History of Diabetes

Say bye to diabetic wound

The essence of the interest in the history of diabetes is to help those suffering understand how treatment has evolved over the years. This knowledge can help in understanding diabetes symptoms, treatment and the differences in the diabetes types.  

A Greek physician, Aretaeus of Cappadocia gave Diabetes its first name after the word dia-bainein which means “to siphon” in the First A.D. This was related to the patients passing excessive amounts of urine.

Around the same time, Indians called diabetes “sweet urine disease” because they tested for it by observing whether ants were attracted to the persons urine or not. In 1425, the word diabete was first recorded in an English medical text, to cement the history of diabetes.

In 1675, a English physician Dr. Thomas Willis described the sugar taste of urine in people with diabetes. This was followed by diagnosis of diabetes by 'water tasters,' who drank the urine of those suspected of having diabetes; the urine of people with diabetes was thought to be sweet-tasting. Then the Latin word for honey (referring to its sweetness), 'mellitus’, was added in 1750 by Cullen, a scientist; the term diabetes emerged as a result.

In 1869 Paul Langerhans, a German medical student discovered that the pancreas contains two systems of cells. One set to secrete the normal pancreatic juice, while the function of the other was unknown. Several years later, these cells were identified as the 'islets of Langerhans.'

In 1889, Drs Oskar Minkowski and Joseph von Mering removed the pancreas of a dog at the University of Strasbourg, France, to determine the effect of an absent pancreas on digestion. They thus discovered that the pancreas plays a major role in diabetes.

The advancement in the discovery and treatment of diabetes continued in the 19^th century with a French researcher, Claude Bernard, studying the working of the pancreas and the glycogen metabolism of the liver. At the same time, Czech researcher, I.V. Pavlov, discovered the link between the nervous system and gastric secretion, making an important contribution to science's knowledge of the physiology of the digestive system.

In 1901, Eugene Opie linked diabetes with islet cells, which are clusters of cells in the pancreas that makes insulin.  

In 1920, R.D. Lawrence developed the dietary exchange system which helped to develop a diet for diabetes. Earlier in 1919, Frederick Allen had published a book: “Total Dietary Regulation in the Treatment of Diabetes”, citing exhaustive case records of 76 of the 100 diabetes patients he observed. The idea of a special diet for diabetes persons was first mooted by a French physician, Bouchardat, who noticed the disappearance of glycosuria in his diabetes patients during the rationing of food in Paris while under siege by Germany during the Franco-Prussian War in the 1870s; he the formulated an idea of individualized diets for his diabetes patients.

In 1920, Dr. Banting also conceived the idea of insulin after reading Moses Barron's paper 'The Relation of the Islets of Langerhans to Diabetes with Special Reference to Cases of Pancreatic Lithiasis' in the November issue of Surgery, Gynecology and Obstetrics. For the next year, with the assistance of Best, Collip and Macleod, Dr. Banting continued his research using a variety of different extracts on de-pancreatized dogs. Towards the end of 1921, they discovered insulin as a diabetes medication, after realising that de-pancreatized dogs were successfully treated with insulin.

In the years 1922 to 1923, Frederick G Banting and John J.R. Macleod  won the Nobel Prize for their discovery of insulin, after using it in the first patients for the treatment of diabetes.

In 1936, Sir Harold Percival Himsworth recognised two major types of diabetes; type 1(insulin-dependent) and 2 (non-insulin-dependent) diabetes.  

Other Milestone in the development of diabetes treatment

In 1936, PZI (Protamine Zinc Insulin) veterinary insulin was used on animals; it is a combination of pork/beef derived insulin or beef-derived insulin. In the same year, NPH (Neutral Protamine Hagedorn) was created by adding neutral protamine to regular insulin.

In 1942, the first sulfonylurea was identified as an anti-diabetic drug to help manage type 2 diabetes, and in 1956 oral medications were developed.

In 1944, Becton-Dickinson started marketing a standard insulin syringe, thus helping to make diabetes management more uniform and easy.

In 1952, Lente insulin was created using zinc, a natural component of the body to obtain the best effects without the use of protamine.

In 1969, Ames Diagnostics created the first portable blood glucose meter to help monitor the different types of diabetes.

In 1977, the radioimmunoassay for insulin was discovered by Rosalyn Yalow and Solomon Berson. In 1979, the hemoglobin A1C test was created which made measurement of blood sugar control more precise.

In same year, the Derma-Ject needle-free insulin delivery system was marketed by The Derata Corporation.

In 1988, Dr. Gerald Reaven identified metabolic syndrome, which was a combination of medical disorders that increase the risk of a diabetes diagnosis.

In 1992, Lispro was tested, by Eli Lilly, as a diabetes medication. In the following year, the Diabetes Control and Complications Trial concluded that the best diabetes management was "tight control."

In 1995, Precose and Metformin were approved for use to help with type 2 diabetes symptoms. While in 2007, stem cells were used to treat diabetes patients, the cells were from their own bone marrow; the treatment showed that most of the patients did not require insulin treatments for extended periods of time.