The brain aged more slowly in monkeys given a cheap diabetes drug. Daily dose of the common medication metformin preserved cognition and delayed decline of some tissues.
The brain aged more slowly in monkeys given a cheap diabetes drug. Daily dose of the common medication metformin preserved cognition and delayed decline of some tissues.
I’m the reporter who wrote the story; feel free to ask any questions about the study, how I reported it, or anything else you think of.
This is a big deal because this drug is already FDA-approved, widely-prescribed with a safety profile that’s well-documented, and cheap. Note that this experiment was only conducted in 12 male monkeys (primate studies are very expensive), but it’s promising data that could help launch the first clinical trials to investigate metformin’s use as an anti-ageing compound.
>Monkeys that received metformin daily showed slower [age-associated brain decline](https://www.nature.com/articles/d41586-024-02784-w) than did those not given the drug. Furthermore, their neuronal activity resembled that of monkeys about six years younger (equivalent to around 18 human years) and the animals had enhanced cognition and preserved liver function.
>This study, published in *Cell* on 12 September, helps to suggest that, although dying is inevitable, “ageing, the way we know it, is not”, says Nir Barzilai, a geroscientist at the Albert Einstein College of Medicine in New York City, who was not involved in the study.
CatnipJuice on
What is with the drug ads recently? Its all over the place.
rubixd on
I’ve heard about this but I am still a bit skeptical.
JMSeaTown on
What about a chimp that works out, eats healthy, and gets 7hrs of sleep per night? Would that creature live longer?
LitmusPitmus on
This work similarly to Ozempic? As I heard sameish things around that but attributed the better health to the lack of obesity
FelixVulgaris on
Not un related
>Around 81% of people living with Alzheimer’s disease also have type 2 diabetes, according to a report by the Keck School of Medicine USC.
7 Comments
I’m the reporter who wrote the story; feel free to ask any questions about the study, how I reported it, or anything else you think of.
This is a big deal because this drug is already FDA-approved, widely-prescribed with a safety profile that’s well-documented, and cheap. Note that this experiment was only conducted in 12 male monkeys (primate studies are very expensive), but it’s promising data that could help launch the first clinical trials to investigate metformin’s use as an anti-ageing compound.
From the story:
>A low-cost diabetes drug slows ageing in male monkeys and is particularly effective at delaying [the effects of ageing on the brain](https://www.nature.com/articles/d41586-022-01282-1), finds a small study that tracked the animals for more than three years[^(1)](https://www.nature.com/articles/d41586-024-02938-w#ref-CR1). The results raise the possibility that the widely used medication, [metformin](https://www.nature.com/articles/522265a), could one day be used to postpone ageing in humans.
>Monkeys that received metformin daily showed slower [age-associated brain decline](https://www.nature.com/articles/d41586-024-02784-w) than did those not given the drug. Furthermore, their neuronal activity resembled that of monkeys about six years younger (equivalent to around 18 human years) and the animals had enhanced cognition and preserved liver function.
>This study, published in *Cell* on 12 September, helps to suggest that, although dying is inevitable, “ageing, the way we know it, is not”, says Nir Barzilai, a geroscientist at the Albert Einstein College of Medicine in New York City, who was not involved in the study.
What is with the drug ads recently? Its all over the place.
I’ve heard about this but I am still a bit skeptical.
What about a chimp that works out, eats healthy, and gets 7hrs of sleep per night? Would that creature live longer?
This work similarly to Ozempic? As I heard sameish things around that but attributed the better health to the lack of obesity
Not un related
>Around 81% of people living with Alzheimer’s disease also have type 2 diabetes, according to a report by the Keck School of Medicine USC.
https://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/how-type-2-diabetes-may-be-linked-to-alzheimers-disease-risk
I have no idea how people experiment on primates. Absolutely horrible.