com/action/showPdf?pii=S1473-3099%2823%2900299-2">A study</a> published on June 8 in the medical journal The Lancet found that patients who received metformin when they were first diagnosed with COVID-19 had a 41% reduced risk of developing long COVID 10 months later.The study had limitations — including that it was only tested on people with overweight or obesity — but it showed promise for the drug as a crucial tool in the fight against long COVID. "The results of this study are important because long COVID can have a significant impact on people's lives," said Carolyn Bramante, the lead researcher in the study and an assistant professor at the University of Minnesota Medical School, in a <a href="https://news.unchealthcare.org/2023/06/study-shows-metformin-lowers-long-covid-risk/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">press release</a>."Metformin is an inexpensive, safe and widely available drug, and its use as a preventive measure could have significant public health implications."<h2>Metformin could be a game-changer — with some caveats </h2>Long COVID means having COVID symptoms that last three or more months after first contracting the virus, according to the CDC. It affects millions of Americans— as many as <a href="https://www.cdc.gov/nchs/pressroom/nchs_press_releases/2022/20220622.htm" target="_blank" rel="noopener">7.5% of US adults</a>, or about 24 million people. <a href="https://www.cdc.gov/coronavirus/2019-ncov/long-term-effects/index.html">Symptoms </a>can include brain fog, fatigue, shortness of breath, heart palpitations, stomach pain, and they can last for weeks or even years. People are more likely to get long COVID the more times they are infected with the disease, according to the <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/who-official-individuals-coronavirus-infection-unlucky-long-covid-2022-6">World Health Organization</a>. However, there are still no officially recommended treatments for long COVID. That's why a cheap, easy-to-use medication to prevent long COVID could be a gamechanger. "To see such a pronounced benefit in the current randomized trial of metformin, in the context of it being so safe and low cost, I'd give it a breakthrough categorization," wrote Eric Topol, director of the Scripps Research Translational Institute, <a href="https://erictopol.substack.com/p/a-break-from-covid-waves-and-a-breakthrough" target="_blank" rel="noopener">on his blog</a>. There are some caveats to the study's findings: <ul><li>First, the study only tested the drug in people between the ages of 30-85 years old with overweight and obesity; we still don't know if metformin would work for different demographics.</li><li>Second, the researchers said it was more effective if participants took the drug in fewer than four days after the onset of COVID symptoms, which may not be so easy in practice for many people. (Topol wrote on his blog that if he were to get COVID, he would take metformin for two weeks just like in this trial.)</li><li>Finally, some of the people who took metformin still did get long COVID: 6.3% of them. That's compared to 10.6% of people who got long COVID while taking a <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/r-is-the-placebo-effect-in-some-peoples-genes-2015-4">placebo pill</a>. </li></ul><h2>The study validated that long COVID is a real illness, an emergency room doctor said</h2>Besides showing the benefits of metformin, the study may have had another inadvertent impact: Proving that long COVID does, in fact, exist, according to to Jeremy Faust, an emergency physician at Brigham and Women's Hospital. In the early days of the pandemic, some <a href="https://www.buzzfeednews.com/article/katiecamero/long-covid" target="_blank" rel="noopener">doctors dismissed patients</a> who said that they were experiencing long-term symptoms from a viral infection (some doctors still do). While it's not unheard of that a <a href="https://www.insider.com/mono-shot-possible-cure-ms-2023-3">virus can cause a chronic illness</a>, the complicated and diverse symptoms of long COVID made the disease hard to define. This study may have changed that, according to Faust. In an accompanying comment to the study in the Lancet, <a href="https://www.thelancet.com/journals/laninf/article/PIIS1473-3099(23)00355-9/fulltext" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Faust wrote</a> that using metformin to treat long COVID proves that long COVID is a real disease. "A treatment can only be effective if there is something to treat," he wrote. Correction: June 12, 2023 — An earlier headline for this story misstated the results of the study. It found metformin might help prevent long COVID, not that it might help treat it. An earlier version of this story also misstated the conditions in which metformin appeared to be most effective. It seemed more effective when patients took it within three days of symptom onset, not within four days.

