Effectiveness of Metformin on Weight Loss in Non-Diabetic Individuals with Obesity

Abstract

Objective: The efficacy of metformin for the treatment of obesity has been evaluated in few clinical trials with inconclusive results. Moreover, the effectiveness in a real-life outpatient setting has not been tested until today. In this study we aimed to examine the effectiveness of metformin as a weight reducing drug in obese and overweight patients with regard to their degree of insulin resistance. Design and patients: We treated 154 consecutive patients with a body mass index ?27?kg/m2 in an outpatient setting over 6 months with metformin up to a dosage of 2?500?mg per day. Additionally, we included 45 untreated patients as controls. Patients were monitored for weight changes over 6 months. Before metformin treatment was started insulin sensitivity was determined in all patients by calculating HOMA index and Matsuda index after a 75?g oral glucose tolerance test. Results: The mean weight loss in the metformin treated group was 5.8?7.0?kg (5.6?6.5%). Untreated controls gained 0.8?3.5?kg (0.8?3.7%) on average. Patients with severe insulin resistance lost significantly more weight as compared to insulin sensitive patients. The percentage of weight loss was independent of age, sex or BMI. Conclusion: Metformin is an effective drug to reduce weight in a naturalistic outpatient setting in insulin sensitive and insulin resistant overweight and obese patients.

Treatment for overweight and obesity in adult populations: a systematic review and meta-analysis

“…51,55 The remaining 12 studies (2 studies were single-group pre-post designs, 1 study had a more active comparison group, and 9 studies reported outcomes at < 12 mo) were only included in analyses of adverse events. 24,29,57,63,[75][76][77][78][79][80][81]83 High within-group heterogeneity was common; however, the direction of treatment effect was consistent across most studies, and the confidence intervals overlapped. This statistical heterogeneity is likely due to small versus large treatment effects observed across studies.…”

Impact of Metformin and Serratiopeptidase in Obese Patients With Knee Osteoarthritis

“…Among diabetics, metformin alters glucose production and may have an effect on insulin production. It also had an effect in weight loss [18]. In addition to anti-diabetic treatment effect, metformin is shown to relieve the pain and inflammation intensity of OA with no reported side effects that make it as a treatment choice in patients with knee OA and serve as a potential drug for inflammation-related disorders [19].…”

Synergistic Effects of a GPR119 Agonist with Metformin on Weight Loss in Diet-Induced Obese Mice

“…and nondiabetic adults (UKPDS Group, 1998;Glueck et al, 2001;Kay et al, 2001;Seifarth et al, 2013). In addition, metformin enhances leptin sensitivity in high fat-fed obese rats (Kim et al, 2006) and induces weight loss (metformin at 300 mg/kg caused a ∼6% weight loss relative to vehicle by day 7 of treatment) in diet-induced obese (DIO) mice (Kim et al, 2013a).…”