Page "Endocrinology" Paragraph 15

According to Iranian author Nabipour I., in medieval Persia, Avicenna ( 980-1037 ) provided a detailed account on diabetes mellitus in The Canon of Medicine ( c. 1025 ), " describing the abnormal appetite and the collapse of sexual functions and he documented the sweet taste of diabetic urine.

" Like Aretaeus of Cappadocia before him, Avicenna recognized a primary and secondary diabetes.

He also described diabetic gangrene, and treated diabetes using a mixture of lupine, trigonella ( fenugreek ), and zedoary seed, which produces a considerable reduction in the excretion of sugar, a treatment which is still prescribed in modern times.

Avicenna also " described diabetes insipidus very precisely for the first time ", though it was later Johann Peter Frank ( 1745 – 1821 ) who first differentiated between diabetes mellitus and diabetes insipidus.