Metformin has been found to help in preventing cancer in post-menopausal women who are suffering from type 2 diabetes. The drug is a diabetes medicine that is commonly prescribed to help manage blood sugar levels in patients. There are times when the drug is used with insulin or other medications but definitely, it is not for the treatment of type 1 diabetes.
The study that says Metformin can lower the risk of cancer among post-menopausal women was published in International Journal of Cancer on April 15. The research team gathered data from about 145,826 women whose ages range from 50 to 79. All the information which were collected from 1993 to 1998 have been sourced from Women's Health Initiative research.
It was found that women afflicted with cancer and have type 2 diabetes are 45 percent more at risk of succumbing to the disease while women with cancer but are not suffering from diabetes have lower risk of dying from cancer.
In addition, researchers discovered that menopause women with diabetes is 25 to 35 percent more susceptible to developing non-Hodgkin's lymphoma, endometrial and colon cancers. The rate of risk in having pancreatic and liver cancers was even found to be double.
"Our findings from this large study may provide more evidence that post-menopausal women with diabetes and cancer may benefit from metformin therapy compared to other anti-diabetes therapy," UPI Health quoted Zhihong Gong, lead researcher and assistant professor of oncology at the Roswell Park Cancer Institute, as saying.
Furthermore, the research team said relayed that metformin users, especially those who have been using the drug for a long time, may have lower chance of developing certain type of cancers. This also effectively reduce the risk of dying from the said illness. However, the researchers explained that more studies are needed to know the long-term effect of metformin in cancer and how it affects the survival of cancer-stricken patient.
Diabetes affects over 29 million Americans and the most common disease that kills diabetes patients is cancer. To avoid the fatal risk from diabetes, the American Diabetes Association advised diabetic individuals to change to healthier lifestyle and take medications like metformin and insulin injections to keep their sugar levels under control.
Learn more about metformin and its possible effect in cancer treatment by watching the video below: