It is common knowledge that the 20th and 21st centuries marked the most significant advancements in medical research and disease treatment for humans, and there is much evidence to support this belief.
However, we also have a tendency to believe that prehistoric or indigenous people were ignorant of illness and that their only means of survival were “magic,” a few medicines, or pure chance. As it happens, this is not a legitimate perspective on the history of medicine.
It seems that the knowledge of ancient healers and physicians regarding the human anatomy, diagnosis, and treatment protocols was greater than previously acknowledged. For instance, at least one ingredient derived from plants or herbs is present in about 25% of contemporary prescription drugs1.
Additionally, the number of plant-based cancer treatments is increasing, and these include chemotherapeutic agents based on taxol (derived from the yew tree) and etoposide (derived from the mayapple).
The study of ethnobotany involves speaking with indigenous people and traditional healers to identify which plants need more research for their potential anti-diabetic, anti-cancer, and antibiotic qualities. It’s also becoming clear to us that traditional notions of nutrition, such as “an apple a day,”a healthy diet) or lifestyle choices (going to bed and waking up early, or getting your rest!) provide genuine benefits for a lot of people.
In addition to creating the Hippocratic oath, Hippocrates—dubbed the “Father of Modern Medicine”—is also said to have said, “Let food be thy medicine, and let medicine be thy food.”2. There is a global rebirth of the ideas that good diet, rest, meditation, and ongoing physical activity can result in a longer and healthier life.
Though it isn’t spoken that way, medical experts and doctors are increasingly in agreement that traditional remedies and methods may need to be reexamined.
Historical Accounts of Diabetes
The Ebers papyrus, an Egyptian document from before 1500 BCE, has the earliest known description of diabetes. It describes an illness marked by increased volume and frequency of urination, extreme thirst, and abrupt weight loss.3. In connection with the previous discussion of outdated nutritional theories, the doctors of ancient Egypt suggested consuming whole wheat grains in their diet.
Around the same period, doctors discovered in India that the urine of diabetics attracted ants. This discovery led to the development of the first clinical test for diabetes, in which the doctors would pour out the patients’ urine and see whether the ants were drawn to it.
The diagnosis was “madhumeha,” which translates to “honey urine,” if they were attracted to each other. Extreme thirst, increased urine, and foul breath—possibly the “acetone” breath of severe ketosis—were all present in madhumeha patients.
In the third century BCE, Apollonius of Memphis, an ancient Greek physician, gave this illness its modern name, diabetes. The Greek term “diabetes” means “to pass through.” The ancient Greeks thought diabetes was a kidney disease. Subsequent Greek physicians were able to differentiate between diabetes mellitus, as it is currently known, and diabetes insipidus, which is based on a separate hormonal problem and is likewise marked by severe thirst and frequent urination.
It’s interesting to note that, throughout his whole career, the renowned Roman physician Galen claimed to have seen just two cases of diabetes; therefore, although diabetes was recognized and understood, it was a very uncommon occurrence.
Ayurvedic doctors in India discovered by the fifth century that there were at least two forms of diabetes: Type 1 diabetes, also known as juvenile onset diabetes, formed in childhood, and Type 2 diabetes, which was linked to obesity and occurred in adults. Chinese medical professionals observed that patients with diabetes were bulkier, wealthier, and more prone to infections.
The “Medieval Era” of Diabetes
When diabetes first emerged, the majority of doctors thought the kidneys were broken. But an English physician recognized in the late eighteenth century that people with diabetes developed following a pancreatic damage.
Approximately concurrently, a different medical professional from England discovered sugar in the urine of diabetic patients. The gold standard for diagnosing diabetes by the 19th century was the presence of sugar in the urine.
For a large portion of this period, the primary treatment for diabetes consisted of a low-calorie, high-protein, low-carb diet, possibly combined with appetite-suppressing drugs like opium and digitalis.
Must Read: What You Should Know About Prediabetes
The Insulin Discovery
Physicians’ knowledge of the biology of diabetes began to expand over the 18th and 19th centuries. By the late 1800s, the pancreas was known to produce the substance that was lacking in diabetes (which was still unknown at the time), and it was believed that the islet cells inside the pancreas were the specific organ affected.
Although several researchers were able to identify this chemical, Frederick Banting and Charles Best of Toronto, Canada, are credited with the ultimate discovery of insulin. Banting and Best performed the first insulin treatment in Toronto in 1922. A fourteen-year-old child with Type 1 diabetes was effectively treated.
First Cases of Hypoglycemia
Drugs that lower blood glucose (blood sugar) levels are known as hypoglycemics. They were initially found because these medications had a side effect of lowering blood sugar. (Unbeknownst to most people, many current medications are “discovered”—that is, by accident—when they were first used to treat one ailment and then generated side effects that helped with other conditions.
