The drug is approved for type 2 diabetes in children over the age of 10 and has a long track record of safety in young diabetics.
A previous review examining metformin as a lishou capsule weight-loss treatment in nondiabetic children found the drug to be only modestly effective, but the review included just five studies published through 2008.
The latest systematic review included 14 clinical trials published between 1996 and 2012. The studies included a total of 946 children and teens ranging in age from 10 to 16, with baseline BMIs of 26 to 41.
McDonagh said the message to clinicians and parents is that treatment with metformin alone is unlikely to result in clinically meaningful weight loss, and that lifestyle li shou slimming capsule interventions need to involve the entire family and even the community.
Randomized clinical trials included overweight or obese, nondiabetic children and adolescents. The trials compared metformin with any intervention and all but one used some form of lifestyle intervention as background therapy in both groups. The primary outcome measure was change in BMI.