![\"Senior](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/stock-motivated-fit-elderly-woman-106243175.jpg\")
JackF \u2013 stock.adobe.com<\/p>\n
No, it\u2019s not Ozempic<\/a> \u2014 it\u2019s called metformin<\/a>, and almost 20 million Americans are estimated<\/a> to be taking it to help manage their Type 2 diabetes<\/a>. <\/p>\n Like other diabetes drugs, this decades-old, dirt-cheap medication works by decreasing the amount of glucose the body absorbs from food and improves its response to insulin. <\/p>\n Also used to treat Polycystic Ovary Syndrome (PCOS)<\/a>, metformin has often been hailed as a \u201cwonder drug\u201d due to its other health benefits, including improving fertility in women, aiding in weight management and even reducing the risks of heart disease and certain cancers<\/a>. <\/p>\n This new study set its sights on promising research indicating it may also have anti-aging effects<\/a>. <\/p>\n Researchers analyzed the data of 438 postmenopausal women \u2014 half of whom were on metformin, the other half of whom took another diabetes drug called sulfonylurea.<\/p>\n They found that those in the metformin group had a 30% higher chance of making it to 90 when compared to the sulfonylurea group.<\/p>\n The study has a few limitations, the most notable of which is that it had no control group \u2014 meaning none of the participants weren\u2019t on diabetes medication \u2014 as well as a relatively small sample size. <\/p>\n However, one of its strengths was a follow-up period of 14-15 years, which is much longer than the average randomized controlled trial. <\/p>\n All told, the new study adds to an increasing body of research on the geroscience hypothesis, which posits that \u201cbiological aging<\/a> is malleable and that slowing biological aging may delay or prevent the onset of multiple age-related diseases and disability,\u201d the researchers wrote.<\/p>\n The new study backs up previous research published last year which showed that metformin can slow aging<\/a> and also prevent disease in healthy older adults.<\/p>\n \u201cI don\u2019t know if metformin increases lifespan in people, but the evidence that exists suggests that it very well might,\u201d\u00a0Steven Austad, a senior scientific adviser at the American Federation for Aging Research who studies the biology of agin, told NPR<\/a>.<\/p>\n![\"Doctor](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/stock-doctor-checking-blood-glucose-106243093.jpg\")
Like other diabetes drugs, metformin works by decreasing the amount of glucose the body absorbs from food and improves its response to insulin. Halfpoint \u2013 stock.adobe.com<\/p>\n