Among the many medications used in management of diabetes, one mainstay is the drug known as metformin. Unfortunately, there are fake news articles out there that say metformin is bad for you, with misleading clickbait-type headlines that say doctors no longer prescribe metformin.

Contrary to one article, I still prescribe metformin on a regular basis for my patients, a medication that continues to save lives by helping control diabetes. Some patients have stopped taking their metformin just because they saw this headline without even reading the whole article. (If you actually read the article, at the end it becomes an advertisement selling some so-called "miracle" drug for diabetes which is not proven to work. Please do not buy medication without a prescription from your doctor, and definitely do not buy medication or supplements from social media sites).

Another frequent question is, "Doc, di ba nakakasira yan ng kidney?" The truth is that metformin does not damage the kidneys; it's uncontrolled diabetes that can cause that. But when the kidneys are not functioning well, metformin can accumulate in the body and this can lead to toxic effects. Patients with worsening kidney function are taken off metformin because of the possibility of toxicity, and this has led to the common misconception that the metformin may have been the reason for the kidney failure.

Metformin is derived from a substance called guanidine, the active ingredient in a plant called Galega officinalis (goat's rue or French lilac) which was used to treat diabetes in medieval Europe. It has been in use since the 1950s and after proper diet and exercise, it is one of the first medications prescribed for patients with type 2 diabetes mellitus.

Metformin is known as an insulin sensitizer, meaning it helps our body use the insulin that we make. In type 2 diabetes, insulin produced by our pancreas is not able to get blood sugar into the cells of the body where it can work properly, a condition called insulin resistance. Metformin helps your body make better use of the insulin produced by the pancreas and regulates the amount of sugar released from places where sugar has been stored such as the liver. Metformin can also be used in combination with other oral medications and insulin for better diabetes control.