Table of Contents Introduction What Is Diabetes Mellitus? What Are the Types of Diabetes? Diagnosing Diabetes Forms of Prediabetes Scope and Impact of Diabetes Who Gets Diabetes? Information on Diabetes Treatment Information on Diabetes Research Keeping on Top of Your Condition

Information on Diabetes Research

In recent years, advances in diabetes research have led to better ways to manage diabetes and treat its complications. Major advances include

• The development of a quick-acting insulin analog.

• Better ways to monitor blood glucose and for people with diabetes to check their own blood glucose levels.

• Development of external insulin pumps that deliver insulin, replacing daily injections.

• Laser treatment for diabetic eye disease, reducing the risk of blindness.

• Successful transplantation of kidneys and pancreas in people whose own kidneys fail because of diabetes.

• Better ways of managing diabetes in pregnant women, improving chances of successful outcomes.

• New drugs to treat type 2 diabetes and better ways to manage this form of diabetes through weight control.

• Evidence that intensive management of blood glucose reduces and may prevent development of diabetes complications.

• Demonstration that antihypertensive drugs called ACE (angiotensin-converting enzyme) inhibitors prevent or delay kidney failure in people with diabetes.

• Promising results with islet transplantation for type 1 diabetes reported by the University of Alberta in Canada. A nationwide clinical trial funded by the NIH and the Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation International is currently trying to replicate the Canadian advance.

• Evidence that people at high risk for type 2 diabetes can lower their chances of developing the disease through diet and exercise.