BACKGROUND: The Starvation Diet
The most common treatment before the discovery of insulin was "Allen's starvation diet." The diet consisted of almost no carbohydrates and low fat and protein. At most the diet prolonged a person's life for a few years. Patients quickly became living skeletons. They had no energy, their skin became dry and scaly, and their hair became brittle.
Fran Cogen, MD, CDE
It [the starvation diet] was very unpleasant; very depressing. ...it was like a slow form of torture. |
[One patient was] just about the weight of her bones and a human soul. |
Frederick Allen, one of the leading diabetes experts at the time, formulated the starvation diet and directed the "Psychiatric Institute" in New Jersey where people with diabetes could be treated.
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Elliott Joslin, another expert on diabetes, prescribed the starvation diet to his patients.
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