When Was Diabetes Discovered?

Diabetes affects over 23 million people in the United States alone. It is a disease of both adults and children. While it is still a dangerous condition that must be carefully monitored, diabetes is not the death sentence it once was. A lot has been discovered about the disease and much progress has been made in treatment since its discovery.

Diabetes First Discovered

• In 1889, European researchers Joseph Von Mering and Oskar Minkowski published "Diabetes Mellitus After Extirpation of the Pancreas." In the paper they acknowledged the symptoms following the removal of the pancreas of a dog.

Life Expectancy

• Before the 20th century, diabetes was a fatal disease since no one knew how what it was or how to treat it. Most people went undiagnosed.

Insulin

• Sir Edward Albert Sharpey-Schafer discovered that diabetics had a deficiency in a chemical produced by the pancreas. He called this chemical insulin.

Defining the Disease

• In 1921, Charles Herbert Best and Sir Frederick Grant Banting continued with the work of their predecessors and realized that insulin controlled sugar in the pancreas. Insulin soon became available as a medication.

Distinction between Types

• The distinction between Type 1 and Type 2 diabetes was made by Sir Harold Percival Himsworth in 1935. Varying treatment plans followed.