Metformin keeps coming up on the radar for those tracking and tackling anti-aging research.
Apart from the recent study showing deleterious effects of taking Metformin while exercising (source) by blunting the beneficial effects of exercise (an effect perhaps not as worrying for those of us who simply don’t exercise as much as we should), other studies keep showing its positive effects in various age related studies.
Most recent study showing yet again its positive effects on suppressing inflammation by enhancing autophagy (body's way of cleaning out damaged cells, in order to regenerate newer, healthier cells) and normalizing mitochondrial functions (energy production).
[study]
“Inflammation increases naturally with age and contributes to many diseases that limit the amount of one’s life spent in good health, including type 2 diabetes, dementias, and many cancers. Researchers at the University of Kentucky and their colleagues identified a source of age-related inflammation that, if targeted by appropriate medications, holds great promise for promoting healthy aging. They manipulated immune cells from 30-year-old people to mimic inflammation in cells from 60-year-old people. This method identified specific breakdowns in the cellular machinery that cause age-related inflammation.”
“The type 2 diabetes drug metformin repaired the broken machinery in cells treated outside the body to drastically lower inflammation, paving the way for clinical trials to test whether metformin lowers age-related inflammation to promote healthy aging.”
Metformin has been around for decades, proven as one of the treatments for diabetes. As we conduct more safety studies on humans it appears to be one good candidate for an all around anti-aging drug that perhaps doesn’t come with the promise of extending our life span but at least increasing the quality of it.
