1. Regulating intestinal flora
It is found that metformin can reduce blood sugar by regulating intestinal flora. When diabetic patients receive metformin treatment, the composition and function of intestinal microorganisms will change favorably, thus enhancing bacteria to produce special types of short-chain fatty acids to lower blood sugar. This study also explains that the gastrointestinal side effects of metformin, such as flatulence, may be due to the presence of more Escherichia coli in the intestine after treatment.
2. Cardiovascular protection
Metformin can reduce the risk of cardiovascular disease in patients with newly diagnosed type 2 diabetes mellitus complicated with cardiovascular disease, and is even considered as the only hypoglycemic drug with clear cardiovascular benefits. Risk factors of cardiovascular diseases include dyslipidemia, insulin resistance and obesity. Among them, metformin plays a direct or indirect role in cardiovascular protection mainly by controlling the above risk factors.
3. Reduce the body mass index of obese children before puberty.
Metformin has been proved to be effective in treating obesity in adults with type 2 diabetes. For obese children, some studies have also found that metformin can significantly reduce the body mass index and obesity-related cardiovascular function indexes of obese children before puberty. However, no obvious benefit was observed in adolescent children, which may be due to the physiological and hormonal changes in adolescence that affected the therapeutic effect of metformin.
4. Antitumor effect
The anti-tumor effect of metformin has been widely concerned by people. No matter in clinical research, in vitro research or animal experiments, the anti-tumor effect of metformin has many exciting results. A number of meta-analysis results show that metformin treatment is related to reducing the risk of breast cancer, prostate cancer, pancreatic cancer and colorectal cancer. The anti-tumor mechanism of metformin is very complicated, and its specific mechanism has not been fully clarified. In addition, its anti-tumor effect needs rigorous prospective research to further clarify.
5. Anti-infection effect
In recent years, there has been clinical and basic experimental evidence that metformin is used as an "antibiotic", such as it can significantly improve the clinical prognosis of pulmonary tuberculosis patients; Improve the survival rate of mice infected with trypanosomiasis kuchi; Effectively inhibit the activities of Staphylococcus aureus, Pseudomonas aeruginosa and hepatitis B virus. At the same time, its special value in sepsis has been widely concerned, but it still needs to be banned for severe infection and trauma.
6. Progress in prevention of abdominal aortic aneurysm
Some studies have unexpectedly found that metformin can prevent the progress of abdominal aortic aneurysm, slow down the expansion of aneurysm and even prevent its rupture. Its mechanism may be related to the anti-inflammatory and lipid-lowering vascular endothelial protection of metformin, but there is a lack of randomized controlled studies with sufficient evidence to clarify this unique medical value of metformin.
Prolong life
Studies have pointed out that taking small doses of metformin regularly can prolong the life span of mice; The aging rate of nematodes decreased obviously after metformin treatment. Long-term use of metformin can significantly prolong the life span of patients with type II diabetes, so that they may live longer than non-diabetic patients. It can be seen that by controlling aging and reducing the mortality rate of specific diseases, all-cause deaths can be reduced and the life expectancy of diabetic patients can be increased.
8. Reduce the incidence of gallstones.
A two-year follow-up study in Taiwan Province Province, China found that the incidence of gallstones decreased with the increase of dosage in a certain range, and long-term use was related to the decrease of the incidence of gallstones. As for the relevant mechanism, further research is needed.
9. Treatment of fragile X syndrome
The main clinical manifestations of fragile X syndrome (FXS) are autism, low language and social skills, hyperactivity and irritability, and poor social response. It is found that metformin can restore the main abnormal phenotype of FXS mouse model and improve the irritability, social responsiveness and hyperactivity of FXS patients. However, due to the low level of research evidence, more and more rigorous randomized controlled clinical trials are still needed to verify the therapeutic value of metformin in FXS.