A cheap drug used for anti-aging and weight-loss may also prevent long COVID, study finds

<ul class="summary-list"><li>Ozempic, or semaglutide, is a new obesity drug, delivered in the form of a hormone injection.</li><li>Metformin is a pill that was first developed for type 2 diabetes.</li></ul>Some people have had success <a href="https://www.insider.com/metformin-diabetes-weight-loss-anti-aging-drug-long-covid-prevention-2023-2">melting away extra pounds with a cheap, decades-old diabetes drug called metformin</a>, while others have spent thousands out of pocket to inject a new <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/how-semaglutide-helps-patients-diabetes-weight-loss-2023-1">hormonal treatment called Ozempic, also known as semaglutide</a>, which <a href="https://www.insider.com/semaglutide-alcohol-addiction-alcoholism-treatment-weight-loss-drug-2022-10">changes the way a person's body reacts to food</a>.Both of these drugs may help people lose weight – but the ways they work on the body are different. Here's what you need to know.<h2>Metformin has been used as a makeshift weight-loss drug for years</h2>Metformin is a chemical compound that was originally derived from French lilacs over 100 years ago. It's been around as a once- or twice-daily pill for decades, and cheap generics are widely available for as little as $5 a month.The <a href="https://www.fda.gov/drugs/postmarket-drug-safety-information-patients-and-providers/metformin-information" target="_blank" rel="noopener">US Food and Drug Administration</a> approved metformin to treat Type 2 diabetes almost thirty years ago, but it's not officially considered a weight loss drug. It has been used off-label by doctors for many years to help some patients manage their weight. People who take metformin can lose, on average, anywhere <a href="https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/17145742/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">from five</a> to <a href="https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/23147210/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">15 pounds</a>.Metformin changes the way the body regulates blood sugar, and, as a result, it can decrease a person's appetite. It activates one of the body's master regulators of metabolism, an enzyme called AMP kinase, triggering <a href="https://www.insider.com/metformin-diabetes-weight-loss-anti-aging-drug-long-covid-prevention-2023-2#:~:text=In%20short%2C%20it%20mimics%20the%20benefits%20of%20fasting%20and%20exercise%20by%20stimulating%20a%20key%20cellular%20cleanup%20and%20renewal%20process%20in%20the%20body%20called%20autophagy%20and%20rejiggering%20a%20person%27s%20metabolism.">some of the same benefits that fasting and exercise</a> provide to our cells.Common side effects of metformin include abdominal pain, nausea, vomiting and diarrhea.<h2>Semaglutide is a newer drug, and it is FDA-approved for weight-loss </h2>Semaglutide is a much newer injectable drug that <a href="https://www.insider.com/semaglutide-ozempic-disgusted-favorite-foods-2022-11">mimics an important hunger-regulating hormone in our bodies</a>, called GLP-1. It is FDA-approved to treat both type 2 diabetes and, <a href="https://www.insider.com/weight-loss-drug-semaglutide-called-game-changer-for-obesity-2021-12">more recently, obesity</a>. It is sold under the brand name Ozempic when it's used for diabetes, and Wegovy when it's being taken for weight loss. It's the same drug, but Wegovy can be prescribed in larger doses.Common side effects of semaglutide include upset stomach, vomiting, diarrhea, and constipation.<h2>Metformin's weight loss results are more mixed than semaglutide</h2>Dr. Caroline Apovian, an endocrinologist who co-directs the Center for Weight Management and Wellness at Brigham and Women's Hospital in Boston, says that she doesn't use metformin "too much" for non-diabetic patients seeking weight loss these days. "Way back, when there really weren't too many other agents for obesity treatment," she'd prescribe more of it, she told Insider, but that was largely because "there wasn't anything else." But metformin's effects on weight loss are "kind of mild," compared to newer drugs like semaglutide, Apovian said, and persistent side effects like stomach cramps and diarrhea are a common concern among patients taking metformin.Dr. Carolyn Bramante, who works in the weight management clinic at the University of Minnesota says she still