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Longevity supplements › Metformin and Aging › Studies

Randomized trial · measured lab tests or safety

Trial in 105 pregnant women without diabetes: metformin did not change placenta aging signs

Hattersley and colleagues · The Journal of physiology · 2025

Original title: The impact of metformin on placental ageing in humans and mice.

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What the study found

No difference

There were no differences between metformin-exposed and control placentas in telomere length, fibrosis or calcification, or in gene activity or methylation. Mouse and cell tests agreed.

The study at a glance

Type of study
Randomized trial
Who or what was studied
105 people · Pregnant women with BMI of 30 or more, without diabetes, plus mouse and cell tests
What was tested
Metformin vs placebo during pregnancy; afterwards placenta aging signs (telomere length, scarring, gene activity) were checked
What it measured
Lab tests or markers
Trial registration
GSE293162
Who has a stake
No stake declared
No competing interests declared.
Journal
The Journal of physiology, 2025
Source
PubMed record 40448705. This page is based on the abstract only.

How much this study counts

  • ✓Randomized: people were put into groups by chance, so the groups start out alike.
  • ✓Compared with a placebo, a dummy treatment.
  • •Medium size: 105 people.
  • –Measured lab tests or markers, which stand in for aging, frailty and death in people without diabetes. A better marker does not always mean better health.
  • ✓No competing interests declared.
  • •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

    ↑ This study is the ringed dot

  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

↓ 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 5 papers on the same step: 2 benefit, 2 mixed, 1 no difference. This one found no difference.

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 two reads differed. The reviewer checked the abstract and kept the first read. 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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