Recent Longevity News for the seven days ending 9/21/11.  You should consult your doctor if you are taking any medications.

Blueberry powder may slow breast tumor growth: Mouse data - Nutra USA, 9/20/11 - "The California-based researchers performed two separate experiments. The first put mice in one of three diet groups: A control diet or the diet supplemented with 5% or 10% blueberry powder ... After two weeks of feeding the mice received injections containing aggressive breast cancer cells. After a further six weeks of observation the researchers reported that the 5 and 10% blueberry groups displayed a 75 and 60% reduction in tumor size, compared to the control group ... In addition, results from molecular analysis revealed that blueberry consumption was associated with an alteration in the expression of genes related to inflammation, cancer, and metastasis in such a way that cancer risk would most likely decline ... This suggests that there may be an optimal level of blueberry intake" - [Abstract] - See blueberry extract at Amazon.com.

Giving flu shots to tots cuts ER visits by a third - MSNBC, 9/19/11 - "Recommending that all U.S. preschoolers get a flu shot cut visits to the emergency department for flu-like illness by more than a third, U.S. and Canadian researchers said on Monday in a study that showed the direct impact of vaccination policy changes on flu transmission"

Diabetes may significantly increase the risk of dementia - Science Daily, 9/19/11 - "people with diabetes were twice as likely to develop dementia as people with normal blood sugar levels ... the risk of developing dementia significantly increased when blood sugar was still high two hours after a meal"

Alcohol Linked to Colorectal Cancer Risk - Medscape, 9/18/11 - "Overall, the dose-risk analysis found a statistically significant 7% increased risk for colorectal cancer for 10 g per day of alcohol intake, which includes light alcohol consumers. According to the researchers, 1 drink is equivalent to 12 g of ethanol" - Note:  My problem with alcohol is that it increases free radicals which has to increase signs of aging like wrinkling.  It does decrease heart disease but it also increases breast cancer, etc.

Soluble fiber may help shed 1.5kg in 12 weeks: Roquette study - Nutra USA, 9/16/11 - "One hundred and twenty overweight men were randomly assigned to consume fruit juice supplemented with 17 grams of either Nutriose or maltodextrin (control) for 12 weeks. The participants consumed the juice twice a day to provide a daily dose of 34 grams ... men who drank the Nutriose beverage had an average body weight loss of 1.5 kg, an average body mass index (BMI) reduction of 0.5 kg/m2, and lost an average of 0.3% of their body fat percentage, compared with the control group ... In addition, men who drank the Nutriose-supplemented drink reported less hunger across the study period, compared with men in the control group" - [Abstract] - Note:  1.5 kg = 3.3 lbs - See Jarrow Formulas, Fiber Perfect at Amazon.com (It contains the Nutriose).

enetics may explain why calcium increases risk for prostate cancer - Science Daily, 9/16/11 - "The team targeted a genetic allele that is more common in populations of African origin than in other populations and which is associated with regulating the absorption of calcium ... men who reported the highest intake of calcium were two times more likely to have localized and advanced prostate cancer than those who reported the lowest. Men with a genotype associated with poor calcium absorption were 59 percent less likely to have been diagnosed with advanced prostate cancer than men who genetically were the best absorbers of calcium. And, among men with calcium intake below the median, genetically poor absorbers had a 50 percent decreased risk of having advanced prostate cancer than the best absorbers"

Registry Data Support 'J-Curve' CV Risk Theory for Hba1c in Diabetes - Medscape, 9/16/11 - "In Cox regression analyses that used age and systolic blood pressure as covariates, the hazard ratio for the composite end point was lowest for HbA1c levels in the range of 6% to 7%, but rose below 6% and above 7%"

Psychologists discover oxytocin receptor gene's link to optimism, self-esteem - Science Daily, 9/14/11 - "UCLA life scientists have identified for the first time a particular gene's link to optimism, self-esteem and "mastery," the belief that one has control over one's own life -- three critical psychological resources for coping well with stress and depression ... The gene Taylor and her colleagues identified is the oxytocin receptor gene (OXTR). Oxytocin is a hormone that increases in response to stress and is associated with good social skills such as empathy and enjoying the company of others ... An increase in oxytocin tends to lead to more social behavior, especially under stress and especially in females, earlier research has indicated ... OXTR likely interacts with other genes" - See Oxytocin 6x5iu tablets at International Antiaging Systems.

Juice concentrates may boost skin-from-within - Nutra USA, 9/14/11 - "Skin hydration improved by 9% while skin thickness increased by 6% following 12 weeks of supplementation with a micronutrient-dense concentrate of a range of fruit and vegetables including cherry, apple, broccoli, cranberry, orange, pineapple, spinach, and tomato ... skin microcirculation also improved by almost 40% following supplementation with the juice concentrate, which could boost the supply of nutrients and oxygen to the skin and thereby boosting health" - [Abstract] - See Garden of Life, Radical Fruits Antioxidant Complex, 60 Caplets.  I'll save you the multi-level-marketing Juice Plus mark-up.

Omega-3 supplements show benefits against anxiety: Human data - Nutra USA, 9/14/11 - "the Ohio State researchers recruited 68 medical students to participate in their parallel group, placebo-controlled, double-blind trial. The med students were given either placebo capsules or omega-3 capsules containing 2085 mg of EPA (eicosapentaenoic acid) and 348 mg DHA (docosahexanoic acid) ... Results showed a 14% reduction in levels of the production of pro-inflammatory interleukin 6 (IL-6), as well as a 20% reduction in anxiety symptoms in the omega-3 group, compared to the placebo group ... Proinflammatory cytokines promote secretion of corticotropin-releasing hormone (CRH), a primary gateway to hormonal stress responses; CRH also stimulates the amygdala, a key brain region for fear and anxiety. Accordingly, alterations in inflammation could also influence anxiety" - [Abstract] - See Mega Twin EPA at Amazon.com and Jarrow Max DHA at Amazon.com.  Note:  CRH increases cortisol.  See:

Primary schoolchildren that sleep less than 9 hours do not perform as well academically, study suggests - Science Daily, 9/13/11 - "sleeping less than nine hours, going to bed late and no bedtime routine generally affects children's academic skills ... the lacking hours of sleep distorts children's performance in linguistic knowledge, grammar and spelling rules, and key aspects in the organisation and comprehension of texts, to name a few examples. They are basic skills, meaning that if the pupil, due to a lack of sleep, develops problems in this area, it could have a repercussion on all subjects"

Plant compound reduces breast cancer mortality, study suggests - Science Daily, 9/13/11 - "The most important type of phytoestrogens in our Western diet are lignans, which are contained in seeds, particularly flaxseeds, as well as in wheat and vegetables. In the bowel, these substances are turned into enterolactone, which is absorbed by the mucous tissue and which was determined by the Heidelberg researchers as a biomarker in the patients' blood ... Compared to the study subjects with the lowest enterolactone levels, the women with the highest blood levels of this biomarker had an approximately 40 percent lower mortality risk ... Another observation that may be interpreted in this direction is that Asian women are less frequently affected by breast cancer. Their soy-rich diet contains large amounts of another type of phytoestrogens, isoflavones. On the other hand, scientists fear that isoflavones might imitate the growth-promoting properties of real hormones and, thus, accelerate hormone-dependent tumors such as breast cancer and prostate cancer. "It has not yet been finally determined whether lignans in the body imitate the hormone effect or, on the contrary, counteract it,""

Primary component in curry spice kicks off cancer-killing mechanisms in human saliva - Science Daily, 9/12/11 - "Curcumin, the main component in the spice turmeric used in curry, suppresses a cell signaling pathway that drives the growth of head and neck cancer ... The inhibition of the cell signaling pathway also correlated with reduced expression of a number of pro-inflammatory cytokines, or signaling molecules, in the saliva that promote cancer growth ... it not only affected the cancer by inhibiting a critical cell signaling pathway, it also affected the saliva itself by reducing pro-inflammatory cytokines within the saliva ... To be effective in fighting cancer, the curcumin must be used in supplement form. Although turmeric is used in cooking, the amount of curcumin needed to produce a clinical response is much larger. Expecting a positive effect through eating foods spiced with turmeric is not realistic" - See curcumin products at Amazon.com.

Abstracts from this week's Doctor's Guide Nutrition/Dietetics plus abstracts from my RSS feeds (Click here for the journals, the PubMed ones at the top):

Sex Hormone-Binding Globulin, But Not Testosterone, Is Associated Prospectively and Independently With Incident Metabolic Syndrome in Men: The Framingham Heart Study - Diabetes Care. 2011 Sep 16 - "Cross-sectionally, testosterone and SHBG were more strongly associated with metabolic syndrome than free testosterone in the training sample. SHBG, but not testosterone or free testosterone, was significantly associated with metabolic syndrome after adjusting for age, smoking, BMI, and insulin sensitivity (homeostasis model assessment of insulin resistance [HOMA-IR]). These findings were confirmed in a validation sample. Longitudinally, SHBG at examination 7, but not testosterone or free testosterone, was associated with incident metabolic syndrome at examination 8 after adjusting for age, smoking, BMI, and HOMA-IR. Multivariable analyses suggested that age, BMI, and insulin sensitivity independently affect SHBG and testosterone levels and the risk of metabolic syndrome and its components"

Folate and risk of coronary heart disease: A meta-analysis of prospective studies - Nutr Metab Cardiovasc Dis. 2011 Sep 14 - "Data were independently abstracted by 2 investigators using a standardized protocol. Study-specific risk estimates were combined by using a random effects model. A total of 14 studies were included in the meta-analysis: 7 studies on dietary folate intake and 8 studies on blood folate levels. For dietary intake, the summary relative risk (RR) indicated a significant association between the highest folate intake and reduced risk of CHD (summary RR: 0.69; 95% CI: 0.60, 0.80). Furthermore, an increase in folate intake of 200 ug/day was associated with a 12% decrease in the risk of developing CHD (summary RR: 0.88; 95% CI: 0.82, 0.94). For blood folate levels, we also found a borderline inverse association of highest blood folate levels on CHD risk (summary RR: 0.74; 95% CI: 0.53, 1.02); our dose-response analysis indicated that an increment in blood folate levels of 5 mmol/l was associated with an 8% decrease in the risk of developing CHD (summary RR: 0.92; 95% CI: 0.84, 1.00)" - See folic acid products at Amazon.com.

n-3 PUFA prevent metabolic disturbances associated with obesity and improve endothelial function in golden Syrian hamsters fed with a high-fat diet - Br J Nutr. 2011 Sep 16:1-11 - "In conclusion, n-3 PUFA prevent some metabolic disturbances induced by high-fat diet and improve endothelial function in hamsters" - See Mega Twin EPA at Amazon.com and Jarrow Max DHA at Amazon.com.

