Studies of normal carbohydrate tolerance in the Ugandan African

Abstract Glucose tolerance tests were carried out on 37 healthy male Ugandan Africans, with a loading dose of 50 g. All estimations were made on capillary blood. The results have been compared with those of matched British males. The Ugandan curves tended to be lower and to change less abruptly than the British. 15 other Ugandan subjects were studied after 50 g. of carbohydrate given in the form of banana. The response obtained was similar to that after glucose but the fall in blood sugar was slower. The pancreas weights of 1449 Ugandan Africans coming to autopsy at the Mulago Hospital, Kampala, were studied. The weights ranged from 9 to over 180 g., most between 70 and 129 g. There is a much wider range in pancreas weight of the Ugandan African than has been found in Britain and Jamaica. The pancreases of 26 Ugandan diabetics were also studied and of these 8 were calcified, 9 markedly fibrosed, and 2 neoplastic; none was small.