Can metformin help with weight loss if you are not diabetic?

What we can tell you today: how thoroughly this has been studied.

Studied in controlled trials

4 studies, of which 2 are controlled trials in people with a hundred participants or more. No overview combining them yet.

4 Large controlled trial 2 studies

3 Small study in people 2 studies

This says how thoroughly something has been studied — not whether it works for you. What each study actually found is in the study itself, and in the plain-language write-ups we are adding.

Appears under: Living longer in good health · Weight loss and GLP-1 · Hair and nails

The studies

4 Large controlled trial Remission of Type 2 Diabetes Following a Short-term Intervention With Insulin Glargine, Metformin, and Dapagliflozin.
2021 · The Journal of clinical endocrinology and metabolism · 154 participants
4 Large controlled trial Prospective Randomized Biomarker Study of Metformin and Lifestyle Intervention for Prevention in Obese Women at Increased Risk for Endometrial Cancer.
2019 · Cancer prevention research (Philadelphia, Pa.) · 576 participants
3 Small study in people Combined oral contraceptives plus spironolactone compared with metformin in women with polycystic ovary syndrome: a one-year randomized clinical trial.
2017 · European journal of endocrinology · 22 participants
3 Small study in people In PCOS patients the addition of low-dose spironolactone induces a more marked reduction of clinical and biochemical hyperandrogenism than metformin alone.
2014 · Nutrition, metabolism, and cardiovascular diseases : NM · 28 participants