Effect of α-lipoic acid on sperm quality, reproductive tract measures in thinner exposed rats - Andrologia. 2011 Sep 15 - "The aim of this study was to investigate the effect of alpha lipoic acid (ALA, an universal antioxidant) on thinner-induced testicular toxicity regarding spermatological features, body and reproductive tract measures in rats. Adult male Sprague-Dawley rats were divided into five treatment groups, eight rats in each. Control group was treated with placebo. Group O was given only olive oil. The group L received only α-lipoic acid. Thinner + Lipoic Acid group received thinner + α-lipoic acid and group T received only thinner. Thinner alone administration caused significant decreases in body and some reproductive organ weights, sperm count, motility and sperm membrane integrity, and significant increases in seminal vesicle weight and abnormal sperm rates compared with the values in the control group. However, concomitant administration of thinner with α-lipoic acid provided significant improvements in sperm parameters compared with values in alone group T.  In conclusion, the results of this study suggest that α-lipoic acid has a protective effect against thinner-induced reproductive dysfunction in male rats" - See alpha lipoic acid products at Amazon.com.  I assume that the thinner is something like this:

• ScienceDirect - Toxicology Letters : Melatonin protects the central nervous system of rats against toluene-containing thinner intoxication by reducing reactive gliosis - Toxicology Letters, Volume 137, Issue 3, 3 February 2003, Pages 169-174 - "Thinner containing 60–70% toluene is a neurotoxic mixture which is widely used as an aromatic industrial solventThinner containing 60–70% toluene is a neurotoxic mixture which is widely used as an aromatic industrial solvent"

Association between HbA(1c) and cardiovascular disease mortality in older Hong Kong Chinese with diabetes - Diabet Med. 2011 Sep 14. - "A total of 2137 Chinese aged 65 years or above attending the Elderly Health Service, Department of Health, Hong Kong, with diagnosed diabetes had HbA(1c) measured during 1998 to 2000 and were followed up to 2009 ... After adjusting for potential confounders, higher HbA(1c) (≥ 69 mmol/mol, 8.5%) increased the risk of cardiovascular disease (hazard ratio 2.11;95% CI 1.37-3.25) and stroke mortality (hazard ratio 2.43; 95% CI 1.06-5.55) compared with HbA(1c) of 58-68 mmol/mol (7.5-8.4%), and increased the risk of all-cause (hazard ratio 1.41; 95% CI 1.06-1.86) and coronary heart disease mortality (hazard ratio 2.44; 95% CI 1.11-5.37) compared with HbA(1c) of 48 mmol/mol (6.5%) or less. Analysis of HbA(1c) as a continuous variable showed that every XX mmol/mol (1%) increase in HbA(1c) decreased stroke mortality risk by 51% in those with HbA(1c) level less than 48 mmol/mol (6.5%) and increased stroke mortality risk by 30% in those with an HbA(1c) level of 48 mmol/mol (6.5%) or higher, suggesting a U-shaped association between HbA(1c) and stroke mortality.  Conclusion: High HbA(1c) predicted excess risk of all-cause, cardiovascular disease, coronary heart disease and stroke mortality. The question of whether low HbA(1c) increases mortality in older patients with diabetes needs further investigation"

Serum total and HDL cholesterol and risk of prostate cancer - Cancer Causes Control. 2011 Sep 14 - "After excluding the first 10 years of follow-up, men with higher serum total cholesterol were at increased risk of overall (≥240 vs. <200 mg/dl: HR = 1.22, 95% CI 1.03-1.44, p-trend = 0.01) and advanced (≥240 vs. <200 mg/dl: HR = 1.85, 95% CI 1.13-3.03, p-trend = 0.05) prostate cancer. Higher HDL cholesterol was suggestively associated with a decreased risk of prostate cancer regardless of stage or grade ... In this population of smokers, high serum total cholesterol was associated with higher risk of advanced prostate cancer, and high HDL cholesterol suggestively reduced the risk of prostate cancer overall. These results support previous studies and, indirectly, support the hypothesis that statins may reduce the risk of advanced prostate cancer by lowering cholesterol"

The effects of metformin on the survival of colorectal cancer patients with diabetes mellitus - Int J Cancer. 2011 Sep 12 - "Metformin use has been associated with decreased cancer risk and mortality ... We identified 595 patients who were diagnosed both CRC and diabetes mellitus. Patients were compared by two groups; 258 diabetic patients taking metformin and 337 diabetic patients not taking metformin ... After a median follow-up of 41 months, there were 71 total deaths (27.5%) and 55 CRC-specific deaths (21.3%) among 258 patients who used metformin, compared with 136 total deaths (40.4%) and 104 CRC-specific deaths (30.9%) among 337 patients who did not use metformin. Metformin use was associated with decreased overall mortality (P=0.018) and CRC-specific mortality (P=0.042) by univariate analysis. After adjustment for clinically relevant factors, metformin use showed lower risk of overall mortality (HR, 1.45; 95% CI, 1.084-1.934; P=0.016) and CRC-specific mortality (HR, 1.44; 95% CI, 1.026-2.061; P=0.035) in CRC patients with diabetes. Metformin use in CRC patients with diabetes is associated with lower risk of CRC-specific and overall mortality" - See metformin at The Antiaging Store.

Health Focus (Metformin):

Where to purchase:

• metformin at The Antiaging Store

News & Research:

