Metformin: The Diabetes Drug That Can Increase Your Lifespan

Metformin, a drug used to treat Type II diabetes, is currently under clinical trials because it has shown promise in increasing the number of years we can live.

Researchers have already proven that Metformin extends the life of animals. Now experts want to see if the same effects can be replicated in humans.

Last year researchers at Cardiff University found that when patients with diabetes were given the drug they lived longer than others without the condition, even though they should have died eight years earlier on average.

The pill's developers hope that it could one day wipe out diseases like Alzheimer's and that they can slow down the ageing process in humans, making those in their 70s as healthy a 50-year-old.

The trials are expected to take five to seven years and the drug will aim to attack the process of ageing, rather than individual diseases, one of the project's members, Stuart Jay Olshansky, explained.