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0:00
I'm going to be speaking to you
about diabetes through the ages.
My name is Michael Hall.
For many years, I
was involved with
Diabetes UK and also
with the International
Diabetes Federation.
Though my original background
was general practice,
my research interests
were diabetes.
0:24
It's now just over
100 years since
the discovery of insulin
by the Toronto team,
and it is appropriate
to look forwards and
consider whether we can at last
perhaps see a cure for type
1 diabetes on the horizon.
It has long been promised.
Hundreds of millions of dollars
have been invested in research,
and now perhaps
there's hope with
the coming developments
in immunotherapy,
which may halt
the immune system's
attacks on the pancreas.
0:59
The first person to receive
insulin was Leonard Thompson.
He was admitted on the
2nd of December, 1921,
under the care of
Dr. Walter Campbell,
who ran a diabetic clinic in
Toronto under the
supervision of Prof. Graham.
Thompson had been on
the Allen Starvation
regime for over two years,
and was now in the
terminal phase.
His father agreed to let
the hospital try Banting
and Best's new pancreatic
extract for the first time.
1:35
Since then, amazing
advances have led to
many different devices
which assist those with
type 1 diabetes to receive
their insulin in a safe
and calibrated way via
pumps, which at one
extreme can be set to give
an automatically
calculated accurate dose.
The basic insulin syringes
have been improved,
allowing accurate and virtually
pain-free injections
to be given.
For those with type 2 diabetes,
care systems have been
developed and
medication improved,
enabling care quality
to be enhanced.
Our understanding of
the importance of diet,
calorie control, and weight
reduction has also improved.
For some with type 2 diabetes,
education and lifestyle changes
allow the condition to be
controlled so that diabetes is
reversed, effectively, cured.