• Cross-link Breakers and Inhibitors - International Anti-Aging Systems - "metformin has a dual effect. It lowers blood glucose, (a well-known and established activity) plus, as new research is revealing, it is an effective inhibitor of cross-linking" - See metformin at The Antiaging Store.
• Metformin: The Most Effective Life Extension Drug is Also a Safe, Effective Weight Loss Drug - IAS Bulletin - "Metformin is also one of the most promising anti-aging, life extending drugs available"
• Glucophage (metformin) - rxlist.com - "With metformin therapy, insulin secretion remains unchanged while fasting insulin levels and day-long plasma insulin response may actually decrease"
• Metabolic syndrome - CNN - "Doctors believe that the underlying cause of this cluster of risk factors is resistance to insulin ... Doctors use thiazolidinediones and metformin (Glucophage, Glucophage XR) to decrease insulin resistance in people with diabetes. These medications may help improve insulin metabolism in people with metabolic syndrome"
• Metformin (Glucophage) and bipolar - psycheducation.org - "In some cases this medication can decrease abdominal obesity ... Between 10 and 30% of people taking metformin have a decrease in their B12 levels ... this can show up is "anemia""
• Obesity and Fatty Liver disease - MedicineNet.com - "Doctors also are using medications to treat non alcoholic fatty liver disease. For example, insulin-sensitizing agents, such as the thiazolidinediones, pioglitazone (Actos) and rosiglitazone (Avandia), and metformin (Glucophage) not only help to control blood glucose in patients with diabetes, but they also improve enzyme levels in patients with non alcoholic fatty liver disease"
• Metformin May Have Novel Role as Breast Cancer Drug - oncologystat.com - "In one recent hypothesis-generating metformin study, Dr. Josie M.M. Evans and coworkers at the University of Dundee (Scotland) evaluated roughly 11,876 patients with newly diagnosed type 2 diabetes, of whom 923 were subsequently diagnosed with cancer. The adjusted relative risk of malignancy in long-term metformin users was reduced by 44%, compared with nonusers ... In another population-based cohort study ... In another population-based cohort study, investigators at the Institute of Health Economics, Edmonton, Alta., identified 10,309 Saskatchewanians with type 2 diabetes. During an average of 5.4 years of follow-up after their diagnosis, 407 cancer-related deaths occurred. Cancer mortality was 3.5% in metformin users, 5.8% in insulin users, and 4.9% in individuals on sulfonylurea monotherapy. After adjustment in a multivariate Cox regression analysis, cancer-related mortality was 30% greater in sulfonylurea users than in metformin users. In insulin users, it was 90% higher than in metformin users" - See Metformin at OffshoreRx1.com.
• Diabetes drug may prevent or delay development of polycystic ovary syndrome, the most common cause of infertility in women - Science Daily, 6/29/11
• Some diabetes drugs are better than others, according to new study - Science Daily, 4/6/11 - "compared to metformin treatment, monotherapy with most ISs, including glimepiride, glibenclamide, glipizide and tolbutamide, was associated with a greater risk of death from any cause, and a greater risk of heart attacks, stroke or death from cardiovascular diseases. This was the case both for patients who had already suffered a heart attack and for patients who had not. Two other ISs, gliclazide and repaglinide, showed no significant difference to metformin in their effectiveness in patients with and without a history of heart attacks ...Patients taking metformin had the best outcomes, supporting prior evidence of metformin benefit and making it the first-line drug recommended for almost all patients with type 2 diabetes. Compared against this beneficial drug, most of the ISs were associated with worse outcomes, but they would almost certainly be similar to, or better, had the comparison been made against placebo treatment, with the added benefit on kidney, eye, and nerve disease of the glucose control they yield" - Note:  Why would they have a study like that and not include the #2 diabetes drug a thiazolidinedione, Actos (pioglitazone).  Makes you question their motives.  See http://www.pharmacytimes.com/media/pdf/PHTM_36.pdf.
• Diabetes treatment may also provide protection against endometrial cancer - Science Daily, 4/5/11 - "Recent research has found that metformin has anti-cancer properties, e.g., in breast cancer ... samples from PCOS women who had completed the 6 month course of metformin the rate of spread of endometrial cancer cells was around 25% lower than in the serum samples from PCOS women who had not started that treatment"
• Newer doesn't mean better when it comes to type 2 diabetes drugs - Science Daily, 3/14/11 - "metformin, an oral drug that was first approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration in 1995, not only controlled blood sugar, but was also less likely to cause weight gain or raise cholesterol levels ... even though there are all these newer drugs, metformin works just as well and has fewer side effects ... while two drugs worked better than one in those patients whose blood sugar remained poorly controlled on a single medication, there were also side effects associated with adding a second medication"
• Diabetes drug could work against Alzheimer's, animal study suggests - Science Daily, 11/24/10 - "the diabetes drug metformin counteracts alterations of the cell structure protein Tau in mice nerve cells. These alterations are a main cause of the Alzheimer's disease ... If we can confirm that metformin shows also an effect in humans, it is certainly a good candidate for an effective therapy on Alzheimer's diseases"
• Metformin Might Prevent Colorectal, Lung Cancers - Medscape, 9/3/10 - "The chance observation that diabetes patients taking metformin have a 40% reduced risk for cancer triggered intense research interest in this old off-patent drug ... After about 10% of the mouse lifespan — about 12 weeks — with the highest dose in the drinking water, we found a 33% reduction in tumor multiplicity and a 34% reduction in tumor size in the mice. In mice that did not get metformin, 100% got tobacco carcinogen-induced lung tumors ... metformin might prevent tumors by reducing levels of insulin and IGF-1" - See my Insulin and Aging page.  There are a lot of studies pointing toward insulin being a major cause of aging and caner.
• Well-defined quantity of antioxidants in diet can improve insulin resistance, study finds - Science Daily, 6/21/10 - "For groups C and D, the researchers prescribed a diet enriched in antioxidant, with a calculated intake, 800 to 1,000 milligrams a day, coming from fruits and vegetables, but group D also took metformin ... Despite similar weight loss in all the groups, only the two groups receiving the antioxidant diet (groups C and D) had a significant decrease in insulin resistance ... Group D had the best improvement in insulin resistance on some measures of insulin response to an oral glucose tolerance test ... We think that a total antioxidant level of 800 to 1,000 milligrams a day is safe and probably not close to the maximum tolerable level"
• Metformin-Induced Vitamin B12 Deficiency Presents as Peripheral Neuropathy: Abstract and Introduction - Medscape, 4/22/10
• Metformin may prevent lung cancer in smokers, early research suggests - Science Daily, 4/19/10
• Insulin used to treat diabetes may be linked to increased cancer risk, review suggests - Science Daily, 3/2/10 - "Research suggests that metformin, which is used to treat some patients with diabetes, may provide a protective effect, while insulin and/or certain insulin analogues may promote tumour growth ... Diabetic patients were 30 per cent more likely to develop colorectal cancer ... Women with diabetes had a 20 per cent greater risk of developing breast cancer ... People with diabetes had an 82 per cent higher risk of developing pancreatic cancer" -  Note:  See my Insulin and Aging page.  I think it's like what came first the chicken or the egg.  I don't believe they know whether it's the insulin or the high blood sugar.  This seems to support that it's the high insulin.
• Diabetes Drug Metformin Has Fishy Odor - WebMD, 2/16/10
• Metformin May Help Obese Teens Lose Weight - WebMD, 2/1/10
• Metformin is safe for patients with advanced heart failure and diabetes mellitus, study shows - Science Daily, 1/7/10 - "The study results suggest that, in patients with both advanced heart failure and diabetes, use of metformin is safe, and may be associated with better heart failure survival"
• Click here of a 10/5/09 news clip (I put it on YouTube) that claims that metformin may provide the same anti-aging benefits as calorie restriction (you won't need to look like a POW).  Metformin is another one I take for anti-aging.  In addition to the calorie restriction type benefits, see my Insulin and Aging page.
• Metformin vs. Sulfonylureas for Diabetes - WebMD, 12/4/09 - "Researchers reported that diabetes patients who used sulfonylureas had a higher risk of death from all causes and a higher risk of heart failure than diabetes patients who used the most widely prescribed diabetes drug, metformin ... Compared with metformin, also known as Glucophage, single-drug treatment with first- and second-generation sulfonylureas was associated with up to a 61% increased risk for death. Users of second-generation sulfonylureas had up to a 30% higher risk for congestive heart failure ... Patients treated with Actos or Avandia did not appear to have a greater risk for heart attacks than those treated with metformin"
• Metformin Lowers Serum TSH Levels in Diabetics With Hypothyroidism - Medscape, 10/2/09
• Diabetes Drug Fights Breast Cancer - WebMD, 9/14/09 - "And in mice carrying human breast cancers, metformin made standard chemotherapy vastly more effective. Mice treated with the combination remain cancer-free for four months, unlike mice treated with either drug alone ... A lot of data shows lower cancer risk -- not just breast cancer -- in people taking metformin for diabetes ... This drug at low doses can be considered a very good candidate for cancer prevention before a person has any cancer at all" - Note:  I've been taking metformin for years for anti-aging.  See my Insulin and Aging page.
• Metformin Linked to B12 Deficiency - WebMD, 6/8/09 - "40% of type 2 diabetes patients using metformin had vitamin B12 deficiency or were in the low-normal range for the essential vitamin. And 77% of metformin users with vitamin B12 deficiency also had peripheral neuropathy, a common form of nerve damage associated with type 2 diabetes" - See vitamin B-12 at Amazon.com.
• Common Diabetes Drug May 'Revolutionize' Cancer Therapies: Unexpected T-cell Breakthrough - Science Daily, 6/4/09 - "We used metformin, which is known to operate on fatty-acid metabolism, to enhance this process, and have shown experimentally in mice that metformin increases T-cell memory as well as the ensuing protective immunity of an experimental anti-cancer vaccine"
• 'Cancer hope' from diabetes drug - BBC News, 6/3/09 - "Tests on mice found metformin, used for Type 2 diabetes, helps the body's T-cells work more effectively"
• Old Diabetes Drug Teaches Experts New Tricks - Science Daily, 5/20/09
• Metformin May Have Long-Term Benefits in Patients With Type 2 Diabetes - Medscape, 4/10/09 - "Compared with the placebo group, the metformin group had prevention of weight gain (mean weight gain, −3.07 kg; range, −3.85 to −2.28 kg; P < .001), better glycemic control (mean reduction in glycated hemoglobin level, 0.4%; 95% confidence interval [CI], 0.55 – 0.25; P < .001), and lower insulin requirements (mean reduction, 19.63 U/day; 95% CI, 24.91 – 14.36 U/day; P < .001) ... Add-on metformin improved glycemic control and reduced body weight and insulin requirements"
