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Longevity supplements › Metformin and Aging › Studies

Animal study

In middle-aged male mice, 0.1% metformin in food extended lifespan; 1% was toxic

Martin-Montalvo and colleagues · Nature communications · 2013

Original title: Metformin improves healthspan and lifespan in mice.

Under review. A person has not yet checked this summary against the paper. It is written from the PubMed abstract. Until a person checks it, search engines are asked not to list this page.

What the study found

Points to benefit

Long-term 0.1% w/w metformin starting at middle age extended healthspan and lifespan in male mice, while the higher 1% w/w dose was toxic. It improved physical performance and insulin sensitivity.

The study at a glance

Type of study
Animal study
Who or what was studied
Middle-aged male mice
What was tested
Metformin at 0.1% in food or 1% in food for life vs normal food
What it measured
The question itself: aging, frailty and death in people without diabetes
Trial registration
GSE40936
Who has a stake
No disclosure in PubMed
No disclosure in PubMed.
Journal
Nature communications, 2013
Source
PubMed record 23900241. This page is based on the abstract only.

How much this study counts

  • –Done in animals. Results in animals often do not carry over to people.
  • •The PubMed record has no conflict-of-interest statement.
  • •Summarized from the PubMed abstract only. The full paper may hold details the abstract leaves out.

✓ Strength– Limit• Note

These points come from fixed rules about the type of study, its size and length, what it measured, and who has a stake. Every study on Digestery gets the same rules.

Where this study sits

Each dot is one on-topic paper on this question. Steps near the top answer the question more directly.

↑ Stronger evidence

  1. Trials in people: aging and age-related disease

    1

    1 benefit

  2. Trials in people: other measures

    3

    2 no difference, 1 harm

  3. Trials in people: lab tests or safety

    6

    2 benefit, 2 mixed, 2 no difference

  4. Population studies

    8

    6 benefit, 2 no difference

  5. Blood levels and genes

    0

    None among the papers we read.

  6. Animals

    3

    2 benefit, 1 harm

    ↑ This study is the ringed dot

↓ Weaker evidence

  • Points to benefit
  • Mixed
  • No difference
  • No direction
  • Points to harm

How it fits with the other research

The short answer to “Does metformin slow aging in people without diabetes?”

Not shown in people without diabetes.

Confidence: low. Based on 26 on-topic papers.

Read the full answer

Of the other 2 papers on the same step: 1 benefit, 1 harm. This one found benefit.

  • Quoted in “What we found”: Animal results split: metformin at 0.1% of food from middle age lengthened life in male mice, but metformin given late in life shortened life in worms.
  • Part of the finding “Animals: longer life in mice, shorter in old worms”.
  • Marked as a key paper in the research timeline: Metformin lengthened lifespan in middle-aged male mice.

Other papers on the same step

See all 26 studies on this question

How this page was made

Label

First read of the abstract
Claude Sonnet
Independent second read
Claude Haiku
Differences settled
The reviewer corrected 1 field after reading the abstract. Claude Opus 5.5.
Headline
Claude Sonnet, from the checked study record. A script checked its numbers and wording.
Numbers
Checked against the abstract by a script
“How much this study counts”
Fixed rules, the same for every study
Source check by a person
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