On the relation of blood sugar to glycosuria in diabetes mellitus

An extensive study on diabetic individuals and on animals in which diabetes was produced by the removal of the pancreas, reveals the fact that the current belief concerning the non-existence of a relationship between hyperglycemia and glycosuria is erroneous.

The error in the conclusions heretofore reached concerning this matter arises from several circumstances, chief of which are: First, the failure to recognize the fact that the blood volume in animals and man is capable of undergoing considerable variations, which affect the concentration and the total amount of the sugar present in the blood; second, the employment of the “percentage” of sugar found in the blood as a measure of hyperglycemia; third, comparing the “percentage” of sugar in the blood as found by single or isolated determinations, with the quantity of sugar eliminated in the urine in a given period of time.

Evidence is adduced to show that the volume of blood circulating in the body is capable of variation spontaneously, and as a result of the addition or abstraction of fluid. The degree of variation of the blood volume (i. e., the relative blood volume) may be determined by means of the hematocrit without resorting to the use of a method which measures the total blood volume. This is accomplished by establishing the changes that occur in the proportion of cells in the blood from time to time and computing therefrom, the alteration in the blood volume may be determined by means of the hematocrit without resorting to the use of a method which measures the total blood volume. This is accomplished by establishing the changes that occur in the proportion of cells in the blood from time to time and computing therefrom, the alteration in the blood volume.