New to ECM? Start with What Is Eight Constitution Medicine? for the basics of the eight body types.
Which constitution is most prone to diabetes? The short answer is that diabetes can arise in every constitution. What differs is the road each type takes to get there. In Korean Traditional Medicine (KTM), the traditional healing system of Korea also known as Hanbang (한방), and within Eight Constitution Medicine (ECM), that distinction matters more than the label.
How the Old Physicians Saw Diabetes: Sogal
Classical KTM had a disorder resembling diabetes called sogal (消渴). There was no concept of blood glucose then; instead the urine was described as yellow and sweet. Sogal was marked by the three “excesses” — excessive thirst (daeum), excessive eating (dasik), and excessive urination (danyo) — and was thought to come from overeating rich, sweet food, dietary excess, or the stress of emotion and overwork, which drove heat into the organs and left yin depleted and fire ascendant.
So the diabetes the old physicians understood came with fever and inflammation, and was held to arise from a deficient kidney. By that definition, diabetes ought to strike only the kidney-deficient — usually Gastrotonia and Pancreotonia, the Soyangin types. The diabetes described in the Donguibogam should really be read as diabetes in the Soyangin. In other constitutions both the picture and the organ at fault are different, and have to be considered separately.
The Road to Diabetes, Constitution by Constitution
Colonotonia and Pulmotonia. Glucose taken in must first be stored by the liver and muscle — but these types have weak storage capacity there. So overeating, and eating a lot of meat, brings on diabetes readily. Their diabetes is closely tied to a deficient liver function.
Cholecystonia and Hepatonia. These types store glucose as glycogen very well, in liver, muscle and fat. The trouble is that because the storage capacity is so good, stress and similar triggers lead to overeating and bingeing; the fat cells then make insulin resistance easy to develop, and diabetes can follow. A good ability, taken to excess, always becomes a problem. Put the other way round: these types could live on honey alone and still not become diabetic, provided they eat less and exercise diligently.
Vesicotonia and Renotonia. These are the types whose pancreatic function is prone to congenital weakness. Even on a modest diet, the pancreas cannot disperse blood glucose adequately to liver and muscle, and diabetes results. With a weak pancreas and stomach, these types also tend to favour small, sweet things — and that habit, too, is a cause.
Gastrotonia and Pancreotonia. Their pancreatic function is strong, so at first glance they seem unlikely to become diabetic. In practice, the very strength of the pancreas often leads them to eat more; and the hurried temperament of the Earth types brings stress, while a constitutionally hot stomach that keeps asking to be soothed adds to the risk. Diabetes is in fact common here.
In Summary
To sum up: every constitution can develop diabetes. Some get there because storage is weak, some because storage is excessive, some because the pancreas is weak, and some simply because they eat so well. A constitutional diet certainly helps — but in the end the key to managing blood sugar is how and how much you take in.
Related reading: Why Eating for Your Constitution Helps You Lose Weight · The Eight Constitutional Types: Organ Hierarchy and Disease Tendencies
This article reflects the teaching and research of Professor Seungho Baek, Professor of Korean Medicine at Dongguk University College of Korean Medicine, specializing in Pathology and Oncology.
