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BREAD FOR DIABETIC PATIENTS. 
ART. LIII. — BREAD FOR DIABETIC PATIENTS. 
Communicated by Dr. Percy, F.R.S. 
It appears to be now generally admitted, that in the 
treatment of Diabetes Meilitus, amylaceous matter 
should in a great or less degree be excluded from the diet. 
But, as is well known, under such restriction of food the 
diabetic patient soon becomes weary of the ordinary kinds 
of azotized matter, as beef, mutton, &c. Hence various 
substitutes for common bread have been proposed. Some 
years ago my friend Mr. Morson, of Southampton Row, 
London, prepared, at my request, specimens of bread con- 
taining gluten in various proportions. However, the resuJt 
was not satisfactory;* it was only relished by the patient 
when it contained a considerable quantity of starch ; and 
when the proportion of gluten was increased beyond a certain 
amount, it became so tough and tenacious as to be very 
difficult of mastication. I have also made trial of gluten 
bread, brought from Paris by Mr. Morson, but with no 
better success. Recently Dr. Prout has published a receipt 
for a kind of bread devised by his patient the late Rev. J. 
Rigg (vide Stomach and Renal Diseases, 5th ed. p. 44 ;) 
and this is probably the best substitute for common bread 
which has hitherto been proposed. Some time ago Mr. 
Charles F. Palmer of this town prepared for me with great 
care, specimens of bread from Dr. Prout's receipt; but 
patients to whom it was given complained of the difficulty 
in swallowing it, owing to the large quantity of bran which 
it contained, Mr. Palmer then suggested the matter of 
rasped potatoes, left after the complete removal of the starch 
by washing, to replace the bran. He carried the sugges- 
tion into practice, and produced a kind of bread which I 
think well deserves the attention or the profession. It has 
* I do no not mean by this to assert, that bread deprived of a por- 
tion of its starch is not preferable to common bread for diabetic patients. 
