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EPISODE · Feb 10, 2026 · 17 MIN

Discovery of Insulin

from History Dispatches · host Matt and McKinley Breen

Diabetes is one of the most prevalent diseases in the world, affecting over 500 million people. Today it is very manageable, and thanks to modern medicine most people can live a long, normal life. But that was not always the case. Before the 1920s diabetes was often a death sentence. At least until Frederick Banting and Charles Best found a way to isolate insulin from dog pancreases. This is the story of the discovery of insulin. Sources https://diabetes.org/blog/history-wonderful-thing-we-call-insulin https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC6205949/ https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2666970621000494 Image: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:C._H._Best_and_F._G._Banting_ca._1924_Insulin_P10103_0001.jpg History Dispatches is part of the Airwave Media Network: www.airwavemedia.com Interested in advertising on History Dispatches? Email us at [email protected] Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

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Discovery of Insulin

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