Yet, experiments by Dr Joseph Freiherr von Mering and Dr Oscar Minkowski in 1890 showed that pancreatectomised dogs also exhibited many of the features of human diabetics. It was well known that the pancreas produced various juices that flowed through tubes into the intestine to help break down food. One of his lectures was on the pancreas and, as part of his preparation, Banting meticulously reviewed all known information about the gland. As business was slow, he worked part-time at the University of Western Ontario as a professor. When the war was over, Banting returned to complete his training as an orthopaedic surgeon at The Hospital for Sick Children in Toronto, then opened an office in London, Ontario, Canada. World War I briefly interrupted his education, as he enlisted in the Canadian army, serving with an ambulance corps in France. In 1923, Banting became the first Canadian and the youngest person, at age 32, to receive the Nobel Prize in Physiology/Medicine.Īlthough Banting’s desire to become a doctor initially conflicted with his family’s wishes, he was eventually able to transfer from his theology college to the University of Toronto Medical School in Toronto, Canada. Due to Banting’s discovery of insulin, millions of people worldwide were able to extend their lives by decades. When insulin action is deficient, one develops diabetes mellitus. Sir Frederick Banting, a physician and scientist, was the co-discoverer of insulin, a hormone of critical importance in regulating blood sugar levels. In adults, less than 20 per cent of diabetic patients lived past ten years. ![]() In the not-too-remote past, the prognosis for children with this affliction was very poor – most survived no more than a year past their diagnosis. The Romans added the term ‘mellitus’, meaning ‘sweet as honey’, when they noticed that the urine of diabetics was sweet. The Greeks first used the term ‘diabetes’, with the meaning ‘to pass through’, to denote the large amount of water consumed and urine produced in diabetics. I am a firm believer in the theory that you can do or be anything that you wish in this world, within reason, if you are prepared to make the sacrifices, think and work hard enough and long enough.
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