Northerner
Admin (Retired)
- Relationship to Diabetes
- Type 1
A Mayo Clinic study suggests laboratory findings do not tell the whole story of how the diabetes drug metformin works to limit the level of glucose in the blood. The researchers found that metformin does not limit the action of the hormone glucagon, specifically glucagon-stimulated glucose production from the liver. The article appears in the journalCell Reports.
"In our clinical trial, metformin treatment appeared to trigger a compensatory increase of glucagon that may mitigate the ability of metformin to lower glucose production in prediabetic individuals and prevent the likelihood of hypoglycemia," explained K. Sreekumaran Nair, M.D., Ph.D., Mayo Clinic endocrinologist and senior author of the article.
Metformin's action is generally related to the release of glucose from the liver. The liver releases glucose when prodded by a pancreatic hormone called glucagon. Glucagon is released when blood glucose levels drop. Metformin is thought to limit the action of glucagon, the substances used to make it, or affect the level of enzymes used to make it.
Yet that's not what Dr. Nair and colleagues found in their double-blind study of nine prediabetic individuals.
https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2016/05/160505133904.htm
So, they've been using this wonder drug for decades, on millions of people, and they're still not sure how it works? 😱 🙄
"In our clinical trial, metformin treatment appeared to trigger a compensatory increase of glucagon that may mitigate the ability of metformin to lower glucose production in prediabetic individuals and prevent the likelihood of hypoglycemia," explained K. Sreekumaran Nair, M.D., Ph.D., Mayo Clinic endocrinologist and senior author of the article.
Metformin's action is generally related to the release of glucose from the liver. The liver releases glucose when prodded by a pancreatic hormone called glucagon. Glucagon is released when blood glucose levels drop. Metformin is thought to limit the action of glucagon, the substances used to make it, or affect the level of enzymes used to make it.
Yet that's not what Dr. Nair and colleagues found in their double-blind study of nine prediabetic individuals.
https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2016/05/160505133904.htm
So, they've been using this wonder drug for decades, on millions of people, and they're still not sure how it works? 😱 🙄