Milestones in Diabetes

     In 500/400 b.c  symptoms of diabetes were first  reported in Sanskrit literature at the time of two notable Indian physicians, sushrut and charak. Charak described diabetes as “madhumeha” (honey urine) or “iksumeha” (sugarcane urine) in his work “charak samita”. Both charak and sushrut diagnosed diabetes, by testing the urine for sweetness or noting how many ants were attracted to the urine. The urin of polyuric patients was described as “testing like  honey, being sticky to the touch and strongly attracting ants”. They were the first to differentiate between the two types of diabetes, observing that thin patients developed diabetes at a younger age and survived long, in contrast to heavier patients who had a later onset and lived longer.