Hyperglycaemia & aglycosuria; asymptomatic severe hyperglycaemia; intermittent (phasic) insulin requirement, with evidence of insulin resistance during the insulin requiring phase; aketonuria. In Jamaica, Morrison reported that the university hospital outpatient diabetic clinic had 13% of patients demonstrating this clinical phasic syndrome in the 1980s.

In addition these patients all had evidence of undernutrition (BMI <19); drank copiously of bush teas (Complementary Alternative Medicine); and had as a staple food root crops such as yams, cassava(yucca).