Metformin's effects on sex hormones?
Hi all,
Wondering if any of you can point me to information on the effects of metformin on estrogen and testosterone, esp in females. Asking since taking any exogenous hormones can raise your risk of some cancers (e.g., breast) and while metformin isn't a hormone, it should be something to consider especially if you're otherwise healthy/non-obese.
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Here's a couple
https://rbej.biomedcentral.com/articles/10.1186/1477-7827-12-98
http://publicationslist.org/data/nicoletta.biglia/ref-101/Metformin%202013.pdf
Note I stopped Metformin several years ago due to a pronounced decrease in my testosterone. Others have suggested that long term use of metformin adversely affects your mitochondria.
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Adrian, previous attachments were from my bookmark and may may not have been directly applicable to your question. Attached is another one . There are many if you google the question. In my opinion metformin is not advisable for senior non diabetic men as androgens and estrogens are critical for preventing sarcopenia, cognitive decline and osteoporosis among some of their benefits.
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Thank you Peter. Yes a lot of studies come up but they're all very small and short-term. I am unable to find an answer to the question of whether there are adverse hormonal effects in healthy non-obese women (as it changes progesterone levels). It seems most if not all of the research has been done in women that were either obese or had PCOS and in small, short-term studies.
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Adrian M I briefly looked at the papers again and you appear to be correct in that most of the research for women is directed at those with an health issue such as PCOS and breast cancer. It is clear that it does modify hormones in these cases.
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