Frederick Madison Allen (March 16, 1879 – April 14, 1957) was an American physician who is best remembered for his carbohydrate-restricted low-calorie diet for sufferers of diabetes mellitus.

[1] Born in Iowa, Allen studied medicine in California and obtained a fellowship at Harvard University to work on sugar consumption.

Allen believed that previous diabetic treatments had been ineffective because they attempted to substitute fats for carbohydrates.

[2] Allen opened the Physiatric Institute in Morristown, New Jersey, the world's first clinic for sufferers of diabetes mellitus, on April 26, 1921.

[4][2] Allen was given early access to insulin after its discovery at the University of Toronto, but the quantities available were limited due to production difficulties.

By 1929, Allen had moved the Physiatric Institute to Rye, New York and was opening a new treatment center for metabolic disorders in Midtown Manhattan.

[2] Allen spent the rest of his life moving between hospitals, doing research into refrigeration in surgery and cancer.