A new study suggests that the type 2 diabetes drug metformin can effectively delay aging and increase life span after performing tests on mice.
Rafael de Cabo, lead author of the study and a senior investigator at the National Institute on Aging, together with his team of researchers, made use of mice in the experiment. Those mice were on a controlled diet for their whole life, very unlikely with humans.
The study shows that those fed with metformin, lived about five percent longer than those that were not fed. They were also more probable to be physically fit in their old age and less likely to develop cataracts than those not on the drug.
The metformin treatment appeared to imitate some of the effects of caloric restriction, such as plummeting cholesterol levels, and escalating expression of certain genes, the researchers said.
Caloric restriction is a dietary routine in which the calorie consumption is being reduced to as low as 20 percent, and has been shown in animal studies to increase life span. But in the new study, mice on metformin were not put on a limiting diet but were made to take in more calories than those not on metformin.
The study suggests a possible way to obtain the benefits of caloric restriction without food deprivation.
Still, it's too soon to know whether the results are applicable to humans, yet. First, the mice that lived longer had 10 times higher levels of metformin in the blood than seen in humans taking the drug, the researchers said. Second, the drug is toxic causing kidney failure, causing shortened life for the mice placed on higher dosage of metformin.. Mice were also on a controlled diet for their whole life, very unlikely with humans.
The researchers admitted that future studies are needed to determine if metformin taken at safe doses can have benefits for people who don't have diabetes.
The study was published in the July 30 issue of the journal Nature Communications.
