Metformin and acarbose are like brothers in the field of hypoglycemic drugs. My brother has a long history of using metformin, and my brother's acarbose ability is not inferior. They have remarkable effects in helping human beings to fight hyperglycemia. Metformin has strong safety and prevention in monotherapy/combination therapy, and acarbose is well tolerated by the public. We have made a summary of their advantages.
① Metformin
As an oral hypoglycemic agent, metformin has the clinical advantages of not causing low BG, not gaining weight and protecting cardiovascular system. Scientists have studied the inhibitory mechanism of metformin in different years. With the deepening of scientists' understanding of this drug, it is more and more possible to restore its mechanism. As early as 200 1 year, scientists found that metformin can inhibit liver gluconeogenesis and hepatocyte fat accumulation by activating AMPK. In 20 15 years, scientists found that metformin mainly inhibited gluconeogenesis along the axis of intestine-vagus nerve-hypothalamus-vagus nerve-liver, which could make insulin-stimulating hormone activate AMPK to play a corresponding role.
The research on the mechanism that metformin can reduce BG is not lost. In the study of 20 10 years, it was found that metformin can knock out AMPK/LKB1in the liver of mice, thus reducing BG. In 20 14 years, scientists studied it, and found that metformin can inhibit mitochondrial glycerol triphosphate dehydrogenase and increase the reduction state in stem cells. Of course, there are more problems to be solved in the follow-up, and scientists should be given time to do research. In a word, metformin, as a popular hypoglycemic agent, is worthy of the name.
② Acarbose
Acarbose was developed by Bayer Healthcare Company. As a hypoglycemic drug, its skill should not be underestimated. In clinical experiments, Acarbose is often used to control postprandial blood sugar in patients with type 2 diabetes and impaired glucose tolerance. The hypoglycemic mechanism of acarbose is related to the carbohydrate content in food, that is, the higher the carbohydrate content we use, the stronger the effect of acarbose on delaying the increase of blood sugar.
Acarbose mainly inhibits enzymes related to sugar metabolism, such as sucrase, glucanase, maltase, isomaltase, etc., and maintains a good affinity with many enzymes, but its limitations are very obvious, mainly manifested in the fact that it has a strong hypoglycemic effect within 4 hours, but with the increase of time, the blood sugar will return to the original level after 4 hours. It is recommended that patients take acarbose for a long time, so the curative effect will be better.
Through the above introduction, you may have some understanding of the advantages of metformin and acarbose. In fact, which drug to choose needs to be determined according to the specific tests of doctors. You can't think that one drug is better than another, and the efficacy and price are not the most suitable factors for a drug. In terms of the body's acceptance, the curative effect does not increase the body's burden, and it can play a certain inhibitory role, so this drug is the most suitable for you.
Metformin and acarbose are both used to treat type 2 diabetes, but which one of them has better hypoglycemic effect? In fact, scientists have made research on this question early. Let's review the specific mechanism of metformin and acarbose.
Metformin is an oral hypoglycemic agent, which can inhibit the glucose output in the liver and promote muscle fat and liver cells to absorb more glucose from the blood, thus achieving better hypoglycemic effect. Acarbose is a new type of hypoglycemic agent, which is mainly used in the intestine. Acarbose inhibits glucoside hydrolase and hinders the degradation of polysaccharide and sucrose. At this time, the absorption of glucose in the intestine is slow, and the blood sugar after meals will not rise so fast, so it also has certain hypoglycemic effect.
Medical scientists made statistics on the treatment of 70 patients with type 2 diabetes in the hospital, and divided them into two groups. One group was given metformin in the control group, and the other group was given acarbose and metformin in the observation group. According to the follow-up study for several weeks, it was found that the blood sugar level of patients could be controlled by single drug or combined drug.
It is worth noting that when acarbose and metformin are used together, scientists observe that the blood sugar drops less than that of the control group two hours after meals. The possible reason is that acarbose delays the absorption of intestinal sugar. Then the BMI index, triglyceride and serum total cholesterol levels of the two groups were compared. The observation group taking metformin and acarbose performed better than the control group, but the adverse reactions were also very obvious.
Through the above experimental control of lowering blood sugar, we can easily find that acarbose has a great adverse reaction to human body, and the main symptoms are abdominal distension, abdominal pain and diarrhea. The presumed reason is that after using acarbose, the drug stays in the small intestine for a long time, and the bacteria in the intestine ferment and produce gas, which will cause abdominal discomfort to patients.
This is not to say that this drug cannot be used. In fact, frequent use of acarbose can make patients tolerant, and if acarbose is combined with metformin, they are safer.
The method of use determines the curative effect of treatment. Metformin alone is effective in treating diabetes, but compared with metformin, acarbose combined with acarbose is always limited in reducing blood sugar. Single use may increase the side effects of one of the drugs, but the components of the drugs will complement each other when used together, which will avoid too strong side effects.
Conclusion: One is the big brother in the field of hypoglycemic drugs, and the other is the younger brother of nova and acarbose, which all show their advantages. The curative effect of single drug is limited, and it may increase the incidence of adverse reactions. If the drug is used together, the curative effect will not only increase, but also the adverse reactions can be reduced in time. It is up to the doctor to choose which drug. Some people are suitable for metformin, some people are suitable for acarbose, and some people need to use both. Choosing different drugs at different stages is the best for them.
References:
[1] Cheng Peng, Li Yuhui, Guo Ruichen. Pharmacological research progress and clinical application of acarbose [J]. Pharmaceutical Research, 2020,39 (02):107-10.
Pan Xiaokang. Research progress on hypoglycemic mechanism of metformin [J]. China Journal of Diabetes, 20 16,24(07):665-668.
Zhang Boqing, Jomally, Yu Ying. Observation on the effect of metformin combined with acarbose in the treatment of type 2 diabetes [J]. chinese journal of biochemical pharmaceutics, 2016,36 (02):116-1.