Metformin has been prescribed to people with type 2 diabetes to manage blood sugar for more than 60 years, but scientists haven't been exactly sure how it works. A recent study suggests it works directly in the brain, which could lead to new types of treatment.

Researchers from the Baylor College of Medicine in the US identified a brain pathway that the drug seems to work through, in addition to the effects it has on biological processes in other areas of the body.

"It's been widely accepted that metformin lowers blood glucose primarily by reducing glucose output in the liver . Other studies have found that it acts through the gut," says Makoto Fukuda, a pathophysiologist at Baylor.

"We looked into the brain as it is widely recognized as a key regulator of whole-body glucose

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