10. Anti-inflammatory effect
Metformin is also good for inflammatory diseases. It can antagonize vasculitis by inhibiting the expression of NF-κB, thus playing a role in cardiovascular protection. Significantly reduce the level of inflammatory factors in blood, reduce renal inflammatory parameters, and play a role in renal protection; It has obvious anti-inflammatory and joint protection effects on the rat model of rheumatoid arthritis induced by collagen II.
It can be seen that metformin can play a hypoglycemic role through a series of mechanisms, and has a certain therapeutic effect on many diseases, which has broad application prospects.
(This answer is provided by Sun Yixian Memorial Hospital of Sun Yat-sen University in Chong Guo. )
Also on some research results of metformin
1, metformin can not improve the course of diabetes in children. Recently, a paper pointed out that although children taking metformin may well control blood sugar, it did not prevent and delay the course of the first onset of 1 type diabetes. With the passage of time, children's 1 type diabetes will still worsen.
2. Anti-cancer effect of combination with cilostapine. In 20 17 years, the in vitro test of human blood in a European laboratory showed that the anti-cancer effect of metformin was very weak and needed a large dose. However, when it is combined with the antihypertensive drug cilostapine, it has excellent anticancer effect at a small dose.
3. Metformin may have some risks. The most important risk, I think, is the warning in China Diabetes Prevention and Treatment Guide, that is, respiratory sleep hypopnea syndrome may become more and more complicated. The doctor told Oxalis to take off, and hemoglobin may not carry enough oxygen after going to bed at night. This leads to hypoxia during sleep, which is also a statistical data, that is, 70% of diabetic patients have respiratory sleep hypopnea syndrome. Breathing is not interrupted in mild cases, but occasionally in severe cases, which leads to the acceleration of heart rate above 100. This serious problem will lead to mild to moderate hypoxia in the brain of diabetic patients during sleep and wake up many times at night. I think a long time may cause slow and irreversible changes in the brain center and nervous system. The relationship between this hypoxia syndrome and metformin is still under study.
Of course, metformin is still a drug with good safety performance, which is generally believed to be used for more than 20 years. It has no toxicity to liver and kidney, and can be used for pregnant women, lactating women and children over ten years old. When the glomerular filtration rate is less than 30, patients with severe renal failure and patients with advanced liver cancer should use it with caution and reduce the dose.
At present, the mechanism of metformin is not clear. It mainly reduces blood sugar and fights cancer by inhibiting the release rate of glycogen in the liver. The latest research shows that metformin changes the activity of various active enzymes (protease in human metabolism) and has various effects on human body, mainly inhibiting metabolic rate, thus producing benign effects.
I saw the results of studying abroad for 2 years. You can check online to confirm. After all, it does have a curative effect, and it is normal for patients to feel differently. The same disease varies from person to person, such as a cold. Not everyone can be cured by taking one medicine. At present, blood sugar is mainly reduced, and patients need to choose hypoglycemic drugs that suit them. Doctors have the right to introduce, and the choice is their own right. Still should thank the propaganda friends.
Metformin is the first choice drug recommended by Chinese diabetes treatment guidelines, and it is called golden biguanide, which is economical, practical and effective. If there are no liver and kidney complications, you can take it for life. Metformin can reduce glycosylated hemoglobin by about a little on average. The function of metformin is not to treat diabetes, but to control blood sugar.
I have translated an article about the latest research results of metformin by British scientists before. The main content of this article is that metformin can effectively delay the aging of human physiological functions. British scientists believe that the life span of people who take metformin for a long time can theoretically reach 120 years old, and it is listed as the main research object in order to develop it into an anti-aging drug. British scientists carried out experiments on other animals, which confirmed this fact.
It is generally believed that the life span of diabetics is about ten years shorter than that of normal people, but in reality, many diabetics live a long life. This study believes that metformin plays an important role in prolonging the life expectancy of diabetic patients.
What I said is based on the right foundation. Please don't believe some people's stories. Verification is very simple, just look up "China Diabetes Treatment Guide" online.
If there are any mistakes, please ask the experts to correct them.