Recent History
January 17, 1871
Diabetes Mellitus and its dietetic treatment
The detailed observations of Dr Cantani prove that the carnivore diet cures diabetes if the patient commits to it. Observations 31 - 40 are listed.
OBSERVATION XXXI. The priest Francesco Antonio San Ger- mano, parish priest of Carrano, aged 54, ate almost exclusively on flour. On January 17, 1871, he had 75 gr. Of sugar per liter of urine (plus 10 gr. Of albumin), and on April 5, 51 gr., Of sugar (and 5 gr. Of albumin); submitted to my treatment and received at the clinic, his urine became free of sugar, and remained so, even with a mixed diet, until the last news I received.
OBSERVATION XXXII. Canon Francesco G. de Serra S. Bruno (Catanzaro), 65 years old, great lover of amacés, came on July 12, 1872, with 50 gr. of sugar per liter of urine, with the specific gravity of 1023: let, after a few days of treatment, they weighed 1015 and the sugar had disappeared. The patient continued to be well, even with a mixed diet, but for some time I have not heard from him.
OBSERVATION XXXIII. - Lawyer Michelangelo T., 37 years old, from Trani, lover of flour, diabetic for an undetermined time; on January 17, 1872, his morning urine contained 60 gr. of sugar per liter, and those he had emitted in the evening (the same number of hours after the meal) 160 gr. per liter; after three days of treatment, his urine was free of sugar; I saw the patient again on June 9, 1872, the urine was examined again, and found absolutely normal, although for several months the patient had returned to mixed food.
OBSERVATION XXXIV. Mrs C. 22 year old from S., daughter of a man who died of diabetes. She herself cannot yet be considered diabetic in the truest sense of the word, but whenever she eats a lot of candy she becomes thirsty with polyuria, and at this time her urine contains sugar. It is an intermittent diabetes, which threatens to transform into continuous diabetes, if this lady, warned of the danger did not know how to limit herself much in the use of flour, and did not especially renounce the abuse of sweets. In short, it is a beginning diabetes, it is the beginnings of diabetes, which do not require a rigorous cure, but only a rational diet, not free from flour, but from any excess of bread, pasta, fruit and sweets, a mixed food and sufficiently rich in nitrogen.
OBSERVATION XXXV. - Mr. Vincenzo d'A., Owner, aged 38, from Trigiano (Bari), ill for three years not general and also mental weakness, impotence, thirst, moderate hunger; he lost weight considerably, so as to lose 12 kilograms in about two years. He did eat a little meat, but mostly bread and pasta. Following a consultation in 1869 with a distinguished professor from Naples, he took arsenic, and later strychnine, but to no avail. In October 1870, Doctor Nicola Scarpelli, of Trigiano, subjected him to my curative method, which he did not follow rigorously, however, because he continued to eat a little bread. His condition improved a lot, but as he did not heal completely, he came to me on May 2, 1871, with 16 gr. only sugar per liter of urine, in order to heal itself completely. After only twenty-four hours of rigorous treatment, the urine was free of sugar. I lost sight of this patient too quickly to be sure that the treatment was continued, and to know the final result.
OBSERVATION XXXVI. Mr. Giuseppe 1., 45 years old, from Castellamare di Stabia, a great starch lover, recognized as diabetic for about a year, and treated as such for eight months by other Neapolitan doctors and professors, presented himself to Professor Primavera on November 19, 1870, after having followed a diet in which meat dominated for several months: he still had 75 gr. of sugar per liter of urine, and this had the specific gravity of 1032. Professor Primavera recommended that he strictly follow the treatment I instituted, but the patient, always taking certain liberties, we never succeeded in having the urine free from sugar. On March 16, 1871, his urine still weighed 1032, and still contained 75 gr. of sugar per liter. At this moment the cure was applied with all its rigor, and after only fifteen days, the urine was completely deprived of sugar; but the patient, relying too much on this result, returned almost immediately to the use of bread, pasta and sweetened coffee, and resumed the dryness of the mouth, thirst, polyuria: on May 17, his urine contained still 40 gr. of sugar per liter, and their specific weight was 1030. The treatment resumed rigorously, on June 2, the urine weighed only 1020, and the sugar was again entirely absent. I do not know whether the patient has had enough perseverance later on to continue the treatment for a sufficient time to be sure of not having a relapse.
