Diabetes Month

For many years, scientists believed that some kind of internal secretion of the pancreas was the key to controlling diabetes and restoring normal 
metabolism. No one could find it until the summer of 1921,
when a team at the University of Toronto tried a new 
experimental approach suggested by Dr. Frederick Banting. 
With the help of Charles Best, he was able to extract insulin
 from a healthy dog and inject it into a diabetic dog. The
 treatment significantly reduced the sick dog’s blood sugar.


On 23 January, at Toronto General Hospital, they injected 
insulin into Leonard Thompson, a 13-year-old boy on the 
brink of death from diabetes. Leonard’s blood and urinary
 sugars returned to normal, and his other diabetic symptoms 
were alleviated. The group knew they were onto something
 very important. They injected other children with insulin,
 some of whom had already slipped into comas. After the
 insulin was injected, the children would wake up with 
revived energy. In 1923, Banting was awarded the
 Nobel Prize in Medicine.