• Do Diabetes Drugs Affect Heart Health? - WebMD, 10/27/08 - "metformin seemed to be associated with a decrease in heart disease and heart-related deaths ... researchers point to metformin as a drug that is "moderately protective" and Avandia as "possibly harmful." ... Avandia, which works well to reduce blood sugar, was associated with a higher risk of heart attack. However, researchers in that case also acknowledged that their conclusions were limited by a lack of access to original clinical data"
• Metformin May Enhance Weight Loss in Female Adolescents - Medscape, 7/8/08 - "a significant decrease in body mass index was seen in females receiving metformin but not in those taking placebo. Sixty percent of participants who were metformin-adherent and who decreased food portion sizes had a decrease in body mass index of more than 5%" - See metformin at OffshoreRx1.com.
• Metformin Increases Pathologic Complete Response Rates In Breast Cancer Patients With Diabetes - Science Daily, 6/2/08 - "the pathologic complete response rates in the diabetic breast cancer patients taking Metformin was 24 percent, three times higher than the rates in diabetic patients not taking the drug, 8 percent. In the non-diabetic women, the pathologic complete response rate was 16 percent"
• Metformin May Up Alzheimer's Protein if Used Alone - Medscape, 10/15/09 - "I think Chen's study is very important and strengthens the concept of diabetes medication effects on Alzheimer's neuropathology, but at this point I do not think that there is clinical evidence for clinicians to be concerned when treating their diabetic patients with metformin"
• Metformin Alone or With Insulin May Be Safe in Gestational Diabetes - Medscape, 5/7/08
• No Benefits Seen With Metformin for Insulin Resistance in Obese Children: Presented at ECE - Doctor's Guide, 5/7/08
• Thiazolidinediones May Act Against Psoriasis - Medscape, 3/26/08 - "The adjusted odds ratio for a first time diagnosis of psoriasis in current users of five or more prescriptions for thiazolidinediones was 0.33, as compared to no use. The adjusted odds ratio for metformin was 0.77" - See pioglitazone at OffshoreRx1.com.
• Metformin May Delay Onset of Diabetes in At-Risk Subjects - Medscape, 3/24/08 - "Metformin treatment, compared with placebo or no treatment, reduced body mass index by 5.3%, fasting glucose by 4.5%, fasting insulin by 14.4%, and calculated insulin resistance by 22.6% ... Metformin treatment also reduced triglycerides and LDL cholesterol by 5.3% and 5.6%, respectively, and increased HDL cholesterol by 5.0% ... The incidence of new-onset diabetes was reduced by 40% (odds ratio, 0.6), with an absolute risk reduction of 6%, during a mean trial duration of 1.8 years" - I don't have diabetes yet still take 1,000 mg of metformin per day.  I still feel high blood sugar and advanced glycation end products are major causes of aging.  See metformin at OffshoreRx1.com.
• Insulin-Resistant Cardiomyopathy - Medscape, 1/15/08 - "Increasing evidence points to insulin resistance as a primary etiologic factor in the development of nonischemic heart failure (HF) ... Epidemiological evidence suggests more than simply a correlation between insulin resistance and HF, demonstrating that insulin resistance precedes HF rather than occurring as a consequence of it ... Medications that work primarily by improving insulin sensitivity (metformin, thiazolidinediones [TZDs]) might theoretically be the most attractive therapies" - See my web page on Insulin and Aging.
• Metformin, Lifestyle Changes Effective in Antipsychotic-Induced Weight Gain - Medscape, 1/10/08 - "Lifestyle intervention plus metformin had the greatest effect on weight loss, and metformin alone was more effective than lifestyle intervention plus placebo in increasing insulin sensitivity and reversing weight gain in these patients with schizophrenia and significant weight gain from atypical antipsychotic agents"
• Prevention of Type 2 diabetes: fact or fiction? - Expert Opin Pharmacother. 2007 Dec;8(18):3147-58 - "The Diabetes Prevention Program revealed that metformin 850 mg b.i.d. reduced the risk of diabetes by 31%"
• Drug May Help Pregnant Women with Insulin Resistance - Doctor's Guide, 9/6/07 - "metformin, the most commonly prescribed anti-diabetes drug, could potentially improve pregnancy outcomes in women with insulin resistance"
• Diabetes Drug Kills Some Cancer Cells - Science Daily, 8/14/07 - "Four weeks later, the p53-deficient tumors in mice treated with metformin were half the size of the p53 deficient tumors in control mice"
• Older Is Better: Top Ten Comparison Of Diabetes Drugs Give Metformin Top Grade - Science Daily, 7/25/07 - "Metformin was found to lower LDL or bad cholesterol by about 10 milligrams per deciliter of blood, while newer medications studied, such as pioglitazone (Actos) and rosiglitazone (Avandia), or so-called thiazolidinediones, were found to have the opposite effect, increasing levels of the artery-clogging fat by the same amount"
• Old Diabetes Drug Has Advantages - WebMD, 7/16/07
• The Role of Metformin and Pioglitazone in Early Combination Treatment - Medscape, 2/6/07 - "Both metformin and pioglitazone have positive effects on cardiovascular risk factors. Pioglitazone may reduce the progression to type 2 diabetes by effects on both pancreatic beta-cell deterioration and insulin resistance"
• Diabetes Drugs Compared - WebMD, 12/6/06 - "Avandia had the lowest treatment failure rate -- 15% -- compared with 21% for Glucophage and 34% for Micronase"
• Drug 'Avandia' May Prevent Diabetes - WebMD, 9/15/06 - "People at high risk for diabetes who took the drug Avandia reduced their risk of developing the disease by 60% in the three-year trial ... taking the drug metformin (Glucophage), which is already widely used for diabetes prevention, was associated with a 31% reduction in disease risk -- about half that seen in the Avandia study"
• New EASD/ADA Consensus Recommends Metformin at Diagnosis of Type 2 Diabetes - Doctor's Guide, 9/13/06 - "metformin significantly reduced the risk of fatal and non-fatal cardiovascular events in patients with type 2 diabetes(3). The study showed a 36% reduction in all-cause mortality, a 42% reduction in diabetes-related mortality and a 32% reduction in diabetes-related endpoints"
• FDA Approves Avandamet (Rosiglitazone Maleate and Metformin HCl) as Initial Therapy in the Treatment of Type 2 Diabetes - Doctor's Guide, 7/11/06
• Metformin Induces Long-Term Weight Loss in Teens - Doctor's Guide, 6/28/06 - "Metformin can induce long-term weight loss in obese, non-diabetic adolescents, and could possibly be useful in a regimen to help achieve weight loss in adolescents, who may have developed type 2 diabetes type due to overweight"
• Depression Drugs May Up Diabetes Risk - WebMD, 6/12/06 - "taking antidepressants was associated with a two- to threefold increase in risk ... The increase was not seen, however, in people at high risk for diabetes who were taking both antidepressants and the blood-sugar-regulating drug glucophage (metformin)"
• Can Metformin Help Teenagers With PCO? - Medscape, 4/19/06
• Metformin and Lifestyle Intervention May Help Prevent Metabolic Syndrome - Medscape, 4/18/06 - "Participants were randomly assigned to standard treatment with placebo pill; metformin, 850 mg, twice daily; or intensive lifestyle management with placebo pill and followed up for a mean of 3.2 years ... Intensive lifestyle consisted of reduction of at least 7% of body weight, low-calorie and low-fat diet, and moderate physical activity at least 150 minutes weekly ... In those with prevalent MS at baseline ... At 3 years 18% of the placebo, 23% of the metformin, and 38% of the lifestyle intervention group no longer had the MS, with lifestyle intervention only showing a significant effect vs placebo"
• Newer Diabetic Meds Cost More, But Users Have Fewer Hospital Visits - Science Daily, 3/24/06 - "Taking a TZD as instructed was the strongest predictor of a reduced risk of hospitalization and decreased healthcare costs in this group of patients ... Overall, the participants who took a TZD spent an average of $76 to $150 less per month on total healthcare costs" - See OffshoreRx1.com.
• Metformin-Associated Lactic Acidosis Can Be Aggravated by Antihypertensive Drugs in Diabetics - Doctor's Guide, 11/14/05 - "Concurrent use of angiotensin-converting enzyme inhibitors (ACEIs) or angiotensin receptor blockers (ARBs) and metformin could aggravate the risk of metformin-associated lactic acidosis"
• Metformin Increases Ovulation in Women with Polycystic Ovary Syndrome Better than Clomiphene Citrate - Doctor's Guide, 10/21/05
• Metformin May Be Safer Than Sulfonylureas in Patients With Diabetes and Heart Failure - Medscape, 9/30/05
• ACTOplus Met Approved by the FDA for Type 2 Diabetes - Doctor's Guide, 8/30/05 - "ACTOplus met combines ACTOS (pioglitazone HCl) and metformin, two widely used diabetes medications, in a single tablet"
• Review: Metformin a Top Diabetes Drug - WebMD, 7/19/05 - "Though many of the newer drugs may promote weight gain, metformin has been associated with modest weight losses in people with type 2 diabetes"
• Metformin Works Well as Monotherapy in Type 2 Diabetes Especially in Overweight or Obese Patients - Doctor's Guide, 7/15/05
• Metformin May Be Best First-Line Therapy for Anovulatory Women With Polycystic Ovary Syndrome - Medscape, 4/29/05
• Metformin and Lifestyle Intervention May Help Prevent Metabolic Syndrome - Medscape, 4/18/05 - "metformin therapy (850 mg twice daily) ... Compared with placebo, the lifestyle group had 41% lower incidence of the MS (P < .001), and the metformin group had 17% lower incidence"
• Vitamin B12 Status of Patients Treated With Metformin - Medscape, 2/17/05 - "Patients exposed to long-term metformin therapy had 26.7% lower cobalamin, 21.6% lower holotranscobalamin and 9.7% higher HCy serum concentrations than control subjects. Such changes indicate a potential risk for development of vitamin B12 deficiency"
• Pioglitazone and Metformin Similarly Effective in Reducing HbA1c - Medscape, 12/13/04
• Research Highlights Hormonal Control of Cardiovascular Functions - Doctor's Guide, 8/17/04 - "The Patients who received metformin experienced an improvement in several endothelial function markers, including weight, fasting plasma glucose, soluble intercellular adhesion molecule and soluble vascular cell adhesion molecule"
• Metformin Shows Promise for Diabetes Prevention, but Further Studies Needed - Doctor's Guide, 6/24/04 - "After 1 year of treatment, patients receiving metformin experienced a significantly lower increase in fasting blood glucose levels compared with the placebo group (3.6 mg/dL vs. 7.2 mg/dL, P < .05)"
• Metformin Can Prevent Girls with Insulin Resistance from Developing Polycystic Ovary Syndrome - Doctor's Guide, 6/21/04 - "Early use of metformin in girls with insulin resistance can decrease the progression to polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS), a common female endocrine disorder"
• Metformin, Diet/Exercise Comparable at Cutting Diabetes Risk in Women With GDM - Medscape, 6/7/04 - "in women who reported a history of GDM, either metformin or lifestyle changes reduced the relative risk of later type 2 DM by about 54%. In contrast, the relative risk reduction associated with metformin was 14% in women with no history of GDM compared with 51% for lifestyle changes"
• Metformin May Improve Cardiac Autonomic System Balance in Overweight Patients with Type 2 Diabetes - Doctor's Guide, 3/15/04
• Metformin Improves Metabolic Control and Other Physiologic Variables in Type 2 Diabetes - Doctor's Guide, 2/25/04