OBSERVATION XXXVII. Mr. Nicola dell 'E., aged 51, judge, from Castellana de Bari, lover of starchy foods, has suffered for three years from thirst, hunger and polyuria, and also from torpor of the limbs, great general weakness and impotence. The presence of sugar in the urine was noted in March 1871, when he began to cough, to have amblyopia; already he had grown extraordinarily thin. The urine examined at this time contained 48 gr. of sugar per liter, and presented the specific gravity of 1028. A distinguished doctor ordered my rigorous diet, more quina and arsenic: the patient was better anyway, and the sugar disappeared from the urine; however digestion was hurting. It was then that the patient came to see me. The addition to the absolute meat diet, 5 gr. of lactic acid per day, made digestion easy, and possible the continuation of the cure. All symptoms improved rapidly, thirst and urine returned to normal, and within days, manly potency returned. On June 16, 1871, the urine was again examined in Naples: it was entirely free of sugar. I learned again in July 1874 that M. dell 'E. was in perfect health.
OBSERVATION XXXVIII. - Madame Cristina P., aged 33, from Salerno, a great friend of sweets, presented on September 14, 1870, for analysis by Professor Primavera, urine with a specific weight of 1038, with 140 gr. of sugar per liter, and diabetic symptoms, especially high polyuria, with thirst and weight loss. She was subjected to the treatment, I do not know for how long. A year ago a doctor assured me that she was doing very well.
OBSERVATION XXXIX. - Doctor Sch., Of Basilicata, aged 40, became diabetic, after having abused flour and sweets, a little also coffee, and after prolonged grief: after noticing the disease in him , he submitted to my treatment: after only four days, the urine was completely free of sugar, and remained such until January 1874, when I heard from one of his parents, a distinguished professor at the Polytechnic School of Naples.
OBSERVATION XL. - The lawyer Domenico B., from Conversano, aged 50, amylivore par excellence, and diabetic for three years, with notable worsening of symptoms for eight months, presented, on April 26, 1872, urine with a specific weight of 1030, and containing 35 gr. of sugar plus half a gram of albumin per liter. The patient undergoing rigorous treatment, his urine was examined again on May 3: it was absolutely free from sugar; the same on May 15 and 30. Since then I have heard of the complete recovery of this patient, although he had long since returned to mixed food.
February 26, 1871
Diabetes Mellitus and its dietetic treatment
Cantani's fourth patient, Mr Saltavore Musdace, was losing weight from diabetes and was eating an almost exclusively starchy diet, and was cured with an all meat diet. His diet even relapsed, again proving that eating starch would cause diabetes.
OBSERVATION IV. - Mr. Salvatore Musdace, 57 years old, from Naples, trumpet of the National Guard. Powerless and losing weight for three years, polyuria of 5 to 6 liters per day, with no known cause, apart from the almost exclusively starchy diet, he entered the Clinic on February 26, 1871; it emitted 3 liters of urine, specific weight 1042; 372 gr. of sugar per day.
After twelve days of rigorous treatment, complete absence of sugar, daily quantity 1,200 cc, specific weight 1022 which fell on May 14 to 1017. This slow decrease in specific weight after the disappearance of sugar is interesting, because it indicates a major combustion of albuminates. We noted here the rapid decrease in sugar, and the persistence of small quantities, after a few days of treatment; this is so in advanced cases: it is only in mild, beginning cases that the sugar immediately disappears completely. This patient is still interesting because of his temperature, which has remained low, 350.7 C., 36 ', rarely 360.5, as long as he has sugar, and 12 to 14 breaths; as soon as the strength returned, the temperature rose to 37 ° and respiration to 16-18.
The recovery of this patient persisted when he resumed the ordinary diet: when he left the clinic, after four months of stay, he weighed 5kil, 6, more than when he entered; When he got home, he was obliged to resume a diet almost exclusively composed of starch and grass. Eighteen months later, he had an abscess of the perineum, which healed after operation, and soon after, hunger, weakness and polyuria returning, he spontaneously began to eat meat: then he returned to the Clinic on the 9th. February 1873, presenting 107 gr. of sugar for 1530 cc of urine. After two days of mixed diet, he had 255 gr. of sugar on 2410 cc of urine within twenty-four hours. After only six days of rigorous diet, the sugar disappeared and never came back. On May 13 the patient went out very well cured.
April 1, 1871
Diabetes Mellitus and its dietetic treatment
Cantani tells his seventh patient, the Baron Archpriest Girolamo MdG to "dismiss the last vestiges of flour that the patient had kept in his diet" to cure diabetes. Of note, to begin with, the Archpriest ate vegetables and fruit, eating meat only exceptionally, and still got diabetes.
