Nothing new...

[Lurch]

There was me thinking Dr Bernstein et al pioneered low carbing for diabetes:

https://archive.org/stream/diabeticcookeryr00oppeiala#page/n7/mode/2up

1917 and they knew then to cut out bad carbs like sugar, flour, bread and rice. 😱 So much for "dangerous". 🙂

 

[Copepod]

1917 - that was before insulin or any other effective medications for diabetes (or distinction between types), of course. A starvation diet was the only way to buy a few more months of life after developing what we'd now call type 1 diabetes.

Not that an ultra low carbohydrate diet is dangerous per se, just that now there are various degrees of diet that are appropriate depending on the person.

 

[Redkite]

In 1917 type 1 diabetes was a death sentence (insulin wasn't discovered until 1922). Totally cutting out carbs gave these unfortunates a few more weeks or months of life, literally starving to death, because without insulin they couldn't metabolise ANY foods. Google Dr Frederick Banting, one of the discoverers of insulin, and take a look at some of his poor wretched patients!

If my son had been diagnosed in 1905 instead of 2005, he wouldn't have lived to his fifth birthday, and a low carb diet would have made not a jot of difference.

 

[Lurch]

Accepting this was before insulin therapy and the distinction between T1 with no insulin production by the body and those with degrees of insulin resistance and/or much reduced beta-cells, isn't it still fascinating that the medical world back then knew about carb tolerance. Reading this little old first world war era cook book, page 147...

Quote: "When the carbohydrate tolerance is only 40 grams, a small allowance, it becomes necessary to raise the proportion of protein above 100 grams, approaching 140, and to keep the fat about 200 grams, to produce an energy requirement of 2500 calories. If the carbohydrate tolerance is higher, say 60, 80, or even 100 grams a day, the planning is less difficult."

The book gives recipes, all carb, protein and fat counted, and ends with nine daily meal plans....

Quote: "The dietaries represent different possibilities in serving, with good combinations of foods in which the total carbohydrates for the day
are kept close to 40 grams as a maximum allowance."

40 gms carb a day? Now where have I seen that before? Oh yes. Nothing new after all ... so how come the NHS seems to have no idea about individual carb intolerance for T2 diabetes in the 21st century and recommends a one-size fits all 'normal' diet?