Speaking Volumes | Are you diabetic? Learn about the scientists who discovered insulin

This month of July, we celebrate one of the most important medical discoveries in world history: the discovery of insulin for the treatment of diabetes. For decades, the primary treatment for diabetes had been a no-carbohydrate, low-calorie diet (as low as 500 calories a day) But this strict regime caused repercussions of low energy and fatigue, making it even more difficult for the body to fight the disease.

On July 27, 1921, two Toronto researchers completed an experiment that would revolutionize diabetes treatment.

A Canadian surgeon and a medical student worked in research together at the University of Toronto. Dr. Frederick Banting and Charles Best were able to isolate the hormone insulin for the very first time. A year prior, in 1920, Banting read an article that he had checked out from the medical library titled, “The Relation of the Islets of Langerhans to Diabetes, with Special Reference to Cases of Pancreatic Lithiasis.

The article’s findings gave him the idea to experiment with pancreatic secretions and diabetes. Using diabetic dogs to test their theories, Banting and Best injected the dogs with a substance from the Islets of Langerhans (hormone-producing pancreatic cells), which effectively lowered their blood sugar levels. While they achieved success with the first experiment, problems arose in subsequent trials concerning irregular levels of purity in the mixture. University physiologist John Macleod brought in chemist James Bertram Collip to join the team and help with purification. Macleod had been conducting his own studies into glucose metabolism and diabetes prior to meeting Banting and was skeptical of his methods. However, he gave Banting a chance to test out his theories.

Within six weeks, the team felt confident in testing their treatment trials on humans. On Jan. 23, 1922, 14-year-old Leonard Thompson, who was dying of diabetes at Toronto General Hospital, was given the isolated insulin shot as the first human test subject. The initial injection did not achieve the results the team had hoped for, but after chemist James Collip developed a more effective concentration, the boy’s dangerously high blood glucose levels significantly lowered. Success! This breakthrough transformed diabetes treatment for the years to come.

In 1923, Macleod and Banting received the Nobel Prize for Physiology or Medicine. They shared their prize winnings with Collip and Best. By the end of that year, insulin was mass-produced at laboratories across the world. The discovery of insulin for diabetes treatment gave people of all ages a new lease on life. This Toronto team of researchers paved the way for future developments and treatments of other diseases in medicine.

Learn more about one of the four Toronto researchers and his discoveries in “Frederick Banting: Hero, Healer, Artist,” by Stephen Eaton Hume, available through our Hoopla digital collection. We also have many cookbooks and lifestyle guides for living with diabetes, such as “The Mayo Clinic Diabetes Diet” and the American Heart Association’s “Diabetes and Heart Healthy Cookbook: More that 160 Delicious Recipes for Everything from Snacks to Desserts.”

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Speaking Volumes is written by members of the staff at the Manatee County Public Library System. Brooke Smith is an information services librarian.