snarky remarks about eating habits Re: [Sca-cooks] Sweet potatoes

[Frances Newberry]

Deaths in that time frame were never attributed to "diabetes".  It is only 
within the last
20 or so years that diabetes has been put as the cause of death.  In the 
17th and 18th
century is wasn't diagnosed  much because those afflicted tended to die very 
young and
sometimes the symptoms were not recognized as caused by diabetes, such as 
gout, heart
attack or circulatory problems, etc.

Lourene
.


>From: "Phil Troy/ G. Tacitus Adamantius" <adamantius at verizon.net>
>Reply-To: Cooks within the SCA <sca-cooks at ansteorra.org>
>To: Cooks within the SCA <sca-cooks at ansteorra.org>
>Subject: RE: snarky remarks about eating habits Re: [Sca-cooks] Sweet 
>potatoes
>Date: Wed, 26 Nov 2003 07:32:17 -0500
>
>Also sprach Christine Seelye-King:
>>Hm... anyone know what they diagnosed diabetes as in the 17th and 18th
>>centuries? If an increase in sugar intake WERE the controlling factor in
>>diabetes, one would expect an upsurge in diabetes deaths with the
>>massively increased use of sugar in that time period.
>>
>>-- Pani Jadwiga Zajaczkowa
>>
>>My great-grandmother (circa 1900) had 'sugar'.  That was what they called
>>it, or 'problems with her sugar', etc.  I remember reading about early
>>physicians tasting diabetic's urine because it would actually be sweet.  
>>Hm,
>>part of medieval healing I'm leaving on the historical shelf, along with
>>regular bleedings...
>>Christianna
>
>I wonder if some diabetic symptoms were diagnosed as gout, since they 
>potentially have some superficial symptoms in common (i.e. foot ulcers) 
>and, again, superficially, a common cause ("overindulgence"). Note that I'm 
>not saying the symptoms and causes are the same, but to the 
>less-then-clinically-observant it might appear so.
>
>And then, if you buy the theory that the diet of the aristocracy was 
>massively different from that of the lower classes, with a higher 
>protein-to-carb ratio, but also note the phenomenon of increased sugar 
>consumption from approximately the fifteenth century on, it could go either 
>way, I guess.
>
>Adamantius
>_______________________________________________
>Sca-cooks mailing list
>Sca-cooks at ansteorra.org
>http://www.ansteorra.org/mailman/listinfo/sca-cooks

_________________________________________________________________
Is there a gadget-lover on your gift list?  MSN Shopping has lined up some 
good bets!  http://shopping.msn.com