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Diabetes
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An
ancient Chinese physician, writing in
the year 752 C.E., formulated the first known technique for the
detection of diabetes. Patients suspected of suffering from the disease
were directed to urinate onto a brick and then wait to see whether
ants, attracted by the sugar dissolved therein, would gather.
While
primitive by today's standards, this early diagnostic procedure
recognized the role of sugar in diabetes, known in Traditional Chinese
Medicine as "wasting and thirsting disease," and helped to establish
the experimental verification of the effectiveness of Traditional
Chinese Medicine in treating the condition.
In general, Traditional Chinese Medicine understands diabetes to be the
result of dietary deficiencies or excesses - too much of some foods,
and not enough of others - exacerbating an underlying characteristic of
a patient's metabolism. By adjusting dietary intake, by adopting a
sensible program of gentle exercise, such as tai qi or qi gong, a patient can help to
prevent the worst effects of diabetes, and can even improve the success
of the more conventional Western treatments.
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