Banting and Best diabetes series by Michael Bussière
LIBRARY AND ARCHIVES CANADA
THE 100TH ANNIVERSARY OF INSULIN
Banting and Best literally gave life to type 1 diabetics very Canadian school kid learns the E names Banting and Best. July 27th marks the one-hundredth anniversary
of the reason why. On that date in 1921, surgeon Dr. Frederick Banting and his assistant, medical student Charles Best, isolated insulin in their lab at the University of Toronto. The duo first successfully isolated the hormone in dogs, inducing diabetes symptoms, which were eliminated in the canines by insulin injections. On November 14th of that year, the Toronto Daily Star headline proclaimed “Toronto Doctors on Track of Diabetes Cure.” Two months later, Banting and Professor John Macleod prepared treatment for the first human subject, 14-year old Leonard Thompson.
dramatically, and Leonard survived another 13 years. The University of Toronto issued royalty-free licenses to pharmaceutical companies to produce insulin. Banting and Macleod won the Nobel Prize in Medicine, the first Nobel awarded to any Canadian in any field. Diabetes occurs in two ways. Both relate to how the body struggles to control the level of glucose (sugar) in the blood. Type 1 accounts for roughly 10 per cent of cases and develops early in life, but can also occur in adults. It requires the introduction of insulin
some instances, insulin production may stop altogether.Type 2 can be triggered by lifestyle factors, like excessive weight, poor diet, and lack of exercise. Contrary to what might seem obvious, consuming refined sugar is not a direct cause of diabetes, although there is an association with negative effects on the liver or increased weight. Fructose found in fruits and vegetables is not linked to increased risk. In both diabetes types, dangerously high blood glucose levels can lead to serious complications, like eye damage, high blood pressure, increased risk of heart disease and stroke, and nerve damage that can require amputation. In both types, a healthy diet, proper weight control, and exercise are key to controlling the condition and reducing the risks. Early warning signs in both types include lack of energy, persistent thirst and the need to urinate frequently, blurred vision, frequent or recurring infections, cuts and bruises that are slow to heal, and tingling in the hands or feet.
Prior to insulin, diabetes was a fatal disease. Scientists were honing in on the role of the pancreas in the digestive system, its malfunctioning being the suspected cause. The only solution at the time was to adopt a low MAX DOMI COURTESY CANADIEN DE MONTRÉAL carbohydrate, high fat and protein diet, which delayed mortality for the short term only. We know it today If a super elite athlete as the controversial Keto diet, in which low carb consumption like Max Domi can train, . . . and get causes blood sugar levels to drop on the ice and win games, then and forces the body to convert fat he is living proof that Type 1 diabetes to energy. Leonard Thompson had been diagnosed with Type 1 diabetes three years prior to being admitted to Toronto General Hospital. The poor fellow was drifting in and out of a diabetic coma and weighed about 30 kilos. His dad agreed that the experimental insulin treatment was his only hope. His condition improved 28 OTTAWALIFE SPRING/SUMMER 2021
Like other chronic diseases, monitoring and control are a daily habit, and come with special needs and inconveniences. A blood glucose meter is a simple and reliable tool for checking the ups and downs of levels. A quick can be managed and conquered. jab to the finger produces just enough of a sample for analysis. into the body either by injection or Other less accurate monitors can the use of an insulin pump because the take a sample from the palm or arm body does not produce its own supply. to reduce the sting. A person with diabetes has to eat regularly to keep Type 2 is far more common. The body an equilibrium between rising glucose cannot supply enough insulin, or does levels and the counterbalance of insulin not properly use what it does supply. In intake. A chocolate bar or cookie
