Injection of Metformin Improves Cognitive Function in Old Mice to a Greater Degree than Oral Administration

Researchers here note that delivering metformin via injection rather than the usual oral administration removes unwanted side-effects and better improves cognitive function in old mice. Near all testing of metformin has used oral administration, and the effects on pace of aging and life span are, frankly, too unreliable and too small to justify the present level of interest in the drug on the part of the longevity community. Administration by injection might be a different story, but waiting on further research and confirming data would be a wiser course of action than immediate excitement. Even then, this is tinkering with the damaged state of metabolism, not a form of repair. The upside is always going to be more limited than that of approaches that address underlying causes of aging. Many studies have shown that in patients with type 2 diabetes, chronic administration of metformin causes side effects such as abdominal or stomach pain, diarrhea, early satiety, decreased appetite, risk of vitamin B-12 deficiency, and lactic acidosis. In the current study, we treated non-diabetic mice with metformin for 10 months. Unequivocally, our results show that chronic metformin treatment may lead to severe disabilities, including cancer, cataracts, and dermatitis. Studies in nematodes and other smaller organisms suggest that the side effects of chronic metformin treatment may be caused by changes in the gut microbiome. To avoid the side effects of metformin, we treated ...
Source: Fight Aging! - Category: Research Authors: Tags: Daily News Source Type: blogs