COMPARATIVE EFFECT OF LIVER AND LIVER EXTRACT ON DIABETES IN A CASE OF COMBINED PERNICIOUS ANEMIA AND DIABETES

This case is being reported primarily to record the comparative effect of whole liver and liver extract on diabetes in a case of combined pernicious anemia and diabetes. It is, moreover, of some interest to add another case of this association to the seven already on record, as recently reported by Hitzrot. 1 This combination of diseases is in all probability coincidental, although they do have some possible predisposing points in common: the majority of the cases of each occur at the same age period; both are more frequent in persons who are overweight, and the achylia gastrica that so frequently precedes pernicious anemia is rather common in diabetes, as was shown by Bowen and Aaron, 2 and later by others. In 1929, Blotner and Murphy 3 presented what appeared to be substantial evidence that raw liver pulp and a fraction of liver extract had definite blood sugar reducing properties.