Talk:History of diabetes

Chinese, Japanese and Korean
This is a minor point. But....

To say that the Chinese, Japanese and Korean words for diabetes are based on 糖尿病 is akin to saying that English "improvise" French "improviser" and Latin " improvisus" are all based on "improvisus." The problem is that it is circular logic to say that Latin is based on Latin. For example, I don't think many people would find it acceptable to say that English is based on English.

My point is that Japanese and Korean came from Chinese. It is Chinese that was the clear progenitor of both of the written forms of these languages, just as Latin is the clear progenitor of European written languages. It would be more correct to say "The expression for diabetes in Chinese and its derivatives is 糖尿病, which roughly translates to 'sweet urine disease.'"

But a lot of this gets into subtle points of cultural hegemony. For instance, the Chinese would find it sufficient to say the English word for 糖尿病 is "diabetes," probably mentioning that it is from Latin, without having to mention that it is the same word in Spanish. This is because English, not Spanish, is seen as the preeminent world language in China.

Bottom line: There is a logical inconsistency here, but not really worth disturbing the article. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 116.55.65.98 (talk) 10:41, 7 February 2013 (UTC)


 * Thanks for raising this point. It's an important one, and was taken into account in significantly expanding the Descriptions (now "Early Accounts") section. Utl jung (talk) 22:31, 23 July 2019 (UTC)

Hippocrates
The article says Hippocrates makes no mention of it, but immediately follows up with his comments on the affliction. And cursory research suggests he was well aware and had criteria for its diagnosis. Denisrodman88 (talk) 01:37, 24 October 2018 (UTC)


 * Hi, thanks for raising this! I've dug around on this point as well in the process of developing the page since the disclaimer seemed a bit dubious. Hippocratic writers often referred to "watery urine", suggesting at least some general familiarity with the condition. Recent updates to the page incorporate this point. Utl jung (talk) 22:31, 23 July 2019 (UTC)


 * I don't feel comfortable adding in the primary sources for this myself but it is specifically in the treatise On Ancient Medicine, Hippocrates makes reference to people who feel sleepy and fatigued when their meal rations are doubled or altered. This is almost certainly an ancient reference to Hyperglycemia.--Mr. 123453334 (talk) 03:44, 2 May 2023 (UTC)


 * I decided to add On Ancient Medicine to the article as that is the specific text in the Corpus where high and low blood sugars are addressed though inproperly attributed to stomach digestion. I wasn't confident at first to add the primary source but that is certainly the writing where he clearly addresses the issue. --Mr. 123453334

Essential history is missing
This article is almost entirely about the history of diabetes mellitus. But prior to the late 20th century, the bare medical term "diabetes" was a collective term for a set of different diseases, each of which affected a different endocrine gland. Most of these diseases have since been renamed. Two diabetic diseases retain their original names: Diabetes insipidus, which affects the pituitary gland; and diabetes mellitus, which affects the islets of Langerhans in the pancreas.

At least teh opening paragraphy should briefly identify the diseases formally included under the collective term "diabetes"; and that material should be written by specialist in medical history.

2601:645:C300:5120:69A2:1BA2:88AC:B777 (talk) 06:28, 17 October 2021 (UTC)

Sushuruta and charaka
In this reference given below https://books.google.co.in/books?id=i0qojvF1SpUC&pg=PA3&redir_esc=y#v=onepage&q&f=false States that in 5th century AD sage sushuruta and charaka distinguish the types of diabetes mellitus but the problem is that sushuruta wasn't even alive in 5th century AD as he was born in 600BC.So this article is clearly not a reliable references. David dclork li (talk) 21:35, 17 May 2023 (UTC)