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Latest Food Articles This article was originally published in
Diabetes Health in November, 1996. For 2,000 years diabetes has
been recognized as a devastating and deadly disease. In the
first century A.D. a Greek, Aretaeus, described the destructive
nature of the affliction which he named "diabetes" from the
Greek word for "siphon." Eugene J. Leopold in his text Aretaeus
the Cappodacian describes Aretaeus' diagnosis: "...For fluids do
not remain in the body, but use the body only as a channel
through which they may flow out. Life lasts only for a time, but
not very long. For they urinate with pain and painful is the
emaciation. For no essential part of the drink is absorbed by
the body while great masses of the flesh are liquefied into
urine." Physicians in ancient times, like Aretaeus, recognized
the symptoms of diabetes but were powerless to effectively treat
it. Aretaeus recommende