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2023-11: Warosu is now out of extended maintenance.

/sci/ - Science & Math

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15752197 No.15752197 [Reply] [Original]

Hippocrates both identified high/ low blood sugar and properly associated it with eating too much/ too little food. While incorrectly stating that the cause of these pains were the digestion tract struggling to digest the food, he did pretty well at identifying these things.

>But let us inquire what are the causes of these things which happened to them. To him, then, who was accustomed to take only one meal in the day, they happened because he did not wait the proper time, until his bowels had completely derived benefit from and had digested the articles taken at the preceding meal, and until his belly had become soft, and got into a state of rest, but he gave it a new supply while in a state of heat and fermentation, for such bellies digest much more slowly, and require more rest and ease. And as to him who had been accustomed to dinner, since, as soon as the body required food, and when the former meal was consumed, and he wanted refreshment, no new supply was furnished to it, he wastes and is consumed from want of food. For all the symptoms which I describe as befalling to this man I refer to want of food. And I also say that all men who, when in a state of health, remain for two or three days without food, experience the same unpleasant symptoms as those which I described in the case of him who had omitted to take dinner.

That’s so cool that not only did the ancients have an idea of what blood sugars are but also that food intake affects them. He also knows what lactose intolerance is in the same book. The entire thing kind of repudiates naturalist/ herbivore diets because it’s central theme is that medicine and cooking exist so that we can have a healthier food intake than animals which only eat weeds and fruits.

>> No.15752202

>>15752197
I thought he did it by finding the pee was sweet in diabetics (and they peed shortly following a meal which I think you said in your post). And yeah! he basically invented medicine! He's so cool
Didn't fully read your post though DESU

>> No.15752238

>>15752202
He mentions the pee thing in the same text. That people who miss a regularly scheduled meal (he’s clearly referring to diabetics or other weak endocrine system people that have low blood sugars) have “thick pee” and he lists a bunch of other symptoms which I could immediately tel what he was talking about. It’s just very cool that the worlds first doctor could identify ailments we suffer from today. Imagine even describing a carbohydrate to him. He thought it was hot and cold and biles which were doing that to peoples bodies.

>> No.15752251
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15752251

>>15752197

What you're describing is (I think?) called something like an evidence vs proof based system.
Hippocrates doesn't 100% know how a creature's body works, doesn't know about insulin, doesn't know really anything: but he knew enough to observe a correlation between diet and blood sugar. He was capable of gathering "proofs" that lead to a somewhat educated conclusion based in reality, but not necessarily "evidences" that would lead to a more systemic discovery/science/smartness.

I'm under the impression this is the great strength of Ancient Greek Philosophy and Medicine: they had a lot of genuinely intelligent thinkers, who while limited by their technology, grasped some of the basics of meaningfully observing some objective reality.

>>15752238
>>15752202

East Indian and Chinese Alchemists had a vague idea blood types existed based on the observation that if two incongruent blood 'types' were placed in the same saucer they would spoil and congeal "like gelatin" noticeably faster than blood by itself or two bloods of the same 'type'.

>> No.15752255

>>15752238
Good I'm glad it was in there. He was way ahead of his time but if he somehow got even a lite bit of the information we have today then it's interesting to think about where we would be now :)

>> No.15752392

>>15752251
In the full essay, he was going on about how hot and cold and acidic and sweet things affect the body. It was pretty forward thinking stuff for the time and what he had to work with. He was critiquing other schools of thought at the time such as Empedocles’ for not putting it all together to look at the big picture.

>> No.15752429

>>15752251
>they had a lot of genuinely intelligent thinkers, who while limited by their technology, grasped some of the basics of meaningfully observing some objective reality.
What's truly remarkable is that you think "meaningfully observing some objective reality" is some recent invention of your rationalist golem cult and not something the average man has been doing since the beginning of mankind. What makes it especially poignant is that according to all the evidence your IQ is probably 10-15 points lower than that of the average man in Ancient Greece, let alone a schola that could easily have had a good 70 IQ points over you. lol. "Basics of meaningfully observing reality" is something for you to hopefully master some day. The Ancient Greeks had no trouble with it.

>> No.15753809

>>15752429
>What's truly remarkable is that you think "meaningfully observing some objective reality" is some recent invention of your rationalist golem cult and not something the average man has been doing since the beginning of mankind.
>The Ancient Greeks had no trouble with it.

Tell that to the people who banned the Pythagoreans from southern Italy because they likened them to a cult.

>> No.15754003
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15754003

>>15753809
And for stupidity like that they were enslaved by the Romans.

>> No.15754041

>>15752197
Attributing diabetes to blood sugar only and not to high fasting insulin is one of the most retarded mistakes physicians still do