A recent report found that the widely prescribed diabetes drug metformin can lower the risk of death from cancers among postmenopausal women who also have type 2 diabetes.

In particular, researchers discovered that postmenopausal women with type 2 diabetes have a 13 percent higher chance of developing invasive cancers compared to postmenopausal women without type 2 diabetes.

These women also have higher risks of developing certain cancers such as non-Hodgkin lymphoma, colon, pancreas, liver and endometrial cancers with a range between 20 percent to almost double the risks.

When compared to postmenopausal women without type 2 diabetes, the group has 45 percent increased mortality risk from invasive cancers.

"Our findings suggest that diabetes remains a risk factor for cancer overall and increases the risk of certain cancers. But we also found a lower cancer risk for certain cancers among those patients who have used metformin for many years," said Zhihong Gong, Roswell Park's oncology assistant professor in the Department of Cancer Prevention and Control.

However, the diabetes experts cautioned that the study findings don't prove that metformin reduces or prevents cancer death risks. What the researchers found was simply an association between the two.

"We still don't understand the exact mechanism of action of this old drug used in diabetes," said Dr. Joel Zonszein, Montefiore Medical Center's Clinical Diabetes Center director. Zonszein wasn't involved in the study.

The researchers also echoed the same warnings from diabetes experts. They added that further research is required to determine metformin's actual role in the recently found association as well as the drug's long-term effects on cancer risks and management.

But it seems that researchers are uncovering metformin's many links. In a 2015 study, a team found that the same drug can help obese teens with type 1 diabetes improve their blood sugar control.

More recently, another team found that metformin can help patients recover from a recent heart attack. All these studies on metformin can lead to new treatments not just for teens and postmenopausal women but also for the greater public.

Photo: Live Well | Flickr