ArticleNature metabolism2024
Metformin and feeding increase levels of the appetite-suppressing metabolite Lac-Phe in humans.
Article in Nature metabolism, 2024. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 51 papers.
What it found
Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.
The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.
Who cites it
51 citing papers in PubMed, 70 citations in OpenAlex.
- The anti-obesogenic metabolite, Lac-Phe, is elevated by metformin treatment in prostate cancer patients.EMBO molecular medicine · 2026Trial
- Exercise intensity determines circulating levels of Lac-Phe and other exerkines: a randomized crossover trial.Metabolomics : Official journal of the Metabolomic Society · 2025Trial
- Metabolite and nutrient regulation of macrophages in obesity and metabolic disease.Nature reviews. Immunology · 2026Review
- Lactate Biology: Subcellular Routing and Chemical Form Define Function.Biochemistry · 2026Review
- Temporal changes in circulating metabolites after metabolic and bariatric surgery and risk of incident coronary heart disease: evidence from prospective cohort and nested case-control studies.International journal of surgery (London, England) · 2026Article
- The blood metabolome of brain health in midlife and influences of genes, microbiome and exposome.Nature aging · 2026Article
- Gold-Functionalized Multilayer Heterojunction Microarchitectures Enable High-Fidelity Serum Metabolite Profiling for Skin Cancer Subtype Classification.Small methods · 2026Article
- Synergistic Intervention for Obesity: Integrating Central Appetite Regulation and Peripheral Energy Expenditure.Current obesity reports · 2026Review
- Lactate as a Chemical Modification on Proteins and Metabolites.Annual review of biochemistry · 2026Review
- Metformin inhibits mitochondrial complex I in intestinal epithelium to promote glycaemic control.Nature metabolism · 2026Article
- Lac-Phe elicits anxiolytic-like effects associated with monoaminergic signaling in mice.Translational psychiatry · 2026Article
- The Emerging Role of N-Lactoyl-Phenylalanine (Lac-Phe) in Metabolic Regulation and Disease: From Exercise-Induced Metabolite to Therapeutic Candidate.Antioxidants (Basel, Switzerland) · 2026Article
- Untargeted Metabolomics Identifies N-Lactoyl-Amino Acids as Dose-Responsive Plasma Biomarkers of Metformin Adherence in Type 2 Diabetes.Clinical pharmacology and therapeutics · 2026Article
- Metformin provides superior neuroprotective potential compared to semaglutide in preventing diabetes-associated Alzheimer's disease via dual actions.Communications medicine · 2026Article
- Beyond exercise and appetite: The expanding biology and therapeutic potential of N-lactoyl-phenylalanine.The Journal of pharmacology and experimental therapeutics · 2026Review
- Lac-Phe: An Emerging Appetite-Regulating Exerkine with Health and Therapeutic Benefits.Current obesity reports · 2026Review
- Controversial effects of metformin on human physiology and pathophysiology.Frontiers in pharmacology · 2026Review
- Hydrophilic metformin and hydrophobic biguanides inhibit mitochondrial complex I by distinct mechanisms.Nature structural & molecular biology · 2026Article
- Phenylalanine homeostasis in metabolic disorders: epidemiological trends, pathophysiological mechanisms, and clinical treatment.Frontiers in endocrinology · 2026Review
- N-Lactoyl amino acids: insights from metabolite genome-wide association studies and phenome-wide association analysis.Human molecular genetics · 2025Article
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
9 authors at 2 institutions in 2 countries.
Funding
Abstract
Metformin, a widely used first-line treatment for type 2 diabetes (T2D), is known to reduce blood glucose levels and suppress appetite. Here we report a significant elevation of the appetite-suppressing metabolite N-lactoyl phenylalanine (Lac-Phe) in the blood of individuals treated with metformin across seven observational and interventional studies. Furthermore, Lac-Phe levels were found to rise in response to acute metformin administration and post-prandially in patients with T2D or in metabolically healthy volunteers.
Indexed as
Identifiers
What Socratic holds
Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the Socratic graph.