Dr. Nathan answers the question: "What Medicines Prevent Type 2 Diabetes?"
Question: What Medicines Can I Take To Prevent Type 2 Diabetes And Why Shouldn't Everyone Take These Medicines, If They Work?
Answer: During a study called the Diabetes Prevention Program the medication metformin, which is a commonly used drug to treat type 2 diabetes, was studied. And it was found that by using metformin, people with pre-diabetes, in other words at very high risk for developing diabetes, could decrease their risk by about 30 percent. So that's pretty good.
The reason that everybody isn't taking metformin these days is that it hasn't been formally approved by the FDA. So that your doctor could prescribe it but he or she would be using it what we call off-label. Now the medication is incredibly safe and in fact we had very good acceptance of the drug during the Diabetes Prevention Program. So metformin is a pill that can be used to prevent diabetes.
Next: What Lifestyle Changes Will Lower My Risk of Developing Type 2 Diabetes?
