Diabetes: A global epidemic costing billions
On World Diabetes Day, data shows the disease's incidence is declining in the United States, but rising globally.
It's a disease that kills someone every eight seconds, and costs the globe over a trillion dollars every year.
Diabetes is a chronic condition that strikes when the pancreas, an organ that is part of the digestive system, no longer produces sufficient insulin, a hormone that helps regulate blood sugar levels. Complications with the hormone can lead to various forms of diabetes, now at epidemic levels around the world.
The United States Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) estimates that 1.5 million new cases of diabetes are diagnosed annually in the US alone.
To lower that toll, the CDC has spent millions on prevention and ed...