The history of metformin goes back hundreds of years. Back to this plant right here.
Galega officinalis, otherwise known as goats rue or what I like to call professor weed,
which was a traditional medicine used all over medieval Europe. Decades later after working out
some of the kinks, it was approved as a treatment for diabetes in Europe in the 1950s. And it wasn't
till 95’ that it was approved for use in the US. And we know that its the go to medicine
for early diabetes, having tremendous benefits on insulin sensitivity, but we also know that
it has many other health benefits for people who don't have diabetes at all, like PCOS,
weight gain from anti psychotics, fertility, and much more. In this video we will look at
5 unusual side effects of metformin that you probably haven't heard of. And no it's not gas.
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The first one is: Hair Growth. For a while people blamed there hair loss to metformin. The short
answer is that metformin does not cause hair loss. Its the conditions metformin is used to treat,
that are well-known to be associated with hair loss. Not the metformin. So for example,
PCOS which can lead to female androgenetic alopecia causing hair loss, and type 2 diabetes,
which we know affects estrogen levels, especially in women to be associated with
weakening and thinning of hair strands, causing hair loss. So it wasn't the metformin. But are
you somehow implying that it can actually cause hair growth? Here is what we know,
the possible ability for metformin to improve cutaneous wound healing,
which includes potentially regenerating the hair follicle. Although the study was on a mouse
model, what I did find interesting was, the “discovery that chronic topical administration
of Metformin and Resveratrol, but not RAPAMYCIN, accelerated wound healing with improved epidermis,
hair follicles, and collagen deposition in young rodents. But wait a minute, Topical
metformin, is that even a thing? Digging through some articles, I did find one talking about
Topical Metformin Shows Potential Benefit for Late Stage Central Centrifugal Cicatricial Alopecia,
which commonly affects women of African descent. Which I thought was interesting.
The second is: Yellowing Nails. Now before you get alarmed by this, The study shows us its a
rare entity. So not to worry. And I found this to be quite bizarre actually. We see “The patient
had been receiving metformin one 1500mg daily from the last 6 months and noticed her finger
nails gradually thickened and turned yellow. On stopping the metformin, the nails gradually
normalized. The patient was treated further with glimepiride and insulin glargine. And After 3
months of discontinuation of metformin there was a significant improvement in the nails.”
The Third is: A metallic Taste. And this is because of the presence of metformin in the
saliva. Usually medicines make there way into the saliva, especially if there are
hydrophilic. And Metformin is a hydrophilic and positively charged molecule that relies
on transporters to move across cell membranes, especially OCT proteins that are transporters.
And we got a few of them OCT1,2 which are on the liver and kidneys, but OCT3 are on the tongue,
conveniently located on the saliva facing side of salivary glands and acinar cells. This study
highlights this better, called a taste of pill, “However, despite the critical role
of OCT3 in salivary gland metformin transport as revealed by our in vitro and in vivo data,
low but significant expression of other metformin transporters was observed in mouse and/or human
salivary glands. These transporters may also influence metformin transport in
salivary glands. This is why to help get around this, you can try Drinking plenty of water and
staying hydrated or by chewing sugarless gum to help with any dry mouth and lessen the
metallic taste. But typically it should go away within a few weeks once your body adjusts to it.
The fourth is: a Loss of eyebrows and eyelashes. But metformin alone wasn't to blame. And again,
this is a rare occurrence. In this study, a 69-year-old man with type 2 diabetes
developed sudden loss of eyebrows and eyelashes about 4 months after the beginning of Janumet,
which is a combo of metformin with sitagliptin. But keep in mind the Naranjo probability scale
documented a possible association that this was the cause and not a definite association.
The fifth and by far the most controversial and interesting side effect is Anti-Aging. Most likely
coming from 3 major benefits, 1: improving the body's responsiveness to insulin, which as we age,
the efficiency in doing so slows down, 2: the antioxidant effects keeping oxidative stress low,
and 3: improving blood vessel health which we know has protective effects on the endothelium
and vascular function.. Which essentially if you do these 3 things: you help prevent early
death by preventing what's called age-related diseases. That's the first theory. The second
is its effects on this. Ampk activation and autophagy. This is leading researchers down
a very exciting path to new implications of what is possible with not just metformin, but a wide
variety of different agents that may or may not increase our lifespan. Whatever the outcomes are,
could you imagine adding on an extra 10-20 years of life. What would that look like for you?
Also this list isn't intended for you to make any changes to your medicines,
its only educational, and you should always speak to your doctor before making changes.
I'm more curious to hear from you though. Let me know what your thoughts are down
below. In the meantime, Click the subscribe button if you found any
value in this video. And until then guys, ill see you on the next one.