The diabetes drug metformin, taken by millions of people, has caught scientists' attention for its potential effects on aging. Research suggests it may help cells repair themselves and slow age-related changes, reports infohub.kz.
Scientists have summarized results from years of experiments—from cellular and molecular studies to those on animals and humans—to present a unified picture of metformin's impact on aging and longevity.
The combined data show that metformin acts as a geroprotector, influencing the biological root causes of aging and potentially extending healthy lifespan.
In experiments on microscopic worms (C. elegans), metformin increased lifespan by 36–40%. In mice, average lifespan increased by 5.8–20.1%, and the development of certain tumors was slowed.
Anti-aging effects were also observed in other animals. In male monkeys given the drug for 40 months, tissues became biologically younger, and the brain aged nearly 6 years less—equivalent to 18 human years.
A similar pattern is seen in humans: those taking metformin had a biological age 3.4 years younger, and people with diabetes who took the drug lived 15% longer than their peers without diabetes.
The researchers noted that a major gap in longevity science is the lack of large trials testing metformin's effectiveness in healthy adults without diabetes.
According to the World Health Organization (WHO), the number of people aged 60 and over will double from 1 billion in 2020 to 2.1 billion by 2050. An aging population leads to a rise in age-related diseases, including metabolic disorders, dementia, Alzheimer's disease, and osteoarthritis. These diseases reduce quality of life and burden healthcare systems.
Therefore, in recent years, gerontology—the field of science that, instead of treating age-related diseases individually, asks whether we can target the biological factors that cause aging itself—has been actively developing.