Still wonders from metformin, beyond its diabetes cure properties and ability repair the brain from neurological damage.
A new study has shown that metformin is effective in reducing different forms of obesity in children and adolescents.
The results of the research and related meta-analysis have been published in Childhood Obesity, a peer-reviewed journal. Here is the article, which I read is free until March 18, 2020.
The article is called "Metformin therapy reduces obesity rates in children and adolescents: a systematic review and meta-analysis of randomized clinical trials."
The study is the result of a virtuous collaboration (finally!) Between Iran and the USA. Nice to see when science overcomes the bellicose quarrels of politics.
The main author is Alireza Milajerdi, Tehran University of Medical Sciences. Colleagues from the University of Utah (Salt Lake City) worked with him.
The researchers looked for randomized clinical trials in the medical literature examining the effects of metformin use on forms of obesity in children and adolescents.
They found significant reductions in body mass index (BMI), body weight, waist circumference and fat mass, but not in lean body mass.
“Metformin has been a staple in the treatment of diabetes. Some were concerned that this drug can also reduce body fat. ", he claims Tom Baranowski, of Baylor College of Medicine, Houston.
“Alereza and colleagues found 38 articles that tested this relationship between children and adolescents. Their important findings need to be explored in further research, particularly because metformin did not affect adiposity in some groups. These findings could be a first step in establishing the clinical use of metformin for weight management in children. "
Metformin, for many but not all
The (indeed still mysterious) circumstance that metformin does not act on all types of obesity does not surprise me. It is the first "selective" substance I came across. Its beneficial neurological effects are also, curiously, active only on women and children.
