Sometimes it seems like every day brings us new bad news about the side effects associated with the expensive, new heavily promoted diabetes drugs that most doctors push on patients.
And then there's metformin. We keep getting news about metformin's side effects, but for the past year every single on of those side effects has been something good, for example, we now know metformin decreases the risk heart attack and also of contracting several important cancers.
Now scientists have found that metformin has yet another positive side effect: it blocks the reproduction of the Hepatitis C virus which allows people infected with it to recover from this dreadful disease.
You can read the details here: Science Daily: New Use for Old Drugs in Treating Hepatitis C
Given that you can buy a month's worth of generic Metformin for $4 at many pharmacies you won't hear much about this. No one gets rich selling you generic metformin so no one sends out the press releases. Your doctor may not hear about this either.
But if you are someone who, like me, thinks long and hard before popping a pill because you know how dangerous so many pharmaceuticals have turned out to be, this latest piece of news should reassure you that metformin--which lowers blood sugar, stops the liver from dumping glucose, and helps muscles and liver burn fat--is one drug you can take knowing that its side effects make it fight other dangerous diseases and keep you living a longer and healthier life.
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