Diabetic Diet - History

History

There has been long history of dietary treatment of diabetes mellitus – dietary treatment of diabetes mellitus was used in Egypt as long ago as 3,500 B.C., and was used in India by Sushruta and Charaka more than 2000 years ago. In the eighteenth century, these authors note, John Rollo argued that calorie restriction in the diabetic diet could reduce glycosuria in diabetes. However, more modern history of the diabetic diet may begin with Frederick Madison Allen, who, in the days before insulin was discovered, recommended that people with diabetes ate only a low-calorie diet to prevent ketoacidosis from killing them. This was an approach which did not actually cure diabetes, it merely extended life by a limited period. The first use of insulin by Frederick Banting in 1922 changed things, and at last allowed patients more flexibility in their eating.