• What You Don’t Know About Blood Sugar - Life Extension Magazine, 1/04 - "it now appears that optimal fasting blood glucose levels should probably be under 86 mg/dL ... Chromium supplements have been shown to reduce blood glucose significantly.70-74 The dose used in human studies ranges from 200 to 1000 mcg of elemental chromium a day, with best results occurring when 400 mcg or more of chromium is taken daily ... Nondiabetics using metformin may start off at 500 mg a day and gradually build up to 1000-1500 mg a day. The objective is not to take so much metformin as to induce a hypoglycemic state" - See iHerb or Vitacost chromium products.
• Metformin and Carbohydrate-Modified Diet May Help Sustain Weight Loss - Doctor's Guide, 12/16/03
• No Apparent Increased Risk of Lactic Acidosis Found In Type 2 Diabetics Who Take Metformin - Doctor's Guide, 11/25/03
• Metformin May Improve Metabolic Control in Adolescents with Type I Diabetes - Doctor's Guide, 11/21/03
• Metformin Decreases Serum C-Reactive Protein in Women With Polycystic Ovarian Syndrome - Doctor's Guide, 10/28/03
• Metformin Seems to be Effective for Anovulation in Women with Polycystic Ovary Syndrome - Doctor's Guide, 10/27/03
• Metformin Treatment Leads to Increased Homocysteine, Decreased Vitamin B12 and Folate in Type 2 Diabetes Patients - Doctor's Guide, 10/20/03 - "Homocysteine requires folate and vitamin B12 to be properly metabolised, and serum vitamin B12 levels are known to decrease during metformin treatment ... compared with placebo, metformin was associated with an increase in serum homocysteine levels (4% [0.2 to 8 µmol L-1]; P=0.039), and decreases in vitamin B12 (-14% [-4.2 to -24 pmol L-1]; P<0.0001) and folate (-7%"
• Uses of Metformin May Extend Beyond Patients with Type 2 Diabetes - Doctor's Guide, 9/4/03 - "In type 2 diabetics, metformin appears to decrease plasma fasting glucose and HbA1c levels without causing weight gain. Metformin may also have a positive influence on a variety of cardiovascular risk factors and may be useful in preventing diabetes in overweight individuals with mild hyperglycaemia ... while further study is necessary before more widespread use is encouraged, the role of metformin may be expanded for glucose control in children and teenagers with type 2 diabetes, in non-diabetic women with PCOS, and to prevent progression to diabetes"
• FDA Approves New Avandamet (Rosiglitazone Maleate/Metformin) Dosage Strengths For Treatment Of Type 2 Diabetes - Doctor's Guide, 8/27/03
• Lifestyle Modification, Metformin Effective Prevention for Type 2 Diabetes - Doctor's Guide, 7/31/03 - "1,073 patients were prescribed 850 mg metformin twice daily, 1,082 had placebo twice daily, and 1,079 were prescribed an intensive program of lifestyle modification ... Incidence of diabetes was 58% lower ... in the lifestyle intervention group and 31% lower ... in the metformin group than in the placebo group"
• Inappropriate Metformin Use Frequent in Hospitalised Patients - Doctor's Guide, 6/16/03
• BioMarker Pharmaceuticals Develops Anti-Aging Therapy - LE Magazine cover story, 6/03 - "The BioMarker scientists found that all the glucoregulatory agents reproduced some of the gene expression effects of CR [calorie restriction], but that metformin was the undisputed star of the group, being twice as effective as the others in reproducing the effects of CR"
• Pioglitazone/Sulfonylurea And Pioglitazone/Metaformin Combinations Both Effective For Reducing Very Low Density Lipoproteins And Free Fatty Acids - Doctor's Guide, 5/21/03
• Repaglinide + Metformin Superior to Nateglinide + Metformin in Treating Type 2 Diabetes - Doctor's Guide, 5/18/03
• Benfluorex Improves Glycaemic Control In Type 2 Diabetes - Doctor's Guide, 4/29/03 - "Although benfluorex may be less potent than metformin, it lowers haemoglobin A1C (HbA1C) and fasting plasma glucose levels and is well tolerated"
• Metformin-Glibenclamide Combination Is More Effective Than Monotherapy In Type 2 Diabetes - Doctor's Guide, 4/24/03
• Pioglitazone Improves Insulin Sensitivity Compared To Metformin - Doctor's Guide, 4/22/03
• Combination Therapy Improves Management of Obese Diabetics - Doctor's Guide, 4/15/03 - "Adding rosiglitazone, an insulin-sensitising thiazolidinedione drug, to metformin, a biguanide agent, greatly enhances the management of obese type 2 diabetic patients who are inadequately controlled by metformin alone"
• Metformin Concentrations In Erythrocytes Have Clinical Implications - Doctor's Guide, 3/25/03
• Diabetes Prevention Efforts Achieving Good Results - Doctor's Guide, 2/17/03 - "Strategies that may prevent progression to diabetes include weight reduction, exercise, insulin secretagogues, metformin, glucosidase inhibitors and thiazolidinedione ... Diabetes risk was reduced by 31% among patients who were treated with metformin (which tends to restrain weight gain) and by 58% for patients who improved their lifestyle ... Losing even 5 to 7 kg [11 to 15.4 pounds] "has an enormous benefit" that was also apparent in cholesterol and other cardiovascular risk factor reductions"
• Glyburide/Metformin Combination Effective For Type 2 Diabetes Inadequately Controlled By Sulphonylurea - Doctor's Guide, 2/3/02
• Rosiglitazone And Metformin Have Different Effects In Diabetics - Doctor's Guide, 1/29/03
• Metformin May Help Teen Type 1 Diabetics - WebMD, 1/17/03
• Metformin May Benefit Type 1 Teen Diabetics - Medscape, 1/14/03
• Tablet Combining Glibenclamide And Metformin Improves Glycaemic Control - Doctor's Guide, 12/7/02
• Bristol-Myers Squibb Receives FDA Approval Of Metaglip (Glipizide/ Metformin HCl Tablets) For Type 2 Diabetes - Doctor's Guide, 10/22/02
• FDA Approves GlaxoSmithKline's Avandamet™ (rosiglitazone maleate and metformin HCl), The Latest Advancement in the Treatment of Type 2 Diabetes - Doctor's Guide, 10/11/02
• FDA Approves New Indication for Glucovance® (Glyburide and Metformin HCL Tablets) A Leading Oral Antidiabetic Now Approved for Use With TZDs - Doctor's Guide, 10/11/02
• Insulin-Lowering Agent [metformin] Curbs Hyperandrogenism And Polycystic Ovary Syndrome Symptoms - Doctor's Guide, 10/11/02
• Anti-Hyperglycemic Metformin Equally Effective in Extended-Release and Immediate-Release Formulations - Doctor's Guide, 9/26/02
• Extended-Release Metformin Formulation Shows Promise as Once Daily Regimen - Doctor's Guide, 9/25/02
• What is hyperinsulimia? How is it controlled? What are the tests? What is Glucophage? - Dr. Weil, 9/3/02 - "If you take Glucophage, your physician should also monitor your liver function regularly and check blood counts and vitamin B12 levels"
• Single-Tablet Metformin-Glibenclamide Provides Type 2 Diabetics Better Glycaemic Control Than Either Drug Alone - Doctor's Guide, 8/28/02
• Metformin Therapy Lowers Plasma Levels Of Enzyme Linked To Endothelial Dysfunction In Type 2 Diabetics - Doctor's Guide, 7/24/02
• Combined Insulin Glargine and Metformin Therapy Treats Obese Type 2 Diabetics - Doctor's Guide, 6/18/02
• Metformin Useful in Teens with Poorly Controlled Type 1 Diabetes - Doctor's Guide, 6/18/02
• Metformin Decreases Cardiovascular Events in Diabetics - Doctor's Guide, 6/18/02
• Rosiglitazone Added to Glyburide/Metformin Helps Tough-to-Treat Diabetics - Doctor's Guide, 6/16/02
• Will New Drugs Head Off Diabetes? - WebMD, 5/10/02 - ""We think of IGT [impaired glucose tolerance] and diabetes as parts of what we call the metabolic syndrome. This is something that affects one in four Americans -- and up to half of the U.S. population by age 60. What we have to target is high blood sugar, whether it is IGT or type 2 diabetes." ... One diabetes drug, Glucophage, has already been shown to help prevent type 2 diabetes in people with IGT. But that same study, published in the February 2002 issue of The New England Journal of Medicine, showed that exercise was even better than Glucophage at preventing diabetes"
• Complementary Effects of Avandia and Metformin Significantly Improved Glycemic Control in High-Risk Diabetes Patients - Doctor's Guide, 4/30/02
• Troglitazone Improves Cardiovascular Risk Factors Better Than Metformin In Type 2 Diabetes - Doctor's Guide, 3/11/02 - See troglitazone
• Diabetes Drug [Glucophage] Helps Prevent Miscarriage - WebMD, 3/1/02
• Metformin Shows Promise in Preventing Miscarriage in Polycystic Ovary Syndrome - Doctor's Guide, 2/27/02
• The Skinny on Fat Drugs - WebMD, 2/20/02 - "This diabetes drug improves sensitivity to insulin. It seems to prevent weight gain in adults. Studies are under way in overweight people who do not have diabetes. Side effects of Glucophage include nausea, flatulence, bloating, and diarrhea at the beginning of treatment. It can also cause a serious problem -- lactic acidosis -- in some patients with underlying disease"
• How to Stop Diabetes In Its Tracks - WebMD, 2/6/02 - "the study found that the diet/exercise program cut diabetes risk by 58%. Glucophage was significantly less effective, but still decreased risk by 31% ... The diet was centered around lowering fat intake to less than 25% of overall calories ... the 30-minute daily exercise regime "should be easily achievable" by most nondiabetic overweight Americans with high blood sugar levels"
• Metformin Appears Suitable For Children With Type 2 Diabetes - Doctor's Guide, 1/18/02
• Diabetes Drug [Glucophage/metformin] May Fight Obesity - WebMD, 12/26/01 - "Pediatricians at the University of Tennessee School of Medicine put 24 obese adolescents on a low-calorie diet: 1,500 calories a day for the girls and 1,800 calories a day for the boys. They also gave half the teens Glucophage and half a placebo ... After eight weeks, dieting teens who took the placebo lost 3.8 % of their body weight. But those taking Glucophage lost 6.5 % of their body weight -- nearly twice as much"
• Metformin-Glibenclamide Combo Manages Total Glycemic Burden In Type 2 Diabetes - Doctor's Guide, 9/17/01
• Repaglinide Plus Metformin Increases Insulin Secretion And Sensitivity In Type 2 Diabetics - Doctor's Guide, 9/13/01
• The Multiple Benefits of Metformin - Life Extension Magazine, 9/01 - "An ideal anti-diabetic drug would enhance cellular insulin sensitivity, inhibit excess intestinal absorption of sugar, reduce excess liver production of glucose, promote weight loss and reduce cardiovascular risk factors. Metformin (Glucophage) is the one drug that does all of this and more"
• Diet and Exercise, Metformin, Dramatically Delay Type 2 Diabetes - Doctor's Guide, 8/8/01
• How to Avoid Diabetes -- Landmark Results Unveiled - WebMD, 8/8/01 - "Either a low-fat diet combined with moderate exercise or the drug metformin -- brand name Glucophage -- dramatically reduced type 2 diabetes risk among overweight people with elevated blood sugar"
• Glyburide/Metformin Combination Helps Maintain Long-Term Blood Sugar Control - Doctor's Guide, 6/26/01
• Metformin Outperforms Other Oral Agents In Diabetics With Severe Coronary Disease - Doctor's Guide, 3/22/01
• Nateglinide Appears To Reduce HbA(1c) Comparable to Metformin - Doctor's Guide, 11/17/00
• FDA Approves Glucophage XR (Metformin) Extended Release Formulation For Type 2 Diabetes - Doctor's Guide, 10/16/00
• FDA Approves Glucovance (Glyburide And Metformin) For Type 2 Diabetes - Doctor's Guide, 8/2/00
• Diabetes Drug, Metformin, May Be Useful In Treating AIDS-Related Syndrome - Doctor's Guide, 7/25/00
• Metformin Safe And Effective For Children With Type 2 Diabetes - Doctor's Guide, 6/12/00
• Avandia (Rosiglitazone) And Glucophage (Metformin) Combo May Slow Type 2 Diabetes Progression - Doctor's Guide, 4/5/00
• Controversy Remains Over Sulfonylurea-Metformin Combination Therapy - Doctor's Guide, 10/1/99
• Doctors Prescribing Metformin Despite Clear Contraindications - Doctor's Guide, 9/30/99
• Glucophage Reduces Deaths In Type II Diabetics, Study Shows - Doctor's Guide, 9/11/98

