Discovery of Insulin and Technofood
The 19th and 20th centuries were filled with remarkable advances in science, engineering, and medicine. Scientific progress seemed able to accomplish anything. But there was a dark side.
Hello, I’m Ken Hampshire, and I’ve talked to thousands of chronic type two diabetics over the last twelve years. Most of them have lost hope of ever getting well. It doesn’t need to be that way. History tells us a different story.
Technology and Treatment
As a lifestyle disorder, type 2 diabetes was not very common before 1900. For those that got type 1 diabetes, it was always fatal.
In 1921, a new development changed all of that. Frederick Banting and Charles Best developed synthetic insulin. They received the Nobel Prize for their work in 1923. They made the patent for insulin available and Eli Lilly later began commercial insulin production. Diabetes treatment quickly spread around the world.
It was thought that diabetes would soon become an ailment of the past. All went well for 10 years or so, but then another class of diabetes appeared that didn’t respond to supplemental insulin. In fact, many of the people, who would later be called type 2 diabetics, died even after receiving massive doses of synthetic insulin. Around 1935, type 2 diabetes was identified as a new and different kind of diabetes.
Technofoods
Meanwhile, the food industry was making its own advances. Processing and synthesizing foods was becoming more common. Unwittingly, science had created a monster. In the early 1900’s, our ancestors were happily consuming corn flakes, abundant sugar, Crisco, and white bread at an alarming rate. Within 20 years, rates of type 2 diabetes in the United States began to increase. The consumption of junk food and the rates of diabetes have continued to increase every year since 1900.
The correlation between the two is well-established now, but the distinction between type one and type two diabetes was not established until the 1970s.
And these foods have only become more common with time. We recommend eating as whole as possible to avoid complications from diabetes.
If you’re wondering where to start, you can check out our eBook, Eat For Your Life. We give you a simple but effective way to manage blood sugar through diet. You can also check out our Facebook group If you’re looking for resources on managing type two diabetes.
