Apollinaire Bouchardat (July 23, 1809 – April 7, 1886) was a French pharmacist and hygienist born in

L'Isle-sur-Serein L'Isle-sur-Serein (, literally ''L'Isle on Serein'') is a commune in the Yonne department in Bourgogne-Franche-Comté in north-central France. See also *Communes of the Yonne department The following is a list of the 423 communes of the Yonne ...

Biography

He studied at the Ecole de pharmacie de Paris and the

Muséum d'Histoire Naturelle The French National Museum of Natural History, known in French as the ' (abbreviation MNHN), is the national natural history museum of France and a ' of higher education part of Sorbonne Universities. The main museum, with four galleries, is loc ...

, and later became chief pharmacist at the

Hôtel-Dieu de Paris In French-speaking countries, a hôtel-Dieu ( en, hostel of God) was originally a hospital for the poor and needy, run by the Catholic Church. Nowadays these buildings or institutions have either kept their function as a hospital, the one in Paris b ...

, where he worked for much of his career. In the mid-1850s he became professor of

hygiene Hygiene is a series of practices performed to preserve health. According to the World Health Organization (WHO), "Hygiene refers to conditions and practices that help to maintain health and prevent the spread of diseases." Personal hygiene refer ...

at the Faculté de médecine. Among his written works was the popular "''Nouveau Formulaire Magistral''", a formulary that was published over many editions. It contained information about

health spa A health club (also known as a fitness club, fitness center, health spa, and commonly referred to as a gym) is a place that houses exercise equipment for the purpose of physical exercise. In recent years, the number of fitness and health se ...

s and

pharmaceutical A medication (also called medicament, medicine, pharmaceutical drug, medicinal drug or simply drug) is a drug used to diagnose, cure, treat, or prevent disease. Drug therapy (pharmacotherapy) is an important part of the medical field an ...

formulae that included natural cures and remedies for all types of ailments. Beginning in 1840, he was editor of the journal "''Annuaire de thérapeutique, de matière médicale de pharmacie et de toxicologie''".Pagel: Biographical Dictionary outstanding doctors of the nineteenth century. Berlin, Vienna 1901, 218-219 Sp
biology In 1877, with

Alexandre Lacassagne Alexandre Lacassagne (August 17, 1843 – September 24, 1924) was a French physician and criminologist who was a native of Cahors. He was the founder of the Lacassagne school of criminology, based in Lyon and influential from 1885 to 1914, and the ...

and

Émile Vallin Émile Arthur Vallin (27 November 1833 in Nantes – 27 February 1924 in Montpellier) was a French military physician, considered to be a precursor of public health in France a convinced Pasteurian. Biography Son of François-Auguste Vallin, a ...

, he was a founding member of the "Société de Médecine publique et d'Hygiène professionnelle"

Diabetes

Bouchardat is often credited as the founder of diabetology, and was a major figure involving dietetic therapy for treatment of

diabetes Diabetes, also known as diabetes mellitus, is a group of metabolic disorders characterized by a high blood sugar level ( hyperglycemia) over a prolonged period of time. Symptoms often include frequent urination, increased thirst and increased ...

prior to the advent of insulin therapy. He recognized that

fasting Fasting is the abstention from eating and sometimes drinking. From a purely physiological context, "fasting" may refer to the metabolic status of a person who has not eaten overnight (see " Breakfast"), or to the metabolic state achieved after ...

was a method to reduce

glycosuria Glycosuria is the excretion of glucose into the urine. Ordinarily, urine contains no glucose because the kidneys are able to reabsorb all of the filtered glucose from the tubular fluid back into the bloodstream. Glycosuria is nearly always caused ...

, and speculated that the principal cause of diabetes was located in the

pancreas The pancreas is an organ of the digestive system and endocrine system of vertebrates. In humans, it is located in the abdomen behind the stomach and functions as a gland. The pancreas is a mixed or heterocrine gland, i.e. it has both an en ...

. In the treatment of the disease, he stressed the importance of exercise, and developed a procedure for self-testing

urine Urine is a liquid by-product of metabolism in humans and in many other animals. Urine flows from the kidneys through the ureters to the urinary bladder. Urination results in urine being excreted from the body through the urethra. Cellular ...

to determine the presence of

glucose Glucose is a simple sugar with the molecular formula . Glucose is overall the most abundant monosaccharide, a subcategory of carbohydrates. Glucose is mainly made by plants and most algae during photosynthesis from water and carbon dioxide, u ...

. Bouchardat developed a

low-carbohydrate diet Low-carbohydrate diets restrict carbohydrate consumption relative to the average diet. Foods high in carbohydrates (e.g., sugar, bread, pasta) are limited, and replaced with foods containing a higher percentage of fat and protein (e.g., meat, ...

for his diabetic patients.Harris, Randall E. (2013). ''Epidemiology of Chronic Disease: Global Perspectives''. John & Barlett Learning. p. 376. Bouchardat's low-carbohydrate diet included high amounts of fat and protein, a bottle of red wine, days of complete fasting and outside exercise.Jörgens V, Porta M. (2020). ''Unveiling Diabetes: Historical Milestones in Diabetology''. Karger. p. 11. He suggested that once all carbohydrates had been removed from the diet they could be partially reintroduced after the disappearance of glycosuria which could be detected alone by patients tasting their own urine.

Associated eponym

* "Bouchardat's treatment": Treatment of

diabetes mellitus Diabetes, also known as diabetes mellitus, is a group of metabolic disorders characterized by a high blood sugar level ( hyperglycemia) over a prolonged period of time. Symptoms often include frequent urination, increased thirst and increased ...

by use of a low-

carbohydrate In organic chemistry, a carbohydrate () is a biomolecule consisting of carbon (C), hydrogen (H) and oxygen (O) atoms, usually with a hydrogen–oxygen atom ratio of 2:1 (as in water) and thus with the empirical formula (where ''m'' may or m ...

diet.

Principal works

* ''Manuel de matière médicale de thérapeutique et de pharmacie'', (1838, fifth edition 1873) – Materia medica manual of therapeutics and pharmacy. * ''Eléments de matière médicale et de pharmacie'' (Paris 1839) – Elements of materia medica and pharmacy. * ''Nouveau formulaire magistral'', etc. (1840, 19th edition 1874). * ''De la glycosurie ou Diabète sucré son traitement hygiénique'', Paris, (1875, second edition 1883) – On

and its hygienic treatment.
''Traité d'hygiène publique et privée basée sur l'etiology''
1881 – Treatise on public and private hygiene, based on etiology.

References

NCBI
Apollinaire Bouchardat, pharmacist, nutritionist. {{Authority control 1809 births 1866 deaths French diabetologists French pharmacists Hygienists Low-carbohydrate diet advocates People from Yonne