Diabetes is a huge national problem and still, many Americans don't know all that much about this disease that can disable people, cause death, and destroy lives.  Here is the Diabete Research Institute's Online Diabetes Fact Sheet -- how much do you know about the disease of diabetes, for which - right now - there is no cure?

DRI Diabetes Fact Sheet

• Almost 26 million Americans have diabetes, including as many as seven million individuals who have diabetes and don’t know it. 
• Diabetes kills more people than AIDS and breast cancer combined. 
• In 2007, diabetes claimed more than 284,000 American lives. 
• Diabetes costs the American people $218 billion each year, factoring together the total costs of diagnosed cases, undiagnosed diabetes, prediabetes, and gestational diabetes.
• Diabetes impacts all social, economic, and ethnic backgrounds. 
• The World Health Organization (WHO) estimates that more than 180 million people world wide have diabetes. This number is likely to more than double by 2030.
• Diabetes is caused by the body’s inability to create or effectively use its own insulin, which is produced by islet cells found in the pancreas. 
• Insulin helps regulate blood sugar (glucose) levels – providing energy to body cells and tissues. 
• Without insulin, the body’s cells would be starved, causing dehydration and destruction of body tissue. 
• Injecting insulin is not a cure for diabetes. It is a critical life-saving component of a daily treatment program. 
• Diabetes is the seventh leading cause of death by disease among adults and reduces life expectancy by one-third.
• Approximately 4,110 new cases of diabetes are diagnosed each day. 
• Almost three million Americans are hospitalized each year due to diabetes. 
• Diabetes is the leading cause of new blindness in adults ages 20-74. 
• Sixty-five percent of deaths among people with diabetes are due to heart disease and stroke. 
• Persons with diabetes are two to four times more likely to develop heart disease than people without diabetes. 
• More than 60 percent of all nontraumatic amputations occur among people with diabetes. 
• Nearly 44 percent of all kidney failure is caused by diabetes. Diabetic patients are 17 times more prone to kidney disease than people who do not have the disease. 
• Diabetes is also the leading cause of end stage renal disease. 
• Women with diabetes face high-risk pregnancies, which can result in babies born with many health problems.

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