Why Starvation Diets Were Promoted for Diabetes Before Insulin
Why Did Doctors Starve Diabetic Children Before Insulin Was Discovered?
Before insulin’s discovery in 1922, the Allen Starvation Diet was the only treatment that could temporarily slow diabetes progression. Doctors prescribed severe caloric restriction - often just 400-500 calories daily - because they observed that carbohydrates raised blood sugar levels. This cruel logic meant that reducing food intake could delay, though never prevent, the inevitable death from diabetic ketoacidosis.
Dr. Kumar’s Take
The Allen Starvation Diet represents one of medicine’s most heartbreaking chapters. Physicians knew they weren’t saving lives - they were simply choosing between rapid death from uncontrolled diabetes or slower death from malnutrition. Parents watched their children beg for food while wasting away to skeletons, all in the desperate hope of buying a few more months of life. This treatment epitomized medical helplessness in the face of an incurable disease.