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Improving the health, safety, and well-being of America	Frequent Questions Search

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Nearly 16 million Americans have diabetes, and 800,000 more fall victim to the disease annually. This epidemic is witnessing a terrible increase, tripling within the last three decades.

Diabetes often does its damage through the other diseases that accompany it - especially cardiovascular disease. Heart disease is the No. 1 killer of people with diabetes; those with diabetes are twice as likely to have a heart attack or stroke as people without the disease.

Beyond the human suffering, disability and loss of life that result, the disease also poses a heavy financial burden on our nation. Diabetes costs the United States about $100 billion a year in direct and indirect costs.

To draw attention to the critical need for prevention -- and the high costs that result if we do not fight the disease -- World Diabetes Day has embraced a theme this year: "Reducing the Burden: Diabetes and Cardiovascular Disease."

The goal matches an initiative launched this month by the Department of Health and Human Services in partnership with the American Diabetes Association. This program draws attention to the need for people with diabetes to control their blood pressure and cholesterol, along with their blood glucose.

The good news is that diabetes is treatable and preventable. We are developing promising new technologies in our effort to improve the kind of treatments available. For example, the new insulin pump used by many diabetics is just one recent innovation.

The National Institutes of Health recently completed a study showing that with a healthy diet and moderate exercise 30 minutes a day, five days a week, the risk of getting type 2 diabetes fell by 58 percent in people at high risk for developing diabetes.

The National Diabetes Education Program campaign has a wonderful slogan: "Be Smart About Your Heart: Control the ABC's of Diabetes." Under that slogan, the NDEP will be educating the American public about the link between diabetes and heart disease. You can visit their Web site, www.ndep.nih.gov, for more information.

Diabetes need not be devastating. It can be prevented and, if it occurs, managed successfully. This new campaign aims to give every American the tools they need to fight diabetes and win. With your help, this is a battle we can win.

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