A widely-prescribed diabetes drug may be sabotaging one of the most trusted strategies for preventing the disease: exercise. That is the conclusion of a Rutgers-led study published in The Journal of Clinical Endocrinology & Metabolism, which found that metformin blunts critical improvements in blood vessel function, fitness and blood sugar control that normally come from working out.
Since 2006, doctors have been advised to tell patients with high blood sugar to take metformin while engaging in exercise. Two proven therapies should deliver better results together, they reasoned. But Rutgers researchers said the math doesn’t add up. “Most health care providers assume one plus one equals two,” said Steven Malin, a professor in the Department of Kinesiology and Health in the School of Arts and Sciences and the lead author of the study. “The problem is that most evidence shows metformin blunts exercise benefits.”
To test the theory, Malin’s team recruited 72 adults at risk for metabolic syndrome. The syndrome is viewed as a cluster of conditions that raise the risk of diabetes and heart disease. They divided the trial participants into four groups: people performing high-intensity exercise while taking a placebo, high-intensity exercise with metformin, low-intensity exercise with a placebo, and low-intensity exercise with metformin. To read the full story.