U. S. doctors reported on Monday to have revealed that the common diabetes drug metformin stinks, literally, and this may explain why many patients stop taking it.

However, they advised that people let their doctors know if the smell of this oral drug is a problem for them, as different formulations -- especially the extended-relief version -- tend to have a milder odor, reports a letter in the Feb.
16 issue of the Annals of Internal Medicine.

"We wonder why this reaction to metformin has not been previously reported", Dr. Allen Pelletier of the Medical College of Georgia and colleagues wrote in a letter to the journal.

Some people reveal that the drug possesses an odor like fish or dirty socks and this could account for the well-known side effects of the drug, which can lead to nausea.

The letter to the Annals of Internal Medicine reveals that the problem could be dealt by coating the pills so they do not smell or release the odor into the stomach, where it can be burped up.