Metformin's blood sugar lowering principle

The physical fitness of modern people has seriously declined, resulting in many disease problems, which have brought great damage to people's lives and bodies. Among them, the problem of high blood sugar is a very common phenomenon, which can easily lead to the occurrence of serious diseases such as diabetes. Therefore, lowering blood sugar is very important. Many patients often use a drug called metformin to lower blood sugar, which is very effective. Let's take a look at the principle of metformin in lowering blood sugar.

Biguanides lower blood sugar levels by:

① Promote the entry of glucose into cells;

② Enhance the blood sugar lowering effect of insulin (promote the binding of insulin to receptors or increase the number of insulin receptors);

③ Slow down the intestinal absorption of glucose, thereby alleviating postprandial hyperglycemia. This shows that biguanide hypoglycemic drugs do not stimulate the secretion of insulin. Its blood sugar lowering mechanism is mainly extra-pancreatic action, so it will not cause an increase in blood insulin levels or cause weight gain.

Biguanides are mainly used to lower blood sugar levels:

① Patients with type 2 diabetes for whom dietary therapy is ineffective or has failed (i.e. initially effective but ineffective later);

② For patients with type 2 diabetes who are ineffective or have failed to respond to sulfonylurea hypoglycemic drugs, biguanides can be used instead or in combination with sulfonylureas;

③ For patients with type I or type II diabetes treated with insulin, the addition of biguanide hypoglycemic drugs can reduce the amount of insulin required;

④ Those who experience obvious side effects after using sulfonylurea hypoglycemic drugs and cannot continue taking them.

The main biguanide hypoglycemic drugs include metformin (Dihua Tablets, Medicon, Jiangtang Tablets). Jiangtangling has significant side effects and is now basically not used in clinical practice.

In the body of a diabetic, on the one hand, the liver's ability to store glucose is weakened, causing more glucose to enter the blood. On the other hand, liver glycogen will also get out of control and continuously release glucose, raising blood sugar.

Therefore, for diabetics, once diabetes is diagnosed, it is not only necessary to control diet, but it is equally important to control the release of liver glycogen. There are currently multiple avenues to achieve this, including both pharmacological and non-pharmaceutical approaches. Metformin is a drug that is particularly effective in controlling liver glycogen.