uses metformin "quite often" for patients with a host of weight-related issues, including type 2 diabetes, pre-diabetes, and obesity, too. It works "pretty well in most people" for improving blood sugar, she said, but "for weight, there does seem to be a little bit more variation" in how well it helps people trim down.Some patients take metformin and semaglutide together. Apovian said many of her patients have obesity and diabetes. Some trying semaglutide for weight loss may already be on metformin to manage their blood sugar. <h2>Some people take metformin for other reasons besides weight loss</h2><div type="image" title="nir barzilai at einstein college of medicine, in lab coat" height="1738" width="1600" msid="97960181" hostid="261"></div>Because metformin is both cheap, and a relatively well-studied drug, it's often the first thing doctors reach for to treat type 2 diabetes. But it also has anti-viral effects on the body, and other unique properties that make it a popular off-label treatment for various diagnoses, <a href="https://www.nejm.org/doi/full/10.1056/NEJMoa2201662" target="_blank" rel="noopener">including COVID</a>. Metformin is sometimes prescribed to women who have polycystic ovary syndrome because it helps regulate their hormones and improves their metabolism dysfunction. This often leads to weight loss for women with PCOS, a more consistent menstrual cycle, and a newfound ability to conceive children.Some doctors harbor hopes that metformin can even help people age more gracefully, by delaying age-related eyesight issues, improving cellular health, and even, potentially, stalling cancer and dementia. But, the idea is still <a href="https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fendo.2021.718942/full" target="_blank" rel="noopener">controversial</a>, and <a href="https://www.afar.org/tame-trial#:~:text=The%20Targeting%20Aging%20with%20Metformin,the%20ages%20of%2065%2D79." target="_blank" rel="noopener">a large, nationwide trial of older adults,</a> slated to test the hypothesis, hasn't started yet.

A chart compares 2 popular weight-loss drugs, Ozempic and metformin &mdash; from cost to risks and benefits

<ul class="summary-list"><li>Metformin, an inexpensive, decades-old pill, helps treat diabetes and aids weight loss.</li><li>Some research suggests it may also help blunt the effects of aging, preventing cancers and dementia.</li></ul>When Dana Bowling started taking metformin in 2010, she wasn't necessarily interested in losing any weight. The 28-year-old had polycystic ovary syndrome, which was preventing her from ovulating, and she wanted to start a family. Her doctor prescribed metformin, <a href="https://www.insider.com/what-is-metformin-2019-4">a decades-old diabetes drug</a> that costs about 10 to 20 cents a pill, to <a href="https://www.uptodate.com/contents/metformin-for-treatment-of-the-polycystic-ovary-syndrome" target="_blank" rel="noopener">trigger her cycle</a>. Within months, Bowling had lost 10 pounds – a significant difference on her 5-foot frame."I feel like it fell off of me," she told Insider of the weight loss. "And I don't remember changing my diet."<div type="image" title="dana bowling in 2010 vs now side by side" height="603" width="700" msid="97774873" hostid="261"></div>People who take metformin can lose <a href="https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/17145742/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">from five</a> to <a href="https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/23147210/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">15 pounds</a> on average, as the drug changes the way the body regulates blood sugar, often decreasing a person's appetite. In short, it mimics the benefits of fasting and exercise by stimulating a key cellular cleanup and renewal process in the body called autophagy and rejiggering a person's <a href="https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2019/01/190115111944.htm" target="_blank" rel="noopener">metabolism</a>. The most common side effect of the drug is an upset stomach.The World Health Organization views the once-daily pill as a critical public-health tool in the fight against type 2 diabetes, listing it as one of the <a href="https://list.essentialmeds.org/medicines/191" target="_blank" rel="noopener">essential medicines</a> that should be on hand in any well-functioning modern healthcare system. An <a