The focus on urine did not end with the Egyptians. In fact far from it. The Greeks described a condition in which the body essentially dissolved into urine. In time people came to know of this disease where those afflicted presented with sweet smelling urine, or honey-siphoned urine, or Diabetes Mellitus.
Throughout history medical practitioners struggled to know how to handle, or treat, Diabetes. But one curiosity evolved over time: as people went to war, the rate of people presenting with Diabetes would drop. Similarly, those already suffering with Diabetes would inexplicably improve during wartime. None of it seemed to make sense...or did it?
During wartime, food often became scarce. What was once plentiful would disappear for months if not years at a time. Going along with this, as food stores depleted, so too did methods of transportation. Throughout history wartime abroad would mean more walking at home, able-bodied horses serving more important purposes elsewhere. Thus the combination of food scarcity and increased need for physical activity seemed to improve this condition of sweet smelling urine.
Humans do not suffer Diabetes alone, and in the 1800s this led to an important discovery. With the removal of the pancreas, animals would instantly suffer Diabetes. Talk about a cause-and-effect case study! With this information insulin soon became implicated, and in 1922, Diabetes was successfully treated with insulin.
That unique and colorful history has brought us to today, where we have two main types of Diabetes, Type 1 and Type 2, with smaller subgroups including LATA, gestational diabetes, pre-diabetes, and so forth.
