<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Metformin" rel="nofollow">https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Metformin</a>:<p>> It works by decreasing glucose production in the liver, increasing the insulin sensitivity of body tissues, and increasing GDF15 secretion, which <i>reduces appetite and caloric intake.</i><p>Emphasis mine. So, looks like the actual aging deceleration is just the cliche, that it's healthy to not be overweight?
Interesting work. There are also clinical trials, recent and ongoing, looking at the effects of metformin on aging in humans, too, including the TAME trial[0].<p>[0]: <a href="https://www.afar.org/tame-trial" rel="nofollow">https://www.afar.org/tame-trial</a>
If I am diagnosed with type II diabetes is it worth choosing metformin over other options (other considerations being the same for the different choices)?
It's so frustrating to get seemingly contradictory results across species with the same treatment. The Interventions Testing Program found no increase in median or maximum lifespan in mice, male or female, treated with metformin (though it did in combination with rapamycin) [0].<p>I realize "decelarating the aging clock" might be subtly different than increasing lifespan, but it's a reasonable enough comparison, imho. Hopefully we can soon capitalize on improvements in AI to faithfully model human biology in silico, and conduct experiments that way.<p>[0] <a href="https://www.nia.nih.gov/research/dab/interventions-testing-program-itp/supported-interventions" rel="nofollow">https://www.nia.nih.gov/research/dab/interventions-testing-p...</a>
This study shows the combination of Metformin and Everolimus( Rapymyacin) is more effective at cancer than either alone. More research is needed.
<a href="https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7464161/" rel="nofollow">https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7464161/</a>
I have NET cancer and am taking Everoliumus. I am thinking about recruiting other NET cancer patients to do an informal test of Metformin and Everolimus( Rapymyacin). Is there any structure or web site or other tools to help us with this?
Interesting, Metformin is mostly commonly used to help treat high sugar levels in diabetics. I'm curious if this is the same mechanism or if its a novel mechanism.<p>There's data to suggest that too much sugar can cause all kinds of problems to the brain, increasing oxidative stress is one of them.<p>Maybe the answer we're all looking for is to cut sugar from our diets.
><a href="https://www.frontiersin.org/journals/endocrinology/articles/10.3389/fendo.2021.718942/full" rel="nofollow">https://www.frontiersin.org/journals/endocrinology/articles/...</a><p>Data is controversial. It's not "not enough" data or anything like that either.
I haven't read the CELL paper yet (would love to, if somebody has a PDF to share).<p>But I'm surprised I yet haven't seen a mention of Dr. Michael Greger's book [1] <i>How Not to Die</i>, which does an excellent job of elaborating how various diseases -- including cardiovascular diseases, diabetes, etc -- result in death.<p>I found it immensely helpful in plugging a lot of holes in my understanding of my own health (FWIW: 40s, no chronic diseases, but tendency towards high(er) A1C, cholesterol)<p>He has subsequently released other books -- How Not To Age, How Not to Diet, etc -- which one might call as capitalizing on the trend, not to put too fine a point on it. [However, I do find his books, videos and discussions quite informative, and not too technical, without going into the hyper-masculine, pseudo-science-y word salad territory waded into by, say, Huberman.]<p>There's a brief video [2] on side effects of metformin as a life extension drug, which seems relevant to the CELL paper above.<p>[1] <a href="https://nutritionfacts.org/book/how-not-to-die/" rel="nofollow">https://nutritionfacts.org/book/how-not-to-die/</a>
[2] <a href="https://nutritionfacts.org/video/side-effects-of-metformin-as-a-life-extension-drug/" rel="nofollow">https://nutritionfacts.org/video/side-effects-of-metformin-a...</a>
My wife did geriatric care when she was a student doctor. When I told her about this article she said and I quote: "I've met loads of old people on metformin, its not done anything for them"
So if Metformin is used to treat high blood sugar levels, would we get the same cognitive benefits by just consuming less sugar?<p>Can't see the full paper to see if they compared the results of metformin vs a low-sugar diet.<p>EDIT: Already brought up and discussed here <a href="https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=41522931#41523725">https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=41522931#41523725</a>
(Genuine Q): Why are people - or even just HN readers - really so interested in living longer?<p>Both my father and my father-in-law have dementia.<p>My father's dementia is fairly advanced (he doesn't know who I am and hasn't for a while, there are times where he doesn't know who my mother is) although he's still living at home.<p>My father-in-law's dementia is less advanced although he's much more frail as he was diagnosed with bladder cancer, had it removed, so has ended up with the whole tubes+bags "solution".<p>My OH and I were discussing this for the Nth time last week.<p>Apologies for being blunt, but our current perspective is this: try make your life count, and hope for it to end cleanly. Via Dignitas, if necessary.<p>There is no way I want to see out my final years in the way that my father or my father-in-law are doing now :(
Not going to lie, I really hate all the recent coverage on Metformin becoming a “miracle pill” - as I’ve been on Metformin for almost 10 years now without issue.<p>I really hope my prescription costs and access to Metformin is not ruined by everyone’s quest to out live their children