The first family of hypoglycemic drugs produced in the 20th century were biguanides and monoguanidines; biguanides, which include Metformin, are still frequently used today. Following the Sulfonylurea class of medications, which included Glipizide and Tolbutamide, were the Thiazolidinediones, DPP-4 inhibitors, GLP-1 inhibitors, and others.
Insulin
People with diabetes who needed insulin for a significant portion of the 19th and 20th centuries used insulin made from cows or pigs. Fortunately, nature tends to be fairly conservative when it comes to the kinds of molecules it employs.
That is to say, if a substance is effective in one species, it is probably effective in another in a similar manner. Nature doesn’t waste time reinventing the wheel when it already functions fairly well!There were just three areas where cow’s insulin and human insulin were different.
Amino acids are the fundamental building blocks of proteins like insulin. There was just one difference in pig insulin. Although pig and cow insulin typically functioned quite well, a sizable percentage of individuals experienced immunological reactions, which reduced the insulin’s effectiveness.
This resulted in the creation of human insulin produced using recombinant DNA. This procedure involves inserting the human gene that codes for insulin into bacteria, effectively converting them into factories that produce insulin.
The Creation of Laboratory Tests for Diabetes Management and Diagnosis
Although glucose (blood sugar) tests in labs have been around for a while, diabetic patients’ monitoring was difficult until the invention of the home blood sugar testing strip in 1965. Since then, the medical device industry has made advancements in monitoring so that anyone with a blood glucose monitor can obtain a cheap and reliable blood sugar test at any time of day or night.
The discovery of A1c, a kind of glycosylated hemoglobin, also occurred in the 1960s and facilitated the development of a test that streamlined the monitoring of average blood sugar levels over the previous three months.
Hemoglobin, the oxygen-carrying molecule found in red blood cells, can also be known as glycosylated hemoglobin when sugar molecules are chemically bound to it. Hemoglobin absorbs sugar molecules from the blood as red blood cells oxidize (they live for three months on average).
The more sugar in the blood, the more sugar molecules hemoglobin absorbs. This trait serves as a useful diagnostic lab test and enables a doctor to keep track of a patient’s blood sugar regulation.
The Present Condition of Diabetes Research
Nowadays, creating additional hypoglycemic medications to manage diabetes is the main focus of most research. Yet this is a form of treatment rather than a cure. Transplanting pancreatic islet cells, which are the biological source of insulin, is the main focus of research on a diabetes cure.
The objective is to lessen tissue rejection, just like with all transplants. Gaining further insight into the genetics of diabetes is thought to be possible with the completion of the Human Genome Project in 2003. This could result in improved techniques for diabetes detection, treatment, and prevention.3-
A significant portion of current research focuses on diabetes prevention. Actually, preventative techniques are well recognized and involve raising a person’s level of physical activity, fitness, and nutrition as well as food. Three methods of therapy and prevention were examined in a 1993 study.Treatment for 3,234 obese individuals with prediabetic symptoms included:
1. “Intensive” lifestyle changes centered on nutrition, food, and exercise without the use of drugs
2. Metformin combined with conventional therapy, which includes modest dietary and lifestyle changes, monitoring blood glucose and A1c levels.)
3. Placebo plus normal therapy, which includes modest dietary and lifestyle changes as well as blood glucose monitoring and A1c values.
14% of the first group—the “intensive” dietary, nutritional, and lifestyle-based group—became diabetic. On the other hand, 29% of the group that received a placebo and 22% of the group that received metformin acquired diabetes.
The study unequivocally showed that eating a nutritious diet, exercising frequently, and decreasing weight could reduce the risk of diabetes by around half.
Diabetes Today
Obesity and diabetes are becoming epidemics due to the global adoption and spread of western food practices.3, 5, The good news is that diabetes can be prevented, even if research into its treatment and prevention is still ongoing.
However, it’s crucial to use and “spread the word” about prevention. For many, if not most people, diabetes can be prevented with diet, nutrition, and activity. The National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases (NIDDK) asserts that diabetes is preventable without requiring extreme self-injury. The secret is to take tiny actions that pay off greatly.Six
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Citations
- https://hort.purdue.edu/newcrop/proceedings1993/V2-664.html
- http://www.hopkinsmedicine.org/hmn/w10/feature2.cfm
- Principles of Diabetes Mellitus, 2nd ed. Poretsky, L. (ed) The Main Events in the History of Diabetes Mellitus, Springer, 2010.
- Sanders, LJ., From Thebes to Toronto and the 21st century: An Incredible Journey.Diabetes Spect. 2002;15:56-60.
- http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3068646/
- http://www.niddk.nih.gov/health-information/health-communication-programs/ndep/health-care-professionals/game-plan/small-steps/Pages/publicationdetail.aspx