Insulin and Carotin The Medical Research Council in its Report
for 1929-30, gently reproaches the medical profession for not, making fuller use of insulin in the treatment of diabetes. The consumption of insulin has increased steadily since 1928, but even now many patients are not getting the advan- tages of a treatment which unquestionably prolongs -life. The mortality of diabetes patients under fifty-five has fallen, but that of patients over fifty-five has risen so that. the diabetes death-rate at all ages remains stationary_ It takes time, evidently, for all members of a conservative and hard-worked profession to adopt new ideas, though no remedy has had more publicity than insulin. The Council opens up new fields of inquiry in its refer- ence to the " association now known to exist between Vitamin A and the substance called carotin, which is found in carrots and green vegetables," and to the efforts that are being made to produce Vitamin A in a concen- trated form, and on a large scale. The homely carrot may well come to be regarded as a staff of life, not only for the humble quadruped. Bio-chemistry is developing at such a pace that the production of the artificial food- stuffs that Mr. Wells dreamed• of may not be very long delayed. * * *
Previous page