Abstracts:

• Cancer mortality reduction and metformin. A retrospective cohort study in type 2 diabetic patients - Diabetes Obes Metab. 2011 Aug - "All-cause and cancer-related deaths occurred in: 9.2%, 1.6% of metformin users, 13.1%, 3.0% of sulfonylureas users and 26.8%, 4.8%of insulin users, respectively. In a Cox regression model for competing risks, adjusted for propensity score, metformin users showed a lower cancer mortality risk (HR=0.56;95%CI 0.34-0.94), while insulin was positively associated with other-than-cancer-mortality (HR=1.56; 1.22-1.99). Each 5-year metformin exposure was associated with a reduction in cancer death by 0.73, whereas every 5-year insulin exposure was associated with 1.25-fold increase in other-than-cancer death. Standardized mortality ratios for cancer and other-than-cancer mortality in metformin users were 43.6 (95%CI 25.8-69.0) and 99.1 (79.3-122.5) respectively, in comparison with the general population. Conclusions: Metformin users showed a lower risk of cancer-related mortality than not users or patients on diet only; this may represent another reason to choose metformin as a first-line therapy in T2DP"
• Effects of pioglitazone vs metformin on circulating endothelial microparticles and progenitor cells in patients with newly diagnosed type 2 diabetes - a randomized controlled trial - Diabetes Obes Metab. 2011 Jan 21 - "Participants assigned to pioglitazone gained more weight and experienced greater improvements in some coronary risk measures (HDL-cholesterol, triglycerides, adiponectin, and C-reactive protein) than did those assigned to metformin. Conclusion: Compared with metformin, pioglitazone treatment improved the imbalance between endothelial damage and repair capacity, and led to more favorable changes in coronary risk factors in patients with newly-diagnosed type 2 diabetes"
• Effects of Metformin on Body Weight and Body Composition in Obese Insulin-Resistant Children: A Randomized Clinical Trial - Diabetes. 2011 Jan 12 - "1,000 mg metformin (n = 53) or placebo (n = 47) twice daily for 6 months ...Children prescribed metformin had significantly greater decreases in BMI (difference -1.09 kg/m(2), CI -1.87 to -0.31, P = 0.006), body weight (difference -3.38 kg, CI -5.2 to -1.57, P < 0.001), BMI Z score (difference between metformin and placebo groups -0.07, CI -0.12 to -0.01, P = 0.02), and fat mass (difference -1.40 kg, CI -2.74 to -0.06, P = 0.04). Fasting plasma glucose (P = 0.007) and homeostasis model assessment (HOMA) insulin resistance index (P = 0.006) also improved more in metformin-treated children than in placebo-treated children. Gastrointestinal symptoms were significantly more prevalent in metformin-treated children, which limited maximal tolerated dosage in 17%. During the 6-month open-label phase, children treated previously with placebo decreased their BMI Z score; those treated continuously with metformin did not significantly change BMI Z score further. CONCLUSIONS Metformin had modest but favorable effects on body weight, body composition, and glucose homeostasis in obese insulin-resistant children participating in a low-intensity weight-reduction program" - Note: 3.38 kg equals 7.4 pounds.
• Metformin Treatment Exerts Antiinvasive and Antimetastatic Effects in Human Endometrial Carcinoma Cells - J Clin Endocrinol Metab. 2010 Dec 29 - "In vitro invasion in ECC-1 cells was significantly attenuated by sera from PCOS women after 6 months of metformin treatment (850 mg twice daily) compared to matched controls (P < 0.01). These effects appear to be associated with NF-κB, MMP-2/9, as well as Akt and Erk1/2 pathways that are known to be important regulators of inflammation, tumor invasion and metastasis. Conclusions: Metformin, potentially, may serve as adjuvant treatment in the management of patients with endometrial cancer"
• Metformin and incident breast cancer among diabetic women: a population-based case-control study in Denmark - Cancer Epidemiol Biomarkers Prev. 2010 Nov 30 - "Metformin users were less likely to be diagnosed with breast cancer (OR=0.77; 95% CI=0.61, 0.99) than non-metformin users. Adjusting for diabetes complications, clinically diagnosed obesity, and important predictors of breast cancer did not substantially alter the association (OR=0.81; 95%CI=0.63, 0.96). CONCLUSION: Our results suggest that metformin may protect against breast cancer in type 2 diabetic peri- or postmenopausal women. Impact: This study supports the growing evidence of a role for metformin in breast cancer chemoprevention"
• Effects of pioglitazone and metformin fixed-dose combination therapy on cardiovascular risk markers of inflammation and lipid profile compared with pioglitazone and metformin monotherapy in patients with type 2 diabetes - J Clin Hypertens (Greenwich). 2010 Dec;12(12):973-82 - "fixed-dose combination (FDC) of pioglitazone/metformin compared with the respective monotherapies ... FDC and pioglitazone increased high-density lipoprotein cholesterol by 14.20% and 9.88%, respectively, vs an increase of 6.09% with metformin (P<.05, metformin vs FDC). Triglycerides decreased with all three treatments -5.95%, -5.54% and -1.78%, respectively; P=not significant). FDC and pioglitazone significantly decreased small low-density lipoprotein and increased large low-density lipoprotein particle concentrations. Reductions in high-sensitivity C-reactive protein were greater in the FDC and pioglitazone groups. Increases in adiponectin were significant in the FDC and pioglitazone groups (P<.0001 vs metformin). Overall, adverse events were not higher with the FDC. Thus, treatment with the FDC resulted in improved levels of CV biomarkers, which were better than or equal to monotherapy"
• Metformin inhibits HMGB1 release in LPS-treated RAW 264.7 cells and increases survival rate of endotoxaemic mice - Br J Pharmacol. 2010 Nov 22 - "lipopolysaccharide (LPS)-treated animals and cells ... metformin significantly attenuates the pro-inflammatory response induced by LPS both in vivo and in vitro. Metformin improved survival in a mouse model of lethal endotoxaemia by inhibiting HMGB1 release. AMPK activation was implicated as one of the mechanisms contributing to this inhibition of HMGB1 secretion"
• Metformin Use and Mortality Among Patients With Diabetes and Atherothrombosis - Arch Intern Med. 2010 Nov 22;170(21):1892-1899 - "The mortality rates were 6.3% (95% confidence interval [CI], 5.2%-7.4%) with metformin and 9.8% 8.4%-11.2%) without metformin; the adjusted hazard ratio (HR) was 0.76 (0.65-0.89; P < .001). Association with lower mortality was consistent among subgroups, noticeably in patients with a history of congestive heart failure (HR, 0.69; 95% CI, 0.54-0.90; P = .006), patients older than 65 years (0.77; 0.62-0.95; P = .02), and patients with an estimated creatinine clearance of 30 to 60 mL/min/1.73 m(2) (0.64; 95% CI, 0.48-0.86; P = .003) (to convert creatinine clearance to mL/s/m(2), multiply by 0.0167)"
• Metformin treatment is associated with a low risk of mortality in diabetic patients with heart failure: a retrospective nationwide cohort study - Diabetologia. 2010 Sep 14 - "With sulfonylurea monotherapy used as the reference, adjusted hazard ratios for all-cause mortality associated with the different treatment groups were as follows: metformin 0.85 (95% CI 0.75-0.98, p = 0.02), metformin + sulfonylurea 0.89 (95% CI 0.82-0.96, p = 0.003), metformin + insulin 0.96 (95% CI 0.82-1.13, p = 0.6), metformin + insulin + sulfonylurea 0.94 (95% CI 0.77-1.15, p = 0.5), sulfonylurea + insulin 0.97 (95% CI 0.86-1.08, p = 0.5) and insulin 1.14 (95% CI 1.06-1.20, p = 0.0001)"
• Metformin is associated with improved left ventricular diastolic function measured by tissue Doppler imaging in patients with diabetes - Eur J Endocrinol. 2010 Aug 2 - "use of metformin was associated with a shorter IVRT (parameter estimate -9.9 ms, p=0.049), and higher e' (parameter estimate +0.52 cm/s, p=0.03), compared to no use of metformin. The effects of metformin were not altered by concomitant use of sulfonylureas or insulin (p for interactions >0.4). Conclusions: Use of metformin is associated with improved left ventricular relaxation, as compared with no use of metformin"
• Long-term metformin use is associated with decreased risk of breast cancer - Diabetes Care. 2010 Mar 18 - "The mean age was 67.5 (+/-std 10.5) years at the time of the cancer diagnosis. Long-term use of 40+ prescriptions (>5 years) of metformin, based on 17 exposed cases and 120 exposed controls, was associated with an adjusted OR of 0.44 (95% CI 0.24-0.82) for developing breast cancer, as compared to no use of metformin"
• Effects of metformin with or without supplementation with folate on homocysteine levels and vascular endothelium of women with polycystic ovary syndrome - Diabetes Care. 2009 Nov 23 - "Metformin exerts a slight but significant deleterious effect on serum Hcy levels in patients with PCOS, and supplementation with folate is useful to increase the beneficial effect of metformin on the vascular endothelium"
• Metformin associated with lower cancer mortality in type 2 diabetes (ZODIAC-16) - Diabetes Care. 2009 Nov 16 - "Median follow-up time was 9.6 years, average age at baseline was 68 years, and average HbA1c was 7.5%. Five hundred seventy patients died, of which 122 from malignancies. SMR for cancer mortality was 1.47 (95%CI 1.22-1.76). In patients taking metformin compared to patients not taking metformin at baseline, the adjusted hazard ratio (HR) for cancer mortality was 0.43 (95%CI 0.23-0.80), and the HR with every increase of 1 gram of metformin was 0.58 (95%CI 0.36-0.93) ... In general, patients with type 2 diabetes are at increased risk for cancer mortality. In our group, metformin use was associated with lower cancer mortality when compared to non-metformin use. Although the design cannot be conclusive about causality, our results suggest a protective effect of metformin on cancer mortality"
• Many Americans Have Prediabetes and Should Be Considered for Metformin Therapy - Diabetes Care. 2009 Oct 6 - "Criteria for consideration of metformin included the presence of both IFG and IGT, with >/=1 additional diabetes risk factor: age <60 years, BMI >/=35 kg/m(2), family history of diabetes, elevated triglycerides, reduced HDL-cholesterol, hypertension, or A1c >6.0% ... To the extent that our findings are representative of the U.S. population, approximately 1 in 12 adults has a combination of prediabetes and risk factors which may justify consideration of metformin treatment for diabetes prevention"
• Metformin use and prostate cancer in Caucasian men: results from a population-based case-control study - Cancer Causes Control. 2009 Aug 4 - "In Caucasian men, metformin use was more common in controls than in cases (4.7 vs. 2.8%, p = 0.04), resulting in a 44% risk reduction for PCa (adjusted OR = 0.56; 95% CI 0.32-1.00). No association was seen in African-American men"
• Effect of adjunct metformin treatment on levels of plasma lipids in patients with type 1 diabetes - Diabetes Obes Metab. 2009 Jun 25 - "After 1 year, in those patients who did not start or stop statin therapy during the trial, metformin treatment significantly reduced total and LDL cholesterol by approximately 0.3 mmol/l compared with placebo (p = 0.021 and p = 0.018 respectively). Adjustment for statin use or known cardiovascular disease did not change conclusions. In statin users (metformin: n = 22, placebo: n = 13), metformin significantly lowered levels of LDL and non-HDL cholesterol by approximately 0.5 mmol/l compared with placebo"
