 Metformin, or it is cousin berberine and dehydroberberine, are an important part of diabetes treatment. Clinical studies have shown that they may be able to help prevent and treat a wide range of cancers. Hi everyone, I am Dr. Ahmed Ergin. I'm an endocrinologist with a strong education to battle with, beat and reverse diabetes, and it is complications. Welcome to Sugar Empty Diabetes Channel. Today we will understand whether metformin, or it is natural cousin's berberine and dehydroberberine can really help stop or prevent cancer, and if so, how do they do that? Metformin was first shown to help diabetics avoid cancer in 2005, whereas early studies show that it affects a wide range of molecular pathways that play a role in the development of almost every type of cancer, but other studies show that it works well with a wide range of other anticancer treatments like your chemotherapy if you already have cancer, your radiotherapy, your immunotherapy, etc. In addition, a growing number of clinical studies show that it can help prevent cancers. French lilac, also called goat's roue, or galiga officinalis, is a medieval European medicinal herb that was first used to treat diabetes in 17th century. It wasn't until 1957 that the French doctor Jean Stern officially patented metformin as a drug treatment for diabetes. Smart man, huh? Since then, the effectiveness of metformin as a treatment for top-3 diabetes method has been proven. It was approved by the FDA in 1995 as a treatment for top-3 diabetes, and in the late 1980s studies on metformin's effect on insulin receptor on tumor cells led the researchers to think that the metformin's effect could be actually used to manage cancer. Today, many studies show similar promises for berberine and dehydraberberine, which are what we use in our superberberine product available at sugarmdies.com, which are metformin's cousins. Remember, dehydraberberine is a great alternative to metformin if you cannot take metformin or you just have a contraindication to metformin or you simply don't want to take it. Molecular mechanisms are very similar, except that the metformin is a pharmaceutical made by pharmaceutical industries, generally overseas, not in the US, and imported later, and sometimes they have questionable quality problems and occasional recalls, and it makes people kind of, you know, become skeptical about that medication. There are some possible kidney issues, etc. Various. The natural metformin, which is berberine or dehydraberberine, cause minimal to no side effects. But you're free to choose what you want to use, and they have similar benefits, like I said. Today, my goal is to inform you and to educate you on both metformin and dehydraberberine's anti-cancer benefits. Metformin's main pharmacological effect is to lower high blood sugar levels as you all know. That is mostly because it improves insulin resistance in the liver, which is an organ that causes a lot of sugar production in your system and release into your bloodstream, and it also helps increase glucose uptake in your muscles so that your blood sugar goes down, and it also decreases the absorption of sugar from your intestine. Overall, it improves your insulin sensitivity. It does that by activating a cell energy sensor known as AMP-activated protein kinase. Now, that main target for this enzyme is mTOR protein, which is super important for cell growth and cancer dynamics. Now, AMP kinase stops the mTOR from working, which is very important in preventing cell growth and cancer. In addition, glucose metabolism is in the heart of the metabolic arrangement found in cancer cells. So metformin primarily affect the glucose metabolism. This means that the metformin and berberine, or even dehydraberberine, can be used to help prevent or treat cancer. It is also important to note that immune system plays a huge role in preventing and controlling cancer. Now, metformin, for example, has a wide range of effects on almost every part of the immune system, especially when it comes to cancer immunity. One of the things that metformin does is making CD8T lymphocytes more powerful and help them recover from exhaustion. CD8T cells are one of the most important parts of cellular immunity against tumors because these cells can attack cancer cells. Metformin was able to bring back that exhausted CD8 positive T lymphocytes back to life in the lab studies. This has happened for leukemia, this has happened in melanoma, renal cell carcinoma, or kidneys cell carcinoma, non-small cell lung carcinoma, gastrointestinal cancers, or even breast cancers. Now, metformin's positive effect on somebody's metabolism has also been linked to their microflora in their gut, the bacteria in their gut. Science has become more aware of the important role of the gut microbiome in the health and diseases that include cancer. Through its effects on the immune system and so forth, people who have a lot of bad bacteria in their bodies, like in their intestinal system, typically have a bad immune system. The immune system is not strong enough in these people. Of course, they will make it more likely that they will get cancer. Remember, eating junk food and processed sugars thrive those bad bacteria. Studies also show that people who take metformin can have a really positive effect on their metabolism, immune system as well as the microbiome, which is your gut bacteria, and that has a huge effect on cancer dynamics. We know that inflammation also can make cancer easier to grow. Dr. Virtuo, for example, came up with the idea that the inflammation plays a role in cancer in 1863 based on the fact that the leukocytes were found in cancer tissue. There has been a lot of evidence that inflammation can both cause and result from cancer. Many studies have shown that chronic inflammation can lead to cancers. So, given that type 2 diabetes is linked to chronic low-grade inflammation and metformin has a positive effect on the immune and metabolic systems, it should come as no surprise then that the metformin or even berberine and dehydraberberine must also have an effect on the inflammatory response. How about autophagy? Do you remember our autophagy video right there? Both apoptosis and programmed cell death, which is autophagy, are super important tumor-suppressive pathways that control the cell survival and cell death. And they are becoming more important targets for cancer treatments as more people learn about them. Remember, how we discussed about how fasting and exercise can actually trigger autophagy and help prevent cancer in addition to improving your diabetes. So, apoptosis is about cellular suicide and cell death. And autophagy is about recycling and getting rid of cellular waste, which can also lead to cell death if cells are too sick or too disturbed or too old, preventing them from turning into cancer cells. Now, in cancer biology, autophagy is a cancer killing process because it helps to get rid of oncogenic molecules, cancer-making molecules. So, meaning that they kill the sick cells before they turn into cancer. Bottom line, metformin is an old drug that has been repurposed nowadays. People who don't trust metformin manufacturers due to frequent recalls, etc., turn into natural alternatives that does pretty much the same thing that the metformin does, such as berberine or the more absorbable form of berberine, which is dehydraberberine. Now, it is good to see that overall results from clinical trials and studies have shown that both metformin and its natural cousins, dehydraberberine, etc., protect against a wide range of different types of cancer. That's a new hope, great hope, as of 2022. There are more than 300 clinical trials showing or trying to prove anticancer benefits of these agents, and most have been successful. So, make sure you check out our website for super berberine and make sure you guys stay free, happy and healthy. I'll see you in the next video.