href="https://khn.org/news/patients-experiment-with-prescription-drugs-to-fight-aging/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">increasing number of doctors and scientists</a> also have a hunch that this $5-a-month drug — derived from a compound found more than a hundred years ago in common French lilacs — could do more than help patients shed pounds and improve their blood sugar. They think it can <a href="https://academic.oup.com/lifemedi/article/1/2/103/6658810" target="_blank" rel="noopener">slow down aging</a>.Metformin's effects on metabolism, cells, and the way our body fights viruses has drawn the interest of biohackers, academics, and clinicians, with some calling it <a href="https://www.wired.com/story/this-pill-promises-to-extend-life-for-a-nickel-a-pop/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">a "wonder drug."</a> They believe it might <a href="https://lifespanbook.com/metformin-pill/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">improve how we age</a>, slowing the arrival of <a href="https://www.cell.com/cell-metabolism/fulltext/S1550-4131(16)30229-7?_returnURL=https%3A%2F%2Flinkinghub.elsevier.com%2Fretrieve%2Fpii%2FS1550413116302297%3Fshowall%3Dtrue#:~:text=metformin%20use%20is%20associated%20with%20reduced%20cancer%20incidence%20and%20mortality" target="_blank" rel="noopener">cancer</a>, <a href="https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/24577463/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">cognitive decline</a>, and <a href="https://jamanetwork.com/journals/jamaophthalmology/fullarticle/2775160#:~:text=Meaning%20The%20use%20of%20metformin,have%20no%20effective%20preventive%20measures." target="_blank" rel="noopener">vision loss</a> in older adults. <a href="https://blueprint.bryanjohnson.co/#step-2-supplements:~:text=Metformin%20ER%201%2C500%20(Rx)" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Bryan Johnson</a>, a wealthy software entrepreneur who <a href="https://www.bloomberg.com/news/features/2023-01-25/anti-aging-techniques-taken-to-extreme-by-bryan-johnson#:~:text=and%20skin%20health%3B-,metformin,-to%20prevent%20bowel" target="_blank" rel="noopener">recently made headlines</a> for his extreme anti-aging routine, said he is using the drug to prevent precancerous bowel polyps from popping up in his colon and rectum. (Some studies suggest that diabetes patients who take metformin <a href="https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4204699/#:~:text=The%20detection%20rates%20of%20both,are%20precursor%20lesions%20of%20CRC." target="_blank" rel="noopener">develop fewer colonic polyps</a>, while others show the drug may <a href="https://affiliate.insider.com?postID=63e24808aa84991e03119352&amp;site=in&amp;u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.nature.com%2Farticles%2Fs41419-022-04649-4%23%3A~%3Atext%3DMultiple%2520evidence%2520shows%2520that%2520metformin%2Cmechanisms%2520still%2520require%2520detailed%2520investigation." target="_blank" rel="noopener">suppress colorectal-cancer growth</a>.) David Sinclair, a biologist and well-known researcher on aging, says in his book, <a href="https://lifespanbook.com/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">"Lifespan,"</a> that he takes a gram of metformin every morning along with his yogurt with the hope it will help regulate his metabolism and keep his organs healthier and younger. <div type="image" title="david sinclair in a mask, holding a beaker" height="3150" width="2100" msid="97774876" hostid="261"></div>Metformin is also showing promise as a prophylactic against severe COVID and long COVID. In a large-scale<a href="https://www.nejm.org/doi/full/10.1056/NEJMoa2201662" target="_blank" rel="noopener"> study</a> released in 2022, a group of more than 660 overweight people who took metformin as a preventative measure against the virus were less likely to get severely ill and develop long COVID than their peers. Those antiviral benefits could extend beyond COVID, too: In one <a href="https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/36575139/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">large 2022 study of US veterans</a> with pneumonia, the ones who took metformin were less likely to die.While researchers don't yet understand exactly how metformin affects aging and disease, it's safe to say it's doing something. <h2>Metformin is commonly used for treating diabetes via weight loss — but an anti-aging researcher believes it can do more</h2><div