• New users of metformin are at low risk of incident cancer: A cohort study among people with type 2 diabetes - Diabetes Care. 2009 Jun 29 - "Activation of AMPK can suppress tumour formation and inhibit cell growth, in addition to lowering blood glucose levels. We tested the hypothesis that metformin reduces the risk of cancer in people with type 2 diabetes ... Cancer was diagnosed among 7.3% of 4,085 metformin users compared with 11.6% of 4,085 comparators, with median times to cancer of 3.5 years and 2.6 years respectively (p < 0.001). The unadjusted hazard ratio for cancer was 0.46 (0.40-0.53). After adjusting for sex, age, BMI, HbA1c, deprivation, smoking and other drug use, there was still a significantly reduced risk of cancer associated with metformin: 0.63 (0.53-0.75)"
• Metformin restores impaired HDL-mediated cholesterol efflux due to glycation - Atherosclerosis. 2009 Mar 19 - "In the presence of metformin or aminoguanidine (100mM), glycated HDL-mediated cholesterol efflux was restored to 97.5+/-4.3% and 96.9+/-3.1%, respectively"
• Pioglitazone Improves Cardiac Function and Alters Myocardial Substrate Metabolism Without Affecting Cardiac Triglyceride Accumulation and High-Energy Phosphate Metabolism in Patients With Well-Controlled Type 2 Diabetes Mellitus - Circulation. 2009 Apr 6 - "were assigned to pioglitazone (30 mg/d) or metformin (2000 mg/d) and matching placebo for 24 weeks ... No patient developed heart failure. Both therapies similarly improved glycemic control, whole-body insulin sensitivity, and blood pressure. Pioglitazone versus metformin improved the early peak flow rate (P=0.047) and left ventricular compliance. Pioglitazone versus metformin increased myocardial glucose uptake (P<0.001), but pioglitazone-related diastolic improvement was not associated with changes in myocardial substrate metabolism. Metformin did not affect myocardial function but decreased cardiac work relative to pioglitazone (P=0.006), a change that was paralleled by a reduced myocardial glucose uptake and fatty acid oxidation. Neither treatment affected cardiac high-energy phosphate metabolism or triglyceride content. Only pioglitazone reduced hepatic triglyceride content" - I still take pioglitazone even though I don't have diabetes because I feel that higher glucose levels are a major cause of aging.  There doesn't seem to be any evidence that it has the heart rises that rosiglitazone has.  See Pioglitazone at OffshoreRx1.com.
• Efficacy and safety of therapy with metformin plus pioglitazone in the treatment of patients with type 2 diabetes: a double-blind, placebo-controlled, clinical trial - Curr Med Res Opin. 2009 Mar 23 - "Mean HbA(1c) was reduced by 0.67% in patients receiving pioglitazone plus metformin versus an increase of 0.25% in those receiving metformin alone (p < 0.0001). After 8 weeks' treatment and until the end of the study, HbA(1c) was significantly lower with pioglitazone plus metformin and more patients in this group achieved an HbA(1c) < 6.5% (38.6% vs. 8.1%; p < 0.0001). FBG was also reduced by a significantly greater amount in patients receiving pioglitazone plus metformin compared with metformin monotherapy (-20.5 vs. 1.9 mg/dl; p < 0.0001). Combination therapy was associated with significantly increased HDL-cholesterol, total cholesterol, and adiponectin, and significantly decreased levels of fasting insulin, free fatty acids, and homeostasis model assessment insulin resistance (HOMA-R) compared with metformin monotherapy" - See pioglitazone at OffshoreRx1.com.
• Treatment of white coat hypertension with metformin - Int Heart J. 2008 Nov;49(6):671-9 - "White coat hypertension (WCH) is most likely a disorder associated with metabolic syndrome ... Twenty-five cases (14.7%) stopped metformin therapy due to excessive anorexia. At the end of a 6-month period, there were highly significant differences between the two groups with respect to the prevalences of resolved WCH, hyperbetalipoproteinemia, hypertriglyceridemia, dyslipidemia, overweight and obesity, and decreased fasting plasma glucose below 110 mg/dL ... Thus, the management of WCH should not focus solely on the regulation of blood pressure with antihypertensive medications, but rather on the prevention of future excess weight and various associated disorders, and metformin alone is an effective therapeutic option, most likely due to its powerful inhibitory effect on appetite"
• Effect of Metformin-Containing Antidiabetic Regimens on All-cause Mortality in Veterans With Type 2 Diabetes Mellitus - Am J Med Sci. 2008 Sep;336(3):241-7 - "Treatment of T2DM with regimens containing metformin alone or in combination with other hypoglycemic agents was associated with reduced all-cause mortality compared with regimens without metformin"
• The effects of 8 months of metformin on circulating GGT and ALT levels in obese women with polycystic ovarian syndrome - Int J Clin Pract. 2008 Jun 19 - "treated with metformin 1500 or 2550 mg/day for 8 months ... Mean weight, serum ALT and GGT decreased from 100.3 to 96.6 kg (p < 0.0001), 29.7 to 25.8 U/l (p = 0.012) and 21.4 to 16.9 U/l (p < 0.0001) respectively ... In women with baseline ALT > 29.7 U/l (median), ALT reduction was highly significant (p = 0.005); however in those with baseline ALT < 29.7 U/l, ALT did not change despite similar weight reduction. There was no difference in reductions in ALT and GGT when the two metformin doses were compared"
• Role of Metformin for Weight Management in Patients Without Type 2 Diabetes (June) - Ann Pharmacother. 2008 May 13 - "The weight loss effects of metformin in overweight or obese adults and adolescents without diabetes appear promising; however, trials have been limited by small patient populations and weak design. Metformin may also have a positive effect on metabolic parameters such as waist circumference, fasting insulin and glucose levels, and triglycerides" - See metformin at at OffshoreRx1.com.
• Metformin improves polycystic ovary syndrome symptoms irrespective of pre-treatment insulin resistance - Eur J Endocrinol. 2007 Nov;157(5):669-76 - "In the overweight and obese PCOS groups, metformin also showed the expected beneficial effects ... Metformin improves parameters of IR, hyperandrogenemia, anovulation, and acne in PCOS irrespective of pre-treatment IR or obesity"
• Decreased in vivo oxidative stress and decreased platelet activation following metformin treatment in newly diagnosed type 2 diabetic subjects - Diabetes Metab Res Rev. 2007 Oct 30 - "These data suggest that metformin could improve oxidative stress, preserve antioxidant function and restrain platelet activation in type 2 diabetes"
• Liver dysfunction in paediatric obesity: a randomized, controlled trial of metformin - Acta Paediatr. 2007 Sep;96(9):1326-32 - "In obese adolescents fed ad libitum, metformin (a) prevented the rise in ALT concentrations that were observed in placebo-treated subjects at the 3 to 5 month time-points (p < 0.05); (b) reduced (p < 0.01) the percentage of all ALT values exceeding 40 U/L; and (c) caused a modest (10%) but statistically significant (p < 0.05) reduction in serum ALT in Caucasian subjects. Metformin had no effect on ALT levels or the ALT to AST ratio in the five African American adolescents enrolled in the study ... metformin might reduce the rates or severity of liver dysfunction in selected high-risk adolescents"
• Metformin as an adjunctive treatment to control body weight and metabolic dysfunction during olanzapine administration: A multicentric, double-blind, placebo-controlled trial - Schizophr Res. 2007 Jul;93(1-3):99-108 - "Metformin may safely assist olanzapine-treated patients in body weight and carbohydrate metabolism control"
• Comparison of the effects of pioglitazone and metformin on insulin resistance and hormonal markers in patients with impaired glucose tolerance and early diabetes - Hypertens Res. 2007 Jan;30(1):23-30 - "pioglitazone was superior to metformin for the improvement of insulin resistance and adiponectin ... Early intervention with pioglitazone or metformin therapy may reduce the incidence of future cardiovascular disease in subjects with impaired glucose tolerance or early diabetes"
• Treating the metabolic syndrome - Expert Rev Cardiovasc Ther. 2007 May;5(3):491-506 - "appropriate treatment of MS components often requires pharmacologic intervention with insulin-sensitizing agents, such as metformin and thiazolidinediones, while statins and fibrates, or angiotensin-converting enzyme inhibitors and angiotensin II receptor blockers are the first-line lipid-modifying or antihypertensive drugs"
• Rosiglitazone is more effective than metformin in improving fasting indexes of glucose metabolism in severely obese, non-diabetic patients - Diabetes Obes Metab. 2007 Mar 29 - "Our study shows that in severely obese, non-diabetic, hyperinsulinaemic patients undergoing a nutritional programme, rosiglitazone is more effective than metformin in producing favourable changes in fasting-based indexes of glucose metabolism, with a reduction of both insulin resistance and hyperinsulinaemia. In spite of previous studies reporting rosiglitazone-induced body weight gain, in our study the joint treatment with diet and rosiglitazone was accompanied by weight loss and fat mass reduction"
• Effects of metformin or rosiglitazone on serum concentrations of homocysteine, folate, and vitamin B(12) in patients with type 2 diabetes mellitus - J Diabetes Complications. 2007 Mar-Apr;21(2):118-23 - "In patients with type 2 diabetes, metformin reduces levels of folate and vitamin B(12) and increases Hcy. Conversely, rosiglitazone decreases Hcy levels in this time period"
• A randomized trial of the effects of rosiglitazone and metformin on inflammation and subclinical atherosclerosis in patients with type 2 diabetes - Am Heart J. 2007 Mar;153(3):445.e1-6 - "Metformin and rosiglitazone treatment led to similar significant improvements in glycemic control (HbA(1c) -1.08% in the rosiglitazone group and -1.18% in the metformin group, P = nonsignificant). High-sensitivity C-reactive protein levels decreased by an average of 68% in the rosiglitazone group (5.99 +/- 0.88 to 1.91 +/- 0.28 mg/L, P < .001), compared with a nonsignificant 4% reduction in hsCRP with metformin"
• Effects of rosiglitazone and metformin on inflammatory markers and adipokines: decrease in interleukin-18 is an independent factor for the improvement of homeostasis model assessment-beta in type 2 diabetes mellitus - Clin Endocrinol (Oxf). 2007 Feb;66(2):282-9 - "Rosiglitazone, but not metformin, improved the plasma concentrations of inflammatory markers and adipokines in patients with type 2 diabetes mellitus"
• Glycemic Durability of Rosiglitazone, Metformin, or Glyburide Monotherapy - N Engl J Med. 2006 Dec 4- "Kaplan-Meier analysis showed a cumulative incidence of monotherapy failure at 5 years of 15% with rosiglitazone, 21% with metformin, and 34% with glyburide. This represents a risk reduction of 32% for rosiglitazone, as compared with metformin, and 63%, as compared with glyburide (P<0.001 for both comparisons). The difference in the durability of the treatment effect was greater between rosiglitazone and glyburide than between rosiglitazone and metformin. Glyburide was associated with a lower risk of cardiovascular events (including congestive heart failure) than was rosiglitazone (P<0.05), and the risk associated with metformin was similar to that with rosiglitazone. Rosiglitazone was associated with more weight gain and edema than either metformin or glyburide but with fewer gastrointestinal events than metformin and with less hypoglycemia than glyburide"
• Effects of rosiglitazone and pioglitazone combined with metformin on the prothrombotic state of patients with type 2 diabetes mellitus and metabolic syndrome - J Int Med Res. 2006 Sep-Oct;34(5):545-55 - "In patients with type 2 diabetes mellitus and metabolic syndrome, the combination of metformin plus thiazolidinediones improved glycaemic control and produced a slight but significant reduction in plasminogen activator inhibitor-1 levels"
