West Virginia expectant parents expect their babies to come out healthy even when they’re taking certain vital prescription medication. Unfortunately, that’s not always the case. A popular diabetes drug has been linked to birth defects in boys.
What is the drug, and what does it do?
The diabetes drug, Metformin, is one of the most widely used in treating the disease. However, according to a study, when men took the drug and then later conceived a child, it could result in serious birth defects in boys.
Men who took Metformin for at least three months before impregnating their partners experienced changes to their sperm. When baby boys were conceived, those changes affected their genital development. The babies were born with underdeveloped testicles. The study was performed by researchers at Stanford University School of Medicine in collaboration with researchers from Denmark and published in the Annals of Internal Medicine on March 28, 2022.
Interestingly, girl babies were not affected by their fathers taking Metformin to treat diabetes.
What could be done to prevent this problem?
This is only the first study to conclude that Metformin has been linked to birth defects. As a result, the researchers hope that more studies will be done to confirm their findings. If that happens, they have hope that doctors will talk about these risks with their patients.
One of the researchers stated that men can improve their fertility by exercising regularly, consuming a healthy diet and maintaining a healthy weight.
If further studies come to the same conclusion as this one, men might have to avoid taking medications like Metformin due to potential defective product issues. The researcher pointed out that type 2 diabetes can be kept under control with the healthy practices he recommended. While diabetes can also impact fertility, those healthy practices might be able to boost it.
If your child suffered birth defects due to a defective product, it’s your right to fight back.
