About 120 million people around the world with Type 2 diabetes – and two million in Canada – take the drug metformin to control their disease. While doctors know metformin needs to interact with insulin to be effective, and that it can’t lower blood sugar on its own, no one has been able to explain how and why this happens.
Researchers at McMaster University are the first to unlock that mystery with their discovery metformin works on fat in the liver. Their research is published in today’s issue of the journal Nature Medicine.
“The key is that metformin doesn’t work to lower blood glucose by directly working on the glucose. It works on reducing harmful fat molecules in the liver, which then allows insulin to work better and lower blood sugar levels,” said Greg Steinberg, associate professor in the Department of Medicine of the Michael G. DeGroote School of Medicine.
He also holds the Canada Research Chair in Metabolism and Obesity and is a co-director of the Metabolism and Childhood (MAC)-Obesity Research Program. His research team included scientists in Alberta, Australia and Scotland.
Steinberg said that most people taking metformin have a fatty liver, which is frequently caused by obesity. “Fat is likely a key trigger for pre-diabetes, causing blood sugar to start going up because insulin can’t work as efficiently to stop sugar coming from the liver.”
“This discovery offers a huge head start in finding combination therapies (and more personalized approaches) for diabetics for whom metformin isn’t enough to restore their blood sugar to normal levels,” said Steinberg.
Source: McMaster University, Canada