Metformin
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Metformin, a drug used to lower blood sugar in type 2 diabetes, may reduce the risk of dementia in old age. This was found by Australian scientists: among participants in their study with diabetes, dementia was diagnosed five times less often than those who took metformin. The association was not influenced by undesirable variables (including the genotype associated with an additional risk of developing dementia), but more research is needed to draw accurate conclusions and understand the mechanism. write scientists in the journal Diabetes Care.
Type 2 diabetes is common bind with an accelerated process of neurodegeneration: Research shows that people with this disease are at higher risk of developing Alzheimer’s disease and dementia outside of it. In particular, the risk of developing vascular dementia is high – it is directly related to dysfunction of cerebral blood flow.
Patients with type 2 diabetes, therefore, are at a special risk group – and it is better for them to start prevention of neurodegeneration as early as possible. One of the most popular blood sugar lowering drugs can help with this – metformin: in addition to its main function, it (in combination with drugs for pressure) possesses anti-cancer effect, as well restores stem cells in the brain (although this particular action is weakened by testosterone).
At the same time, there is still insufficient data to confirm the benefits of metformin in the prevention of dementia (especially in the population). Katherine Samaras of the University of New South Wales and her colleagues decided to complement the existing data with results from a multi-year research Memory and Aging, which has been taking place in Sydney since 2005: 1,037 people aged 70 to 90 are taking part in it.
Participants, none of whom had dementia or other diagnosed neurodegenerative diseases at the start of the study, were interviewed and evaluated every two years; in addition, each of them underwent tests to assess the rate of cognitive decline. For each of the participants, data were available on gender, age, body mass index, chronic diseases (for example, heart and vascular problems), smoking, alcohol consumption and the presence of a gene variant APOE, which the bound with an increased risk of developing dementia.
Of all the participants, 123 people were diagnosed with diabetes at the initial stage of the study: just over half (67 participants) of them took metformin. In participants with diabetes who did not take metformin, dementia was diagnosed significantly (about five times) more often (p = 0.05) during the entire observation period than in those who took the drug; also patients taking metformin performed better on cognitive tests. This relationship was not explained by the side variables – sex, age, genotype, and aspects of the participants’ lifestyle and health.
The authors therefore showed that metformin may actually reduce the risk of dementia in elderly diabetic patients. In the near future, they are also going to begin a long-term randomized study, with the help of which the relationship can be established more accurately (and, possibly, its causality as well).
In addition, it remains unclear exactly how metformin helps maintain mental clarity. It may be due to the regenerative effect on cells: research showthat the drug activates progenitor cells, which may help restore brain function.
Last year, using metformin and hormonal drugs, scientists succeeded improve the functioning of the thymus (the organ that is responsible for the production and functioning of T-lymphocytes), and with this – for the first time to reduce the biological age of a person.
Elizaveta Ivtushok
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