• An open-label pilot study of the combination therapy of metformin and fluoxetine for weight reduction  - Int J Obes (Lond). 2006 Sep 12 - "In a 6.68-month period, a 7.89 kg decrease in weight (9.32%) and a 3.43 U decrease in BMI (10.14%) were observed in participants of the case group that was statistically significant"
• Improvement in glycaemic control with rosiglitazone/metformin fixed-dose combination therapy in patients with type 2 diabetes with very poor glycaemic control - Diabetes Obes Metab. 2006 Nov;8(6):643-649 - "Unless tolerability issues arose, eligible patients initiated RSG/MET 4 mg/1000 mg fixed-dose combination therapy and were up-titrated in increments of 2 mg/500 mg at 4-week intervals to a daily dose of 8 mg/2000 mg or the maximum tolerated dose ... At week 24, clinically significant mean reduction in A1c from 11.8 to 7.8% (mean reduction, 4.0 +/- 2.2%; p < 0.0001) and mean FPG reduction from 16.9 to 9.2 mmol/l (mean reduction, 7.7 +/- 4.4 mmol/l; p < 0.0001) were observed"
• Risk factors of vitamin B12 deficiency in patients receiving metformin - Arch Intern Med. 2006 Oct 9;166(18):1975-9 - "Each 1-g/d metformin dose increment conferred an odds ratio of 2.88 (95% confidence interval, 2.15-3.87) for developing vitamin B(12) deficiency" - See iHerb or Vitacost Vitamin B12 products.
• Adherence to Preventive Medications: Predictors and outcomes in the Diabetes Prevention Program - Diabetes Care. 2006 Sep;29(9):1997-2002 - "There was a 38.2% risk reduction for developing diabetes for those adherent to metformin compared with those adherent to placebo" - See metformin at OffshoreRx1.comor SuperSaverMeds.com (Glucophage).
• Metformin improves endothelial vascular reactivity in first-degree relatives of type 2 diabetic patients with metabolic syndrome and normal glucose tolerance - Diabetes Care. 2006 May;29(5):1083-9 - "The metformin group had decreased weight, BMI, systolic blood pressure, and FPG and improved lipid profile. Endothelium-dependent FBF responses were also improved, without any effect on endothelium-independent responses"
• Currently listed contraindications to the use of metformin - more harmful than beneficial? - Dtsch Med Wochenschr. 2006 Jan 20;131(3):105-10 - "As the incidence of lactic acidosis in patients with type 2 diabetes is the same with or without metformin therapy (about 9 per 100000 patient years) there is no evidence that metformin therapy is associated with an increased risk of lactic acidosis ... The two groups did not differ with regard to progression of renal failure, patient-oriented endpoints or overall mortality ... On the basis of the current data, advanced age per se, mild renal impairment and stable heart failure can no longer be upheld as contraindications to the use of metformin"
• Metformin revisited: re-evaluation of its properties and role in the pharmacopoeia of modern antidiabetic agents - Diabetes Obes Metab. 2005 Nov;7(6):654-65 - "Metformin acts by increasing tissue sensitivity to insulin, principally in the liver. Beneficial properties of metformin include weight reduction, favourable effects on the lipid profile and the fibrinolytic pathway, and improvement of ovarian function in some insulin-resistant women. It does not cause hyperinsulinaemia or hypoglycaemia" - See Glucophage at SuperSaverMeds.com or OffshoreRx1.com.
• Metformin decelerates aging and development of mammary tumors in HER-2/neu transgenic mice - Bull Exp Biol Med. 2005 Jun;139(6):721-3 - "Mean life span of mice increased by 8% (p<0.05), in 10% long-living mice it was prolonged by 13.1%, and the maximum life span was prolonged by 1 month under the effect of metformin in comparison with the control. The rate of populational aging decreased by 2.26 times ... Hence, we first demonstrated a geroprotective effect of metformin and its suppressive effect towards the development of mammary tumors"
• The impact of antidiabetic therapies on cardiovascular disease - Curr Atheroscler Rep. 2005 Feb;7(1):50-7 - "Metformin is the only oral antidiabetic medication shown to decrease cardiovascular events independent of glycemic control. Thiazolidinediones improve insulin resistance and lower insulin concentrations, which is beneficial because hyperinsulinemia is an independent predictor of cardiovascular disease"
• Metformin and weight loss in obese women with polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS): comparison of doses - J Clin Endocrinol Metab. 2005 May 10 - "the Ob sub-group showed a dose relationship (1.5 Kg [3.3 lbs] and 3.6 Kg [7.9 lbs] in 1500 mg and 2550 mg groups respectively ... Suppression of androstenedione was significant with both metformin doses" - See metformin at The Antiaging Store.
• Intensive Lifestyle Intervention or Metformin on Inflammation and Coagulation in Participants With Impaired Glucose Tolerance - Diabetes. 2005 May;54(5):1566-1572 - "In men, the median changes in CRP from baseline to 1 year were -33% in the lifestyle group, -7% in the metformin group, and +5% in the placebo group. In women, the changes in CRP from baseline to follow-up were -29% in the lifestyle group, -14% in the metformin group, and 0% in the placebo group"
• Administration of B-group vitamins reduces circulating homocysteine in polycystic ovarian syndrome patients treated with metformin: a randomized trial - Hum Reprod. 2005 Mar 24 - "These findings suggest that B-group vitamins and folic acid administration counteract the Hcy-increasing effect seen with metformin therapy"
• Effects of metformin on the body composition in subjects with risk factors for type 2 diabetes - Diabetes Obes Metab. 2005 Mar;7(2):189-92 - "In the metformin group, there was a decrease in fat weight from 25.9 +/- 9.4 to 20.8 +/- 9.2 kg, p < 0.01, an increase in lean weight from 57.05 +/- 13.6 to 61.9 +/- 16.5 kg, p < 0.01, an increase in basal metabolism from 1735 +/- 413 to 1878 +/- 505 calories/day, p < 0.05 and an increase in body water" - See metformin at IAS or OffshoreRx1.com.  Note:  That's a 19.7% decrease in fat (25.9-20.8)/25.9 = 19.7%, a 8.5% increase in lean weight (61.9-57.05)/57.05 = 8.5% and a 8.2% increase in basal metabolism (1878-1735)/1735 = 8.2%. - Ben
• Metformin or gliclazide, rather than glibenclamide, attenuate progression of carotid intima-media thickness in subjects with type 2 diabetes - Diabetologia. 2004 Nov 24 - "These data indicate that metformin or gliclazide, rather than glibenclamide, have a potent anti-atherogenic effect in type 2 diabetes"
• Metformin: drug of choice for the prevention of type 2 diabetes and cardiovascular complications in high-risk subjects - Diabetes Metab. 2003 Sep;29(4):121-2 - "Metformin is unique in being not only as effective as any other oral antidiabetic therapy in controlling blood glucose, but also having an unparalleled clinical database relating to improved clinical outcomes in pre-diabetic subjects, and patients with established type 2 diabetes"
• Potential contribution of metformin to the management of cardiovascular disease risk in patients with abdominal obesity, the metabolic syndrome and type 2 diabetes - Diabetes Metab. 2003 Sep;29(4):53-61 - "metformin has been shown to not only contribute to a better glycaemic control but also to induce some weight loss (especially in the visceral depot) which may contribute to the improvement of the features of the metabolic syndrome. Thus, metformin treatment may represent a relevant element of an integrated lifestyle modification-pharmacotherapy to prevent not only type 2 diabetes but also cardiovascular disease"
• Do effects on blood pressure contribute to improved clinical outcomes with metformin? - Diabetes Metab. 2003 Sep;29(4):62-70 - "Metformin improves insulin sensitivity in liver and muscle as its primary antihyperglycaemic mechanism of action, and intensive glycaemic management with metformin significantly reduced the risk of macrovascular diabetic complications in the UK Prospective Diabetes Study. The clinical outcome benefits in the metformin group included a significant reduction in the risk of stroke (- 41% vs + 14% with sulphonylurea or insulin treatment, p=0.032) ... metformin significantly improved endothelial function, a key regulator of vascular tone and blood pressure, in type 2 diabetic patients"
• The potential of metformin for diabetes prevention - Diabetes Metab. 2003 Sep;29(4):104-11 - "Treatment with metformin significantly reduced the incidence of diabetes in subjects with IGT and high-normal fasting plasma glucose in the DPP. Moreover, metformin was well tolerated, and health economic analyses suggest that metformin treatment is cost-effective in the US and Europe ... The results of the DPP identify metformin as an effective option for the prevention of diabetes in subjects with IGT and impaired fasting glucose"
• Beneficial effects of metformin on haemostasis and vascular function in man - Diabetes Metab. 2003 Sep;29(4):44-52 - "Metformin is a biguanide compound which is antihyperglycaemic, reduces insulin resistance and has cardioprotective effects on lipids, thrombosis and blood flow. Metformin has a weight neutral/weight lowering effect and reduces hypertriglyceridaemia, elevated levels of PAI-1, factor VII and C-reactive protein. In addition recent studies indicate that metformin has direct effects on fibrin structure/function and stabilises platelets, two important components of arterial thrombus. The United Kingdom Prospective Diabetes Study (UKPDS) reported that metformin was associated with a 32% reduction in any diabetes related endpoint (p<0.002), a 39% reduction in myocardial infarction (p<0.01) and a non-significant 29% fall in microvascular complications. The figures for macrovascular complications compare favourably for those described for other cardioprotective agents such as ACE inhibitors and statins. These findings confirm metformin as first line therapy in the management of obese insulin resistant type 2 diabetes and in the prevention of the vascular complications of this common condition"
• Effect of metformin on insulin sensitivity and insulin secretion in female obese patients with normal glucose tolerance - Diabetes Metab 2003 Apr;29(2 Pt 1):125
• Effect of metformin and sulfonylurea on C-reactive protein level in well-controlled type 2 diabetics with metabolic syndrome - Endocrine 2003 Apr;20(3):215-8 - "CRP level was significantly lower in patients using metformin for blood glucose control compared with those using glibenclamide, 5.56 and 8.3 mg/L, respectively ... The data showed that metformin decreases the level of circulating CRP, a marker of inflammation, more than glibenclamide"
• What to Do About the Metabolic Syndrome? - Archives of Internal Medicine, 2/24/03 - "Substantial data are accumulating to suggest that lifestyle modification aimed at producing weight loss is an effective treatment for overweight or obese individuals with the metabolic syndrome ... Some physicians prescribe metformin because it can be associated with weight reduction and seems to counteract insulin resistance. However, metformin is not approved by the Food and Drug Administration as a weight loss drug ... Some might consider the use of weight loss drugs in patients with metabolic syndrome"
• Metformin-Associated Vitamin B12 Deficiency - Archives of Internal Medicine, 10/28/02
• Evaluation of the safety and efficacy of sibutramine, orlistat and metformin in the treatment of obesity - Diabetes Obes Metab. 2002 Jan;4(1):49-55 - "sibutramine, orlistat and metformin are all effective and safe medications that reduce cardiovascular risk and can decrease the risk of type 2 diabetes mellitus in obese females. Overall, treatment with 10mg sibutramine bid is more effective than orlistat or metformin therapy in terms of weight reduction"