You know the feeling you get when you learn something new about a health problem you've been

trying to reverse, maybe high blood pressure, diabetes, heart disease, well, there's nothing

I like better than bringing you the information that will help you do just that. Welcome to the

Nutrition Facts Podcast on your host Dr. Michael Greger. Today we discover the mighty power of

oatmeal. Did you know that before there was insulin that was the quote-unquote oatmeal cure?

The life of many diabetics was saved or prolonged by Carl von Norton's oatmeal diet, which

you apparently stumbled upon accidentally. Some of his diabetic patients had GI issues, so he put

them on oatmeal, and instead of the sugar spilling over into their urine getting worse, they started

getting better. He published his findings in 1903, which was received with a great deal of skepticism,

but the skeptics were overcome, however, in the following years by the weight of the evidence.

A turning point came when a doctor as notable as James B. Herrick gave it a try. Dr. Herrick is

acclaimed for his description of sickle cell anemia, which was originally known as Herrick's syndrome.

When Dr. Herrick began to try out the oatmeal diet on his patients, he was very skeptical,

but was astonished by the result. Intense skepticism was how Herrick put it. His first experience

in prescribing was far from encouraging. After taking one or two meals, the patient said,

Dr. I will die before I taste another spoonful of that oatmeal mush. And indeed, tragically, she did.

Other doctors echoed patient reticence to tolerate so monotonous and equine diet.

But in general, Herrick said he went on to experience little difficulty in putting patients on

the oatmeal diet and keeping them there for a few weeks. And nothing, he reported was more

surprising or more gratifying than the salutary effects he witnessed of the oatmeal diet

in diabetes of the young leading to the 1909 proclamation that no case of juvenile or adolescent

diabetes should be deprived of the benefits of the oatmeal cure. The great Elliott Jocelyn,

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