Today, November 14th, is World Diabetes Day, and also marks the birthday of Sir Frederick Banting, a Canadian scientist and doctor, whose collaborative research led to the discovery of insulin to treat people with diabetes. At the University of Toronto in the summer of 1921, Canadians Frederick Banting and Charles Best successfully isolated insulin from canine test subjects, produced diabetic symptoms in the animals, and then began a program of insulin injections that returned the dogs to normalcy. On November 14, the discovery was announced to the world. Two months later, with the support of J.J.R. MacLeod of the University of Toronto, the two scientists began preparations for an insulin treatment of a human subject. Enlisting the aid of biochemist J.B. Collip, they were able to extract a reasonably pure formula of insulin from the pancreases of cattle from slaughterhouses. On January 23, 1921, they began treating 14-year-old Leonard Thompson with insulin injections. The diabetic teenager improved dramatically, and the University of Toronto immediately gave pharmaceutical companies license to produce insulin, free of royalties! By 1923, insulin had become widely available, and Banting and Macleod were awarded the Nobel Prize in medicine
Today provides the opportunity for millions of people around the world to come together and produce a powerful and united voice calling on the world to act on diabetes to protect our future. Worldwide, half a billion people are expected to be living with diabetes by the year 2030! World Diabetes Day is a chance to reflect on the global diabetes epidemic and promote ways -- such as diabetes Education and prevention -- to help turn the tide.
Sources: Nobelprize.org & www.history.com