Diabetes Health in The News Podcast: How Metformin Works in Gut Not Bloodstream
Podcast: Play in new window | Download
Click here to listen to the audio version of Diabetes Health In The News
Researchers recently made a major breakthrough regarding metformin, the popular diabetes drug. In the past, researchers believed that this drug worked in the blood stream, but recent studies have found that it actually works in the gut. Clinical trials have determined that metformin works primarily in the lower intestine.
These results should give hope to patients with type 2 diabetes that also have impaired kidneys. In the past, it was believed that these individuals could not use metformin to control their diabetes, as too much of the drug could accumulate in the blood and lead to lactic acidosis, a life-threatening condition. These new findings show that since the drug is actually moving to the lower bowel, there is less of a concern with it accumulating in the blood stream.
These findings were published in Diabetes Care on August 18th, 2015.
