Charles Best (medical scientist) Banting and contributed to the discovery of the pancreatic hormone insulin, which led to an effective treatment for diabetes. In the spring of 1921, Banting travelled to Toronto to visit J.J.R. Macleod, professor of physiology at the University of Toronto, and asked Macleod if he could use his laboratory to isolate pancreatic extracts from dogs. Macleod was initially sceptical, but eventually agreed before leaving on holiday for the summer. Before leaving for Scotland he supplied Banting with ten dogs for experiment and two medical students, Charles Best and Clark Noble, as lab assistants. Since Banting required only one assistant, Best
William Banting is still available on-line. The popularity of the pamphlet mentioned above was such that the questions "Do you bant?" or "Are you banting?", still occasionally in use today, refer to his method, and sometimes even to dieting in general. In Sweden "banta" is still the main verb for "being on a diet". Scientist Tim Noakes popularised Banting in South Africa when he named his high-fat, low-carbohydrate diet after Banting. Gary Taubes' study of carbohydrates, "Good Calories, Bad Calories", begins with a prologue entitled "A brief history of Banting" and discusses Banting at some length. Discussions of low-carbohydrate diets often begin