OBSERVATION VII. Baron Archpriest Girolamo M. di G., from Andiano (Lecce), 52, was sent to me by Doctor Stasi from Spongano, after Doctor Voccoli would have submitted for some time to my cure. Two of his sisters had died of phthisis; himself was thin, prone to intermittent fevers and digestive troubles, which hunting had cured him. At 32, he entered the seminary; soon after was resumed by his acid dyspepsia and coughing up blood; he ate vegetables and fruits, eating meat only exceptionally. When I saw him, he had been suffering from thirst with polyuria for a year; since the same time, he ate and digested well. Voccoli had noticed the presence of sugar, and ordered my treatment; under its influence the health of the patient improved very quickly; the thirst and the polyuria disappeared: the sugar diminished very rapidly. But the bowel pains returned and the sugar increased with each new attack, oscillating between 30 and 40 gr. per liter. Dr Voccoli noted that the glycosuria disappeared left, or nearly four hours after dinner, only to reappear very abundantly three hours before dinner the next day. The gastro-intestinal catarrh treated and improved, the anti-diabetic cure succeeded very well: but the sugar reappeared as soon as the patient ate bread. Through all these tests, the general condition was better: the patient, 61 kilog. and a half, had arrived at 63 kilog. in three months. It was there when I saw it, in April 1871. I did nothing but dismiss the last vestiges of flour that the patient had kept in his diet, and after several months of treatment, he could return to use with impunity, moderate bread. This very intelligent patient still checks the state of his urine daily.
May 8, 1871
Diabetes mellitus and its dietetic treatment
A woman eating only flour, fruit, and pasta comes down with diabetes and cancer and is helped by Dr Cantani with the all meat "rigourous cure"
OBSERVATION X. - Madame M., from Malta, 52 years old. Living almost exclusively on flour, fruit and pasta, suffering for a long time from thirst and polyuria, she has become notably thinner over the past two years; nine months ago diabetes was recognized; the patient was subjected to my treatment, which was not sufficiently rigorously followed. I saw her in consultation with Professor Cesare Olivieri and Doctor JB Sammut, English doctor: we discovered in her a uterine epithelioma. The urine, analyzed by Primavera, gave: 4 liters per day, specific weight 1032, 400 gr. of sugar per day (May 8, 1871). Immediately subjected to the rigorous cure, from May 14 there was no more polyuria, nor thirst, and the urine, with a specific weight of 1026, contained only 25 gr. of sugar per day: on the 22nd, they no longer contained sugar, and weighed only 1026. The urine remained thus, even after the patient had returned to eating sweet fruits, and especially oranges, until the moment of her death, which occurred a long time later, from her uterine tumor.
March 12, 1872
Diabetes mellitus and its dietetic treatment.
A staunch amylivore who was diabetic for a long time was cured on Cantani's meat cure, "although the patient had, so to speak, never eaten meat before this treatment, he was very well: the cure was maintained for a whole year."
OBSERVATION XIII. - M. Raffaelle de P., from Pianella (Teramo), a staunch amylivore, diabetic for a long time, with 50 gr. of sugar per liter, was submitted to my cure on March 12, 1872: very rigorously observed only until March 30, when the patient began, but with much moderation, to eat starchy foods. The urine analyzed on April 22 and May 12, 1872 had a specific gravity of 1013, and was absolutely lacking in sugar. Although the patient had, so to speak, never eaten meat before this treatment, he was very well: the cure was maintained for a whole year. In May 1873, having become diabetic again, after another abuse of flour, he recovered again by a short resumption of treatment. In January 1874, his urine was still free of sugar.
Ancient History
Cairo, Cairo Governorate, Egypt
1552
B.C.E.
The Ebers Papyrus is the first known medical reference to diabetes mellitus.
["Diabetes and the Ebers Papyrus"]) by D. Lynn Loriaux, M.D., PhD
"Of great interest to endocrinologists is the opinion that in the Ebers Papyrus is the first known medical reference to diabetes mellitus. The reference is to a single phrase: "...to eliminate urine which is too plentiful."
"Unfortunately, the crucial word, asha, can mean both 'plentiful' and 'often,' and it is unclear whether the condition described was polyuria(increased volume of urine) or increased frequency of micturition, very often due to cystitis. The latter condition is much more common and therefore the more likely interpretation."