By Stephen Beech

A common diabetes drug could help prevent dementia, suggests a new study.

Metformin - a medication traditionally prescribed to treat diabetes - is linked to lower risks of dementia and early death, say scientists.

The study by researchers at Taipei Medical University , Taiwan, included 452,777 adults with varying degrees of overweight and obesity.

More than 35,700 cases of dementia and 76,048 deaths occurred over 10 years.

But metformin users exhibited "significantly lower" risks of dementia, according to the findings published in the journal Diabetes, Obesity and Metabolism .

The benefits of metformin were seen across all categories of overweight, obesity, and severe obesity, with 8% to 12% lower risks of dementia and 26 to 28% lower risks of death.

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