In 1797, Dr. John Rollo—a surgeon in the British Royal Artillery—published a book entitled An Account of Two Cases of the Diabetes Mellitus. He discussed his experience treating two diabetic Army officers with a high-fat, high-meat, low-carbohydrate diet. Mind you, this was an era devoid of effective drug therapies for diabetes.
The soldiers apparently had type 2 diabetes rather than type 1.
In at least one of the cases, the diet led to loss of excess weight (original weight 232 pounds or 105 kg), elimination of symptoms, and reversal of elevated blood and urine sugars.
Read more about this and other characters in the history of diabetes in”Diabetes Detectives,” an article in Dartmouth Medicine, Winter 2008 edition, by Lee Witters, M.D., et al.
Diabetic Mediterranean Diet 