Science presenter and journalist Dr Michael Mosley was well known not only for his expertise, energy and passion as a broadcaster but also for trialling experiments on himself. From swallowing tapeworm eggs to having areas of his brain switched off, Mosley joined other medical pioneers who weren’t afraid to make use of their own bodies in the quest to learn more about them.
The “father of medicine”, Hippocrates – as well as other important figures from Chinese, Indian, Egyptian and Arabic history – noted excessive thirst, urination and weight loss in some patients. These symptoms related to the condition diabetes mellitus, the metabolic disorder of raised blood sugar. The term ‘diabetes’ refers to the increased passage of urine and the Latin word ‘mellitus’ means sweet, like honey.
One of the ways Hippocrates investigated his patients was to taste urine for sweetness. And he wasn’t the only historical medical figure to go Bear Grylls on the pee quaffing. The ancient Indian physician Shushruta (circa 500BCE) described the sweet taste of diabetic urine as ‘madhumeha’ or honey urine. In the 17th century, although British physician Thomas Willis called diabetes the “pissing evil”, he did seem rather fond of the taste of diabetic pee, which he described as “exceedingly sweet” and “wonderfully sweet, like sugar or honey”. I want to know who really did all the tasting.
