Insulin is a Gift of Life for People With Diabetes

Abstract

Although Diabetes Mellitus (DM) or sugar diabetes was identified centuries ago, it was not known why this metabolic disorder develops until JR Macleod and Frederick Banting made the discovery. DM is due to deficiency of insulin produced by beta cells of the pancreas. Prior to this discovery and its application around 1921, many people with this disorder died from diabetic coma. Thus insulin made a milestone in the treatment of DM, in early part of the 20th century and it is the same today. However, commercialism prevails in the care of DM with too much twist in the therapy. It is now the norm to prescribe oral anti-diabetic agents in all adults with diabetes called Type 2 DM. Oral anti-diabetic drugs lower fasting blood glucose and HbA1c but not 2h postprandial blood glucose. The latter is related to diabetic complications. Thus, although patients are not dying from diabetic coma because of insulin but they are
developing whole gamut of complications which have increased the morbidity and mortality in patients with DM. Thus the emphasis of this article is to resurge the use of insulin as a gift of life for patients with DM and a therapy which permits a healthy and active life for them.