type="image" title="french lilac" height="1400" width="2100" msid="97774880" hostid="261"></div>Carolyn Bramante, a metformin researcher who works in weight-management clinics at the University of Minnesota, says she prescribes metformin "quite often" for her patients with diabetes, prediabetes, and weight issues. It doesn't work for everyone who wants to lose excess weight, but some patients lose up to "10% of their starting weight, or a little more," she said. That's how Nir Barzilai first encountered metformin about eight years ago, when he was prescribed the drug to curb prediabetes and excess weight. These days, Barzilai is leaner — and he's still taking metformin. The 67-year-old, who directs the Institute for Aging Research at the Albert Einstein College of Medicine in New York, believes the drug can serve as a kind of prophylactic for aging, helping people stay healthier, longer."I'm not prediabetic anymore, I'm not obese anymore, but I'm not taking out metformin," he said. "The evidence is, in my mind, so overwhelming." In <a href="https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/32333835/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">a 2020 paper</a> he coauthored in the journal <a href="https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/32333835/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Cell Metabolism</a>, Barzilai lays out the ways in which metformin can improve the way cells behave in an aging body. Studies suggest the drug delays stem-cell aging, encourages more autophagy, and reduces telomere shortening, all of which deter the effects of aging. The paper also provides evidence that metformin can prevent processes that encourage disease, like oxidative stress. For all these reasons, metformin has become a daily routine not just among Silicon Valley biohackers — many <a href="https://khn.org/news/patients-experiment-with-prescription-drugs-to-fight-aging/#:~:text=He%20estimates%20about%205%20percent%20of%20his%20patients%20are%20doctors%20themselves.%20Others%20have%20backgrounds%20in%20science%20or%20are%20in%20the%20upper%2Dincome%20bracket" target="_blank" rel="noopener">well-heeled doctors</a> are now taking the drug, too. <h2>An infectious-disease expert takes metformin for weight management</h2>David Boulware, an infectious disease expert who conducts research on metformin with Bramante in Minnesota, says he started taking the drug "off and on" about six months ago. He'd contracted COVID, and he knew — based on his <a href="https://www.nejm.org/doi/full/10.1056/NEJMoa2201662" target="_blank" rel="noopener">own team's research</a>, published in the New England Journal of Medicine in 2022 — that there was a real possibility it could have antiviral benefits. He hoped it would reduce the odds he'd have a severe case of the coronavirus and end up in the hospital. Then he "researched it a bit more" and decided to stay on metformin for weight management. He's lost 10 pounds so far, and he'd like to lose 10 more. Boulware isn't yet convinced there's good scientific evidence that metformin on its own can help people live longer, healthier lives. Most scientific studies of metformin for age-related issues like <a href="https://bjo.bmj.com/content/early/2022/02/02/bjophthalmol-2021-319641" target="_blank" rel="noopener">blurry eyesight</a> or <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1568163717301472" target="_blank" rel="noopener">cancer</a> suggest it's possible that the drug might have decent anti-aging properties, but they tend to have boilerplate language in them about how the evidence is inconclusive, or stressing that more research is needed. The drug has shown <a href="https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/23521863/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">anti-aging effects</a> on roundworms, <a href="https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/26990999/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">mice</a>, and fruit flies, but that doesn't automatically translate to good news for humans. And almost all of the evidence for metformin's benefits for people has been done on patients with type 2 diabetes, not those with normal blood sugar. But at the very least, Boulware thinks that maintaining a healthy weight is good for aging — and metformin can help with that."If you're not obese, will you live longer? Yes," he said. "Having a healthy weight is a good thing."