Abstract
In Science for December 23, 1927, Dr. Hugh M. Smith printed a letter relating the existence in Siam of solanaceous plants whose fruits appeared to have a marked effect on the sugar content of the urine of diabetes. The plant supposed to have been used was sent by Dr. A. Kerr from Siam to Kew Gardens, London, from which, in turn, it was sent to Prof. Craib of Aberdeen, Scotland, who described it as a new species, Solanum sanitwongsei, after the late Japanese physician, Dr. Yai S. Sanitwongsei, who first used the solanaceous fruit in treating diabetes. After strenuous efforts Dr. George T. Moore, Director of the Missouri Botanical Gardens, succeeded in getting seeds from the original plant described by Dr. Craib. Dr. Moore very kindly supplied us with ripe fruit grown at the Missouri Botanical Garden, and thus presented the opportunity to study its effect on diabetics.
The fruits resemble small tomatoes, averaging about one centimeter in diameter and become yellow or red when ripe. In Siam, patients were given 3 to 10 with each meal. When they were administered with the food of diabetics, the glycosuria was reported to clear immediately and remain absent for about 20 hours, but return unless the fruits were again taken. The diets, containing large amounts of rice, apparently were not restricted.
In this investigation, patients were given 5 to 7 ripe fruits to eat with each meal. Table I shows they had no appreciable influence on the blood sugar following breakfast in mild diabetics. There was no effect on the glycosuria. The severe diabetics represented in Table II had been in the hospital for less than a week and steady improvement would have been expected with the insulin and dietary regime alone.
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