Excess glucose gets stored in the liver as glycogen or as fat.įor several reasons, your cells can fail to efficiently take up glucose from your blood or store it. When glucose enters your cells and the levels in your bloodstream decrease, it signals your pancreas to stop producing insulin. Insulin triggers your cells to gobble up the glucose for energy.

Under normal circumstances, when that glucose enters your bloodstream, cells in your pancreas release insulin. Much of the food you eat gets converted into glucose.

Researchers are still working to understand how metformin helps with weight loss. Metformin also slows the absorption of glucose helping to manage blood sugar levels ( 2). Together, these mechanisms of action bolster insulin sensitivity-a good thing, since people with diabetes usually have some level of insulin resistance. It also appears that it can act via an energy regulator in cells called AMP-activated protein kinase (AMPK), which can lower the amount of glucose in your bloodstream. The medication causes your liver to lower the amount of glucose it makes and releases into your bloodstream. It’s not entirely clear, but researchers suspect a few mechanisms. In 1957 it started to be used as an antidiabetic drug by the ’90s it became a first-line choice to help treat Type 2 diabetes mellitus ( 1). Metformin is a man-made derivative of a compound found in abundance in the French lilac plant, which has been used for blood sugar control since the Middle Ages. Metformin is often the first medication prescribed to people with Type 2 diabetes to help lower their glucose (blood sugar) levels. But some doctors are prescribing it “off-label” to patients who are at risk for developing Type 2 diabetes.Īre you wondering how metformin might help with weight loss-and whether you should ask your doctor about it? We’re here to answer your Q’s. Meaning: it’s not a weight loss drug, per se. Unlike Wegovy and Ozempic, metformin hasn’t been FDA approved for this purpose. This has created a buzz and a big demand (so much so that people Type 2 diabetes struggled to get them for a while).Īnother diabetes drug that’s generating a lot of attention as a potential weight loss aid? Metformin. Medications that are generally prescribed to diabetics to help them manage their blood sugar -including Ozempic and Wegovy-have recently been approved by the FDA to help some people lose weight.

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