Early History of Diabetes

Despite the current prominence of the disease diabetes in our current societies, to the extent that it is being described as an epidemic by the World Health Organization, it is not a new disease. In fact there is documentary evidence of it in some of mankind's earliest civilizations. The early history of diabetes has been traced back to around 1550 B.C. where it receives mention in the writings of the physician Hesy-Ra of the 3rd Egyptian Dynasty. The writings, recorded on papyrus, describes a disease that causes one to lose weight and urinate often.

It was recorded in ancient Indian cultures as sweet urine disease. This tell tale symptom of diabetes was also known about in ancient Chinese and Greek civilizations. In 1st century A.D. diabetes was described as “the melting down of flesh and limbs into urine” by Arateus.

The term Diabetes Mellitus, a  term for what is commonly known as type 1 diabetes today, was coined in 1675 by Thomas Willis. The Mellitus is a derivation of the Latin word for honey, again indicating the idea of sweet urine.

The 19th Century

In the early 19th century the first chemical was developed to test how much sugar was in the urine. The history of diabetes of the late 1850’s, Priorry, a French physician recommends diabetes patients to have a high intake of sugar in their diet for a treatment to diabetes.

By the 1870’s another French physician by the name of Bouchardat notices there is no glycosuria in diabetes patients that were affected by the food ration in Paris during the Franco-Prussian War. This loss of glycosuria made him realize that diets needed to be put into effect for each individual diabetes patient. With these diets, calorie intakes were very important for each individual diet regime. By the late 19th century, Catoni, an Italian diabetes specialist quarantines his patients under lock and key so they will follow the strict diet guidelines for their diabetes disease.

The 20th Century

The history of diabetes in the early 20th century is associated with the diabetes specialist Frederick Madison Allen. He was one of the two leading doctors that specialized in diabetes in the United States at that time. Allen published a book in 1913, titled Studies Concerning Glycosuria and Diabetes. 

In 1919 Allen published another book, Total Dietary Regulation in the Treatment of Diabetes. The book entails 76 descriptions of cases he had observed of diabetes patients. This same year Allen became the director at the Rockefeller Institute for the research of diabetes. Between the year 1919 and 1920, Allen opened a clinic in which diabetes patients could be treated.

The significance of Insulin, the hormone that regulates the glucose level in blood was first discovered in 1921. A de-pancreatized dog was successfully treated with insulin. In the 1940’s a link is made between diabetes and long term complications a patient with diabetes may incur in later years. These complications could lead to eye and kidney disease.

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