John Rollo M.D. (d. December 23, 1809) was a Scottish military surgeon, now known for his work on adiabetic diet. Rollo was the first to suggest alow-carbohydrate diet as a treatment for diabetes.[1]
He was born in Scotland, and received his medical education at Edinburgh. He became a surgeon in theRoyal Artillery in 1776, and then served in the West Indies. In 1778 theUniversity of St Andrews made him M.D.[2] He was stationed inSt. Lucia in 1778–9 and inBarbados in 1781.[3] His associates includedColin Chisholm onGrenada.[4]
Rollo became surgeon-general of the Royal Artillery in 1794, and returned to theRoyal Military Academy, Woolwich.[3] There he oversaw the construction of the enlarged Royal Artillery Hospital: the Royal Ordnance Hospital dated from about 1780, and the enlargement was completed in 1806 (the building later became the Connaught Barracks).[2][5] From 1804 he was inspector of hospitals for the Ordnance.[2]
Rollo was frequently consulted about cases ofdiabetes, and in treatment had some success with the use of a nitrogenous diet. He died at Woolwich on 23 December 1809, and was buried atPlumstead inGreenwich.[3][6]
In 1797, Rollo printed at DeptfordNotes of a Diabetic Case, which described the improvement of an officer with diabetes who was placed on a meat diet.[3] He was the first to takeMatthew Dobson's discovery ofglycosuria indiabetes mellitus and apply it to managing metabolism.[7] By means of Dobson's testing procedure (forglucose in the urine) Rollo worked out a diet that had success for what is now called type 2 diabetes.[8] The addition of the term "mellitus", distinguishing the condition fromdiabetes insipidus, has been attributed to Rollo.[9]
Rollo's diet for diabetic patients consisted of "milk, lime water, bread and butter, blood pudding, meat, and rancid fat".[10] He has been described as "the first one to recommend a diet low in carbohydrates as a treatment for diabetes."[1]
Rollo collaborated withWilliam Cruickshank, who was the chemistry assistant at Woolwich. In another edition of the work,An Account of Two Cases of the Diabetes Mellitus, published in 1798, other cases were added, and some of Cruikshank's research on urine and sugar in diabetics was included.[11] A further edition appeared in 1806.[3]John Latham supported Rollo's views on the treatment.[12] In 1824 theEncyclopædia Britannica in its article "Dietetics" commented that the diet was successful in repressing the condition of the patients' urine, but that the patients often found the high fat content intolerable.[13] This kind of dietary management continued to the 1920s, being more successful for adults, who might survive some years, than for young patients who typically had only some months of life on it.[14] Other collaborations of Rollo and Cruikshank related to treatments forsyphilis involving acids, and published with the work on diabetes;[15][16]proteinuria; andstrontium.[17]
Rollo publishedObservations on the Diseases in the Army on St. Lucia, in 1781; and in 1785Remarks on the Disease lately described by Dr. Hendy, on a form ofelephantiasis known as "Barbados leg". In 1786 he publishedObservations on the Acute Dysentery.[3]
Rollo published in 1801 aShort Account of the Royal Artillery Hospital at Woolwich. He had kept a record of his cases in Barbados, and theAccount included a similar table for the Ordnance hospital.[18][19] In 1804 aMedical Report on Cases of Inoculation supported the views ofEdward Jenner.[3]
This article incorporates text from a publication now in thepublic domain: Lee, Sidney, ed. (1897). "Rollo, John".Dictionary of National Biography. Vol. 49. London: Smith, Elder & Co.
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