Diabetes Drug May Unlock Healthy Longevity

A drug, commonly used to treat diabetes, will now be tested on humans for it’s anti-aging properties, reports the November 30, 2015 Huffington Post.

Metformin, used for the past 60 years on diabetic patients, has been linked with a significant decrease in cancer risks in humans as well as stronger bones and longer life in mice studies.  Research on roundworms found the worms who received the drug aged slower and remained healthier longer.

Now the United States Food and Drug Administration has given the go-ahead to test the drug on 3,000 elderly patients with higher than usual risks for cancer, heart disease or cognitive problems.  The six year study will begin in 2016.  It is thought that because Metformin increases the number of oxygen molecules released into a cell, longevity and good health in old age can be given a helping hand.

The Targeting Aging with Metformin(TAME) project, led by Nir Barzilai, director of the Institute for Aging Research at Albert Einstein College of Medicine in New York, is hoped to result in the use of drugs like metformin to improve health and increase life span in the elderly.  By delaying the onset of chronic diseases like Alzheimer’s, cancer or cardiovascular disease closer to the end of life, old age could be a more productive and positive stage of life.

To learn more about aging research visit the College of Medicine website at:http://www.einstein.yu.edu/news/releases/1132/nir-barzilai-featured-in-breakthrough-a-new-series-on-the-national-geographic-channel/ .