Hyperinsulinism as an Etiologic Factor in Acute Rheumatic Fever

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Abstract
Diabetics are peculiar in that they rarely acquire other disease such as allergies, peptic ulcer and rheumatic fever. In cases of the first of this trio, it has been shown that such patients have the physiological opposite of diabetes, namely hyperinsulinism. Since rheumatic fever is a species of bacterial allergy, it was assumed that rheumatics should likewise have hyperinsulinism. This would account for the diabetic''s immunity to it. This assumption was verified experimentally[long dash]by the 6 hr. glucose test of Harris. That investigator''s diet for hyperinsulinism was administered to the rheumatics with the anticipated result that the hyperinsulinism curve was replaced by a normal finding in each case. Once this was obtained, the patients no longer had any rheumatic exacerbations in spite of continued attacks of upper respiratory infections which had been followed by rheumatic exacerbations in the past. This work has already been indirectly confirmed by other investigators who noticed a dietary imbalance in the histories of rheumatic patients. These dietary deficiencies were just the sort of imbalance that would lead to hyperinsulinism in a susceptible individual.

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