Great question. The short answer: there is no peer reviewed human trial data establishing metformin as an effective treatment for arthritis.
This is another case of wellness industry taking an observation or cellular mechanism to make claims the data can’t possibly support.
What we know:
1. There is a cellular mechanism involving activation of AMPK at the cellular level that could potentially inhibit the pathogenic pathways known to cause cartilage damage in both, osteoarthritis (OA) and rheumatoid arthritis (RA) alike. However, there is no data to bridge the gap between cellular mechanics and actual human effectiveness to date.
2. Observational data among metformin treated T2DM suggesting lower rates of OA on them. Is an interesting observation that with the known cellular mechanisms, deserves more study. At this point this is just an observation, possibly a correlation, but it does not proof a cause-effect relationship at all.
3. There are preliminary observational animal studies suggesting a positive effect of metformin in RA synovial destruction. Preliminary results with no human correlation.
Nothing of this means that metformin does not have potential benefits in arthritis. That may be so, but we don’t have the data to make that claim yet.
I’ve read articles that suggest metformin may help with inflammatory arthritis. Do you have an opinion about this?
Great question. The short answer: there is no peer reviewed human trial data establishing metformin as an effective treatment for arthritis.
This is another case of wellness industry taking an observation or cellular mechanism to make claims the data can’t possibly support.
What we know:
1. There is a cellular mechanism involving activation of AMPK at the cellular level that could potentially inhibit the pathogenic pathways known to cause cartilage damage in both, osteoarthritis (OA) and rheumatoid arthritis (RA) alike. However, there is no data to bridge the gap between cellular mechanics and actual human effectiveness to date.
2. Observational data among metformin treated T2DM suggesting lower rates of OA on them. Is an interesting observation that with the known cellular mechanisms, deserves more study. At this point this is just an observation, possibly a correlation, but it does not proof a cause-effect relationship at all.
3. There are preliminary observational animal studies suggesting a positive effect of metformin in RA synovial destruction. Preliminary results with no human correlation.
Nothing of this means that metformin does not have potential benefits in arthritis. That may be so, but we don’t have the data to make that claim yet.
Thank you