Many times we discover that the person of the 21st century is no less attached to myths and legends than his counterpart, who lived during the Middle Ages, which are described as the Dark Ages. An intense controversy erupted after claiming that a well-known drug used by all patients with type 2 diabetes, since the fifties of the 20th century, besides that, combats “aging” and thus prolongs life! It is the drug "Metformin", which the common people describe as "the regulator of the work of the diabetes pill." It is a drug approved by Western European countries in the fifties of the last century, while it was approved by the US Food and Drug Administration during the nineties. Scientists who are studying the alleged ability of metformin to combat aging said that many of those who took it were not limited to treating diabetes, but also looked younger! The story of longevity began after the publication of a study in the year 2024, which concluded that people with type 2 diabetes who took metformin lived longer than people without diabetes. The conclusion of the study aroused the enthusiasm of groups obsessed with health developments, so that many of those who do not suffer from diabetes began taking metformin tablets.
A report published by the American Wall Street Journal yesterday stated that scientists say that metformin is safe for those who take it to treat type 2 diabetes. Doctors said that taking metformin without a prescription does not carry any major health risks. But other scientists have warned that taking metformin may be linked to the possibility of developing Parkinson's disease. It may also make it difficult to build muscle through exercise. As for the studies on whether metformin has an anti-aging ability, they have produced conflicting results. Indeed, some of them produced discouraging results for taking this drug, to the extent that some enthusiasts about claims of metformin's ability to extend life decided to stop taking it. Perhaps the most prominent of these enthusiasts is the New Zealand doctor Brad Stanfield, who has a YouTube page related to aging research news, and suddenly announced last year that he had decided to stop using metformin. Stanfield had started taking it in 2019. He said he had stopped taking metformin after reviewing the latest studies in this field, including a 21-year study that concluded that metformin did not reduce the risk of cancer, cardiovascular disease, and death in adults without diabetes, although They were at high risk of type 2 infection. Dr Stanfield said: “Many people thought they had found the elixir of life. It is an illusion that many tend to believe. And a study conducted last year tried to replicate the 2016 study, which claimed that metformin extends life. The new study concluded that metformin was not associated with a better longevity than the rest of the population. James Miller, a professor of economics at the University of Northampton, Massachusetts, told The Wall Street Journal that he started taking metformin about ten years ago, after seeing the results of the aforementioned 2014 study, which claimed that metformin prolongs life. He added that he had cut the dose in half after watching a video clip of New Zealand doctor Dr. Stanfield on YouTube, explaining the reasons for his decision to stop taking Metformin. However, metformin's alleged ability to delay aging and extend life continues to interest many, especially those in technology, engineering and academics. These are categories that mean more than anything else with data. And they are excited about everything new in the world of health, from allegations of the feasibility of taking cold showers in the morning, to ending with intermittent fasting. Adam Batayneh, a physician who established the “Neuminor Health” website in Britain in October 2022, to provide health advice over the phone, said that about half of the number of people who call the site ask about what is new about metformin. He added that most of his patients are men at the end of the fourth and fifth decades of their lives, who are beginning to feel the onset of signs of aging. The American electrical engineer, Lee Sparziano (49 years old), stated to the American newspaper that he began taking metformin in 2021, after he read a book written by Harvard aging research pioneer David Sinclair, confirming the ability of metformin to prolong life. But he decided to stop taking metformin tablets after he saw a study that concluded that metformin may reduce the expected benefit of exercise. Dr. Sinclair, professor of genetic engineering and co-chair of the Center for Gerontology at Harvard Medical School, said he is still taking metformin on the prescription of his doctor, even though he does not have type 2 diabetes. However, he noted that his family had a history of diabetes. He stressed the consequences of recommending metformin as a major factor in delaying aging. He said that he did not advise anyone to take this drug, unless advised by a doctor.
The British company Irfinity, which is concerned with health statistics, announced that the world is facing the possibility of a new global epidemic, with a fatality at the level of Covid-19, by up to 27.5%, as a result of viruses that appear for the first time, as a result of climate change, the return of activity to global travel, and the increase in population. The company stated that distributing a vaccine within 100 days of the emergence of the new epidemic could reduce the number of expected deaths by about 8.1%. She explained that a new mutation in any influenza-like virus could kill 15,000 people in Britain in one day. And I predicted that a new virus epidemic might break out in the world within ten years. But rushing to vaccinate the largest number of the population within 100 days could lead to a significant reduction in the number of expected deaths. The current outbreak of the H5N1 avian influenza virus has raised fears and concerns worldwide, although the number of people infected with this virus is still very small. Those fears were increased by the transmission of this virus from birds to mammals in several countries. Scientists said they feared that this would be a prelude to the virus mutating so that it could be transmitted from birds and animals to humans.
"Okaz" tour in the world of medicine and medicines
New mutant: The US Centers for Disease Control and Control announced that it has decided to add the XBB.1.16 mutant to its watchlist, after the rate of new infections with this variant increased from 4% to 7% over the past week. She said it was the most prevalent mutant after the XBB.1.5 mutant, which still dominates the epidemic crisis in the United States. The center stated that the new Corona virus is constantly changing through mutants and new strains that appear and then disappear, so that others appear. He noted that the XBB.1.5 mutant was beginning to lose its dominance, although it still dominated new infections.
Malaria vaccine: Ghana has become the first country in the world to approve the first effective vaccine against malaria, developed by scientists at the University of Oxford in Britain. The R21/Matrix-M vaccine is the first vaccine to exceed the 75% efficacy required by the World Health Organization. And the Food and Drug Authority in Ghana decided to grant this vaccine to immunize children from the age of five months to 36 months, which is the group most at risk of dying from malaria. The director of the Jenner Vaccine Institute at Oxford University, Professor Adrian Hill, said that this vaccine comes after painstaking research that took 35 years. More than 619,000 people died of malaria in the world in 2021, most of them children in the Sahel region of Africa, according to WHO figures. Data for the new vaccine showed that its effectiveness was 77%. A level that was maintained by giving a booster dose of the same vaccine after a year of taking the normal dose.
Multiple sclerosis: Shares of Merck fell in Germany last week, following the US Food and Drug Administration's decision to suspend recruiting new volunteers for a clinical trial of the drug "Ivoprotinib", which its scientists developed to treat multiple sclerosis (MS). The company said its Phase 3 clinical trial will continue. The FDA's decision came after two volunteers were reported to have suffered liver damage during the trial. The company said that the two patients do not feel any symptoms, and do not need medical intervention. She added that the results of the experiment will appear during the fourth quarter of this year.
Covid in India: India has decided to ramp up production of booster doses of the COVID-19 vaccine, due to the increasing number of new infections. And the Indian authorities announced yesterday (Monday) that they had recorded more than 10,000 new cases on Sunday. And Indian hospitals were directed to conduct experiments to confirm readiness for any possible wave of viral outbreaks. Indian hospitals also decided to re-commit residents to wear masks inside. India had discovered an outbreak of the XBB.1.16 mutant in its territory last January. It is believed that it is spreading faster than its predecessors. But scientists said there is no evidence that this variant worsens the condition of the infected person. The World Health Organization said that this variant has come to dominate the health scene in India.
Yassin Ahmed (London) @OKAZ_online
