PREVENTIVE MEDECINE: DIABETES
Studies in East Africa in the 1930s found that diabetes was rare. Nowadays there are diabetic clinics in all town hospitals.
Diabetes is undoubtedly an ancient disease and Galen, who lived in the second century and was the greatest medical authority in the Roman Empire, certainly described it. What most people do not realize is that he only saw two cases! The condition was further described in the seventeenth century in Europe, but it was rare until the eighteenth century, when it became a common disease among the English aristocracy. Obesity and diabetes emerged together as societies became affluent and ate more fat, oil, sugar, meat, wine and beer, together with refined cereals. In 1971 one researcher reviewing diabetes in the tropics wrote that, ‘The incidence of diabetes is likely to increase with urbanization or as the complexity of civilization takes hold of any racial group.’
Diabetes is not one simple condition, but a family of conditions. There are, however, two common types. The first (now called Type I diabetes) most commonly first occurs in children but can affect people of any age. Such people need insulin by injection – usually for life. This is a very rare condition among the children of many tropical communities and is also rare in Japanese children. Type II diabetes is the adult-onset type that usually, but not always, occurs in the obese (usually women). In both types genetic and environmental factors are important.
The cause of diabetes is as yet unknown but it has recently been suggested that a high intake of foods rich in high-fibre starch is protective and might even be a good treatment for diabetes. Trials have now shown that slimming on a high-fibre diet can ‘cure’ many cases of adult-onset diabetes completely. Other studies have shown that eating a high-fibre diet can reduce the need for insulin in Type 1 diabetes, and in certain trials patients have been able to stop taking insulin completely when eating the correct diet rich in unrefined starches. Obviously this all has to be done under the watchful eye of a doctor who is expert in diabetes-it is not a do-it-yourself treatment for diabetics.
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