New Challenges of Child and Adolescent Health: Implications for Ora...

Writers describe people with symptoms of diabetes mellitus as early as 1500 BC. The disease name (meaning, "to siphon") originated with the Greeks in 230 BC, and related to the excessive urination and wasting that occurs with untreated diabetes. Early classifications of diabetes are credited to the Susrata of the Hindus, the father of medicine in India. Later, classifications of diabetes mellitus (mellitus is Latin for "honey-sweet") are refined, and suggested treatments vary from the removal of diuretic food to taking tepid baths.