Diabetes drug metformin can help obese teens lose weight when combined with healthy lifestyle changes. A new study shows that non-diabetic obese adolescents treated with metformin XR (extended release formulation), along with healthy lifestyle modifications had a more significant decrease in body mass index (BMI, a Weight proportion in relation to the height used to indicate obesity) than the treaties with lifestyle changes. The researchers say that metformin is commonly used to treat obesity in adolescents without diabetes, there were no studies to confirm their effectiveness as obesity treatment.
Childhood obesity rates have more than triplicated in the US in the last 50 years, and almost a third of all children in the US is now considered overweight or obese. Obesity in childhood is associated with significant health risks, including type 2 diabetes, high pressure and risk of heart disease as an adult.
Researchers say that childhood obesity is treated with healthy lifestyle interventions, including diet and exercise, but studies show that the success of these efforts greatly varies.
Metformin Weight Loss - Metformin May Help Obese Teens Lose Weight
In the study, researchers compared the effects of metformin treatment combined with healthy diet and exercise changes vs. Placebo with lifestyle intervention in 77 obese teens 48 weeks, followed by an additional follow-up period of 48 weeks. The results showed that the IMC of adolescents who received metformin, in addition to changes in the lifestyle decreased 0.9 after 48 weeks of study, compared to 0.2 increase in the placebo group.
The researchers say that the BMI difference between the two groups persisted for up to six months after stopping taking the drug.
In the pediatric and adolescent medicine files. "Long-term studies will be needed to define the effects of metformin treatment at risk of illness related to obesity in this population."
