A CHEAP medicine taken by millions of people to control diabetes could do more than lower blood sugar.
Metformin, which costs 10p per tablet and is already being used by the NHS, could help protect against blood cancer.
Danish scientists found that diabetics taking the drug were less likely to develop myeloproliferative neoplasms (MNP), a rare type of cancer that starts in the bone marrow.
MNP may also increase your risk of stroke, heart attack, and organ damage.
Metformin has anti-inflammatory effects, which have been found to protect against common age-related diseases, including heart disease and cognitive decline.
Daniel Tuyet Kirstensen, a PhD student at Aalborg University Hospital, said: “We were surprised by the magnitude of the association we saw in the data.
“We saw the strongest effect in people who took metformin for more than five years, compared to [with] those who underwent treatment less than a year ago.”
Blood cancer is the fifth most common type of cancer in the UK, with more than 41,000 people being diagnosed with it every year.
One in 16 men and one in 22 women will develop the disease at some point.
REDUCES THE CHANCE OF ILLNESS BY 45%
Previous research has found that the drug can reduce the risk of breast, colon and prostate cancer in people with diabetes.
The latest research, published in the American Society of Hematology, examined how the drug affects other diseases, including MNP.
It involved 3,816 patients who were diagnosed with MNP between 2010 and 2018 and 19,080 people who were not.
About seven percent of the MPN group had taken metformin before, compared with eight percent of the control group.
It found that those who took the drug for five years were 45% less likely to develop blood cancer than those who did not take it.
The new findings come from an “observational” study, where scientists just use records to observe different patterns of behavior, such as having or not having blood cancer.
Observational studies are easier to perform than randomized trials, but they are prone to error as association does not necessarily prove causation.
Therefore, we cannot assume that metformin directly reduced blood cancer, the authors told the Sun in an email.
Metformin was first used to treat diabetes in the 1950s in France. And it began to be prescribed in the United Kingdom in 1958
The drug is a derivative of guanidine, a compound found in Rua da Cabra, a herbal medicine widely used in Europe.#
What is diabetes?
Diabetes is a condition that occurs when blood sugar (glucose) is too high
It develops when the pancreas does not produce enough or any insulin, or when the body is not responding properly to the effects of insulin.
There are 2 main types of diabetes:
- Type 1 diabetes – a lifelong condition in which the body’s immune system attacks and destroys the cells that produce insulin
- Type 2 diabetes – when the body does not produce enough insulin or the body’s cells do not react properly to insulin
Type 2 diabetes is much more common than type 1. In the UK, more than 90% of all adults with diabetes have type 2.
The high blood sugar level that develops during pregnancy is known as gestational diabetes. It usually disappears after giving birth.
When to see a doctor
Visit your doctor as soon as possible if you experience the main symptoms of diabetes, which include:
- Feeling very thirsty
- Peeing more frequently than usual, especially at night
- Feeling very tired
- Weight loss and muscle mass loss
- Itching around the penis or vagina, or frequent episodes of thrush
- Blurry vision
Type 1 diabetes can develop quickly over weeks or even days.
Weight loss is common in people with type 1 diabetes when it develops and before it is treated, but it is less common in people with type 2 diabetes.
Many people have type 2 diabetes for years without realizing it, because the first symptoms tend to be general or no symptoms at all.
How can I avoid it?
There are no lifestyle changes you can make to lower your risk of type 1 diabetes.
You can reduce your risk of type 2 diabetes by eating healthy, exercising regularly and achieving a healthy body weight.
You may be at greater risk of type 2 diabetes if you:
- Are living with overweight or obesity
- Don’t have a healthy diet
- Have a family history of type 2 diabetes
- Are of Asian, black African or Afro-Caribbean origin
- Take certain medications, such as steroids, for a long time
- Have high blood pressure
- Had gestational diabetes during pregnancy
Metformin is a medicine used to treat type 2 diabetes and gestational diabetes.
It is also used to help prevent type 2 diabetes if you are at high risk of developing it.
This story originally appeared on The-sun.com read the full story