<h2>A major metformin study could spawn a whole new field of anti-aging drugs</h2><div type="image" title="nir barzilai at einstein college of medicine, in lab coat" height="1738" width="1600" msid="97779600" hostid="261"></div>Barzilai is currently working to launch a first-of-its-kind study that he's dubbed "Targeting Aging with Metformin," or TAME. He wants to conduct a large, randomized, controlled trial of 3,000 older adults at 14 medical centers around the country, to finally answer the question: Can metformin help people stay healthy and sharp in late life? Once TAME is funded (Barzilai has raised about $23 million of the $75 million he needs for the five-year trial), it'll assess metformin's impact on the incidence of a cluster of age-related diseases, including cancer and Alzheimer's."We're looking at one disease at a time, not understanding that the biology of aging drives the diseases," he said. "If we can stop the biology of aging, we have less diseases. And that's a wonderful indication." At the moment, insurance companies and FDA scientists don't recognize aging as a condition, and big pharmaceutical companies, as a result, aren't that interested in "treating" it. If successful, Barzilai's study would be the first for the FDA to consider as evidence for a new class of anti-aging drugs, called "geroprotectors," which have never been medically approved in the US before. The regenerative-medicine scientist and aging expert Marco Quarta said that TAME could be an exciting first step toward establishing credibility for the field, as the first large clinical trial "really looking at aging as a syndrome.""It really can pave the way for a new approach," said Quarta, the CEO and co-founder of <a href="http://rubedolife.com/about/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Rubedo Life Sciences</a>, a startup developing anti-aging medicines. "This is an exciting, emerging new field."<h2>Taking metformin for aging has risks, especially for young people</h2><div type="image" title="toned woman in park, getting ready to run" height="1400" width="2100" msid="97774882" hostid="261"></div>But until there are clearer studies, Quarta thinks people should be careful with metformin for anti-aging. "It's not a magic pill," he said. Some people lose lots of weight on metformin; others don't see an impact. It can cause rare issues like <a href="https://www.endocrinepractice.org/article/S1530-891X(20)40209-5/pdf#:~:text=Although%20rare%2C%20metformin%20can%20be%20responsible%20for%20inducing%20liver%20damage" target="_blank" rel="noopener">liver damage</a> and lactic-acid buildup in the bloodstream. And it's been shown to lower <a href="https://twitter.com/NirBarzilaiMD/status/1617527420474781698" target="_blank" rel="noopener">testosterone</a> and inhibit muscle growth. (One 2022 study also suggests it can <a href="https://med.stanford.edu/news/all-news/2022/03/birth-defects-diabetes-drug.html" target="_blank" rel="noopener">harm men's sperm in a way that increases the risk of birth defects</a>.)"I would always suggest people be careful until we have done the studies to prove or disprove that metformin can be beneficial, and who can benefit from metformin in which conditions," Quarta said.Barzilai himself believes that for now, off-label metformin for longevity should be limited to those already experiencing the effects of aging. "I am horrified to learn that young people (&lt;40) without diabetes would consider taking metformin for longevity," he said in <a href="https://twitter.com/NirBarzilaiMD/status/1617527414988632066" target="_blank" rel="noopener">a recent tweet</a>, echoing the concerns about the drug's effects on testosterone and muscle. But when it comes to people of a certain age, Barzilai isn't waiting for his own trial results. He encourages his older friends and family to go ahead and ask their doctors about metformin now. Both he and his wife take it regularly. "More and more so, the evidence is really overwhelming," he said. At this point, "I'm feeling the FDA is really a pain in the butt."If you have an experience taking metformin off-label that you'd like to share, contact reporter Hilary Brueck: <a href="mailto:hbrueck@insider.com" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">hbrueck@insider.com</a>

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Diabetes drug effective in reducing severity in Covid patients: Study

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