Pork Pancreas and Diabetes

[Guest guest]

Pork Pancreas and Diabetes

On the website of " Chinese Herbal Medicine " in the Library section,

you can find an article: " Diabetes Mellitus: A Case History by Heiko

Lade " .

(http://www.spiritone.com/~herb-t/library.html)

It contains the following section of historical information:

 

" In 752 A.D. Wang Tao Published a famous book " Wai Tai Mi Yao " . In it

he mentioned that diabetes was indicated by sweet urine

and suggested that the urine should be tested ( by tasting ! ) daily

to determine the progress. As part of the treatment he

recommended the consumption of pork pancreas! "

 

The mentioned treatment procedure here wonders me a great deal.

 

I have checked " Wai Tai Mi Yao " 's " Xiao Ke " chapter, and I am not

able to find this particular information.

It does list a formula using " Jia Du " or " Zhu Du " , which is a formula

that also can be found in Sun Zi Miao's texts.

But " Du " , as far as I know, refers to the stomach, like in " Du-zi "

and if there could be any doubt about this, it could quickly be

checked in " Ben Cao Gang Mu " under animal sections, where the

terminology of these substances are quite clear. Wang Tao describes

how to cook this " Jia Du " in

details, so I could not doubt this to be a " stomach " . This substance

is then what I think " Wai Tai Mi Yao " indicates in " Xiao Ke " , which

of course is very interesting, it

is also indicated in " Ben Cao Gang Mu " if I remember right. In the

latter there are several more " organic " substances indicated for

" Xiao Ke " waiting to be discussed.

 

It would be quite a front page story if it was the case as stated,

wonderful not to say, but I would need some more argumentation and

references before I believe that TCM had a possible insulin

containing therapy in the form ofpig's pancreas.

 

I also remember a discussion about the role of pancreas in human

anatomy, described as " fatty tissue " next to the stomach (in relation

to a pancreas knowledge discussion).

If anyone got more details about anatomy knowledge or

sources indicating the pig's pancreas used as stated above, they are

warmly welcome to share it with me.

 

-Sebastian

sebastian

[Guest guest]

Sebastian,

Nice sluething. I'm impressed with your determination in fleshing out -so

to speak- the actual information. However, I'm wondering whether the

sources you check are acurate from an historical perspective. I don't doubt

that the Chinese wai tai mi yao contained actual pancreas. I do doubt that

the lack of detailed anatomy works supported the use of characters that

meant " pancreas. " For those aware of Chinese culture and their great

passion for food, you can find it believable that everyone knew the

pictograph for the stomach organ and that its located somewhere with the

rest of the bloody guts inside the body. I suspect (but can not

verify -since I don't know how to read and write Chinese) that your sources

suffer from either a transcriptional error or a combined translation and

transcriptional error somewhere along the years of being passed down.

Whether or not this is the case, I agree that it is possible that what you

say is true (that pancrease is not an ingredient in the formula). However,

my tendency would be to give Wang Tao the benefit of the doubt and believe

that the formula did and does contain pancrease.

I would be interested in whatever other information you find on this

subject. It's very interesting and may lead those in this group more

learned in ancient formulas to shed more light on these subjects.

Thaddeus Jacobs, N.D., L.Ac.

-

Sebastian Davidsen <sebastian

 

Sunday, June 18, 2000 11:49 AM

Pork Pancreas and Diabetes

 

 

> Pork Pancreas and Diabetes

> On the website of " Chinese Herbal Medicine " in the Library section,

> you can find an article: " Diabetes Mellitus: A Case History by Heiko

> Lade " .

> (http://www.spiritone.com/~herb-t/library.html)

> It contains the following section of historical information:

>

> " In 752 A.D. Wang Tao Published a famous book " Wai Tai Mi Yao " . In it

> he mentioned that diabetes was indicated by sweet urine

> and suggested that the urine should be tested ( by tasting ! ) daily

> to determine the progress. As part of the treatment he

> recommended the consumption of pork pancreas! "

>

> The mentioned treatment procedure here wonders me a great deal.

>

> I have checked " Wai Tai Mi Yao " 's " Xiao Ke " chapter, and I am not

> able to find this particular information.

> It does list a formula using " Jia Du " or " Zhu Du " , which is a formula

> that also can be found in Sun Zi Miao's texts.

> But " Du " , as far as I know, refers to the stomach, like in " Du-zi "

> and if there could be any doubt about this, it could quickly be

> checked in " Ben Cao Gang Mu " under animal sections, where the

> terminology of these substances are quite clear. Wang Tao describes

> how to cook this " Jia Du " in

> details, so I could not doubt this to be a " stomach " . This substance

> is then what I think " Wai Tai Mi Yao " indicates in " Xiao Ke " , which

> of course is very interesting, it

> is also indicated in " Ben Cao Gang Mu " if I remember right. In the

> latter there are several more " organic " substances indicated for

> " Xiao Ke " waiting to be discussed.

>

> It would be quite a front page story if it was the case as stated,

> wonderful not to say, but I would need some more argumentation and

> references before I believe that TCM had a possible insulin

> containing therapy in the form ofpig's pancreas.

>

> I also remember a discussion about the role of pancreas in human

> anatomy, described as " fatty tissue " next to the stomach (in relation

> to a pancreas knowledge discussion).

> If anyone got more details about anatomy knowledge or

> sources indicating the pig's pancreas used as stated above, they are

> warmly welcome to share it with me.

>

> -Sebastian

> sebastian

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>

[Guest guest]

> > It would be quite a front page story if it was the case as stated,

> wonderful not to say, but I would need some more argumentation and

> references before I believe that TCM had a possible insulin

> containing therapy in the form ofpig's pancreas.

>

 

I seem to recall from my days in Diabetes Management (about 1995),

there was some information out on similar research done in the U.S.

 

The idea was that since D.M. is an auto-immune disease (where the

body's immune system attacks its own pancrease and particularly the

islet cells), if one could, in some way desensitize the immune system

to the pancrease, the progression of the disease would stop. The

consumption of pancrease from exogenous animal sources seemed to do

this in some way.

 

This would still not be a " cure " for diabetes as the appearance of

frank diabetes typically takes several years of degeneration of

islets cells. What this would do is provide for an early intervention

tool. Detection of developing diabetes in asymptomatic people is

challenging. There are some familial patterns and that is where the

research is focusing last I looked.

 

I was enthused by this study at the time I saw it and your

discoveries make it all the more interesting. Unfortunately, I have

not seen any more written on this subject. If you would like more

info, let me know. I would be happy to see what I could dig up.

 

Hope this is helpful,

 

Michael Buyze