Metformin can not only promote glucose consumption, but also promote lipolysis, inhibit lipogenesis, and help the human body balance energy metabolism. For patients with type 2 diabetes whose diet control is ineffective, taking metformin can indeed bring about weight loss.
In clinical life, as a pharmacist, I am often asked this question: Can metformin really lose weight?
For the normal population, studies have shown that patients with body mass index ≥ 27 kg/m2 and average HbA 1c level of 5.6% lose 5.8±7.0kg on average after receiving metformin for 6 months, but about 20% of patients receiving metformin did not lose weight. In addition, five studies with weight loss as the main end point were systematically analyzed. The results showed that metformin treatment could reduce the weight of overweight and obese patients by 2.9~9.0kg.
Don't get excited when you see this result. None of the included studies are randomized controlled trials, and the reliability of the conclusions is debatable. So far, there is no large-sample, multi-center and randomized controlled trial to prove that metformin can reduce weight in healthy people.
Let's look at the side effects of metformin. The common adverse reactions of metformin are mainly digestive tract reactions, including diarrhea, nausea, vomiting, abdominal distension, fatigue, dyspepsia and abdominal discomfort. Some experts believe that metformin may produce weight loss effect through these adverse reactions.
Metformin also has a terrible risk of lactic acidosis. Although the probability is low, it will be life-threatening once it happens.
To sum up, the effect of using metformin to lose weight is uncertain, and you have to take great risks to lose weight. Therefore, fat friends, healthy diet and exercise habits are the best way.