Control chronic inflammation at its basic level with this tried-and-true “wonder drug”

Systemic inflammation in your body can lay the foundation for a wide range of chronic health problems — from arthritis to heart disease to cancer… and many more.

To reduce the risk of these issues, some doctors have turned to the prescription drug metformin.

Of all the drugs that have been hyped as “miracles” and “life-savers” over the past half-century, metformin stands out as a truly unique, effective, and surprisingly safe pharmaceutical.

And although this decades-old drug was originally developed to treat diabetes, researchers have discovered that it has many therapeutic uses. And one of its more remarkable effects is the way it tames high levels of inflammation.

Powerful influence in the gut

Last summer, a journal titled Current Opinion in Clinical Nutrition and Metabolic Care featured a review of the effect metformin has on the gut microbiome ¾ the environment in your gastrointestinal tract where trillions of beneficial bacteria thrive.

And it’s too bad this journal isn’t more widely read because the key points in this review could benefit millions of people. And all doctors should be aware of the substantial range of health benefits metformin treatment can offer.

The research team conducting the review found that metformin not only enhances the growth of this beneficial gut bacteria, but also reduces levels of harmful bacteria.

But that’s just the beginning of what metformin can do. They found it also provides four more valuable effects:

  • It promotes production of short-chain fatty acids — the major nutrients created by bacterial fermentation that help maintain healthy bacterial balance
  • It protects your intestinal lining
  • It regulates the secretion of peptides
  • It improves your glucose uptake

And that last benefit can make a significant, life-changing difference in so many lives, especially those either diagnosed with — or who have a history of — pre-diabetes, diabetes, or metabolic syndrome.

Nurturing a healthy microbiome

Another reason why so many doctors ¾ especially from the alternative health sector ¾ prescribe metformin isn’t just because it’s safe and effective, but also because it’s derived from a natural source: the European folk remedy, French Lilac. A reason Dr. Marc Micozzi believes may explain why it behaves like a beneficial botanical within the body, rather than a drug.

In his Protocol for Eliminating Deadly Inflammation, Dr. Micozzi digs a bit deeper into the effects of metformin’s microbiome-balancing powers.

He highlights a study where researchers gave either metformin or a placebo to newly diagnosed type 2 diabetics.

“After four months,” he says, “the metformin group showed marked benefits in the health of their microbiome. In fact, metformin seemed to increase the growth of several bacterial species linked to improved blood sugar metabolism.”

And the placebo group began to show similar benefits when researchers switched them over to metformin.

Dr. Micozzi sums up the results: “Bottom line: Metformin works as a sugar-blocker right in the gut, thus preventing the release of sugar into the bloodstream.”

A dominating sugar-blocker

Dr. Micozzi notes that metformin’s sugar-blocking action explains four of the most beneficial effects of the drug…

  • Metformin helps people maintain a healthy body weight because it keeps sugar from being absorbed into the blood in the first place.
  • Metformin helps prevent the most dangerous complications of type 2 diabetes — including vision loss, heart disease, kidney disease, and nerve damage.
  • Metformin reduces cancer risk. Dr. Micozzi explains that cancer cells require sugar for fuel, but metformin cuts off their source of fuel.
  • Metformin reduces the risk of other diseases and extends longevity because sugar causes inflammation, which drives most diseases.

To illustrate metformin’s superior effect, he compares it to the action of insulin, which some doctors prescribe for some hard-to-manage cases of type 2 diabetes.

He says, “If the sugar in your blood is too high, and you just use insulin, or an insulin-like drug to push the sugar from your blood into your cells… Well, that reduces the sugar in your blood. But now your cells have too much sugar, so that’s not going to help anything.”

The bottom line: keeping sugar out of your bloodstream in the first place is a far safer and more effective approach.

One important caution when it comes to metformin

Despite its vast benefits, metformin isn’t perfect, and Dr. Micozzi nods to that fact with an important caveat: Metformin can reduce your absorption of vitamin B12.

B12 is an important nutrient for nerve and brain health, and a deficiency can cause anemia, so it’s especially important for seniors to keep their levels of this vitamin high. That’s why Dr. Micozzi advises all metformin users to also take a high quality vitamin B complex supplement that contains a minimum of the following:

  • B12: 12 mcg
  • B2 (riboflavin): 55 mg
  • B3 (niacin): 50 mg

All in all, whether or not you choose to take metformin, Dr. Micozzi also strongly recommends additional non-drug diabetes treatments like curcumin, chromium, and vanadium — which also have remarkable abilities to prevent and reverse high blood sugar and diabetes.

You can learn about these and other key anti-inflammatory supplements in Dr. Micozzi’s Protocol for Eliminating Deadly Inflammation. Click here for a complete overview of this informative protocol, or to enroll today.

SOURCES

“Metformin: old friend, new ways of action-implication of the gut microbiome?” Current Opinion in Clinical Nutrition and Metabolic Care 2018; 21(4): 294-301. doi.org/10.1097/MCO.0000000000000468