This probably doesn't belong here, but I couldn'tthink of any other place to put it. It comes from Life Extension, which is a supplements maker, so maybe it sneaks under the bar.
First I've ever heard of there being any advantage to diabetes.
Life Extension magazine June 2003 Issue: BioMarker Pharmaceuticals Develops Antiaging Therapy
There is now scientific evidence that a therapy can slow the aging process in laboratory animals. BioMarker Pharmaceuticals, a new company funded by Life Extension, has discovered that metformin, a drug used to treat diabetes, can mimic many of the changes in gene _expression found in calorically-restricted mice, which live much longer, healthier lives than normally-fed mice.
Caloric restriction (CR) is the most effective method of slowing aging, preventing diseases such as atherosclerosis, diabetes and cancer, and extending maximum life span in mammals. Since the 1930s, studies in rats, mice, monkeys and other species, have demonstrated that CR can maintain life, health and youth in animals for extended periods of time.
The discovery that a clinically-used drug (metformin) produces genetic effects similar to those of caloric restriction, including life span extension, is an unprecedented breakthrough in medicine, with astonishing implications for us all. For thousands of years, the medical profession has strived to prevent and treat killer diseases, but has never been able to find a method of intervening in the aging process. |
