Diabetes Dateline
Summer 2006

NIDDK News

NDEP Launches Diabetes Prevention Campaign

Women With History of Gestational Diabetes and Their Children Can Lower Risk

The National Diabetes Education Program (NDEP) has launched a new educational campaign to reduce the risk of developing type 2 diabetes among women with a history of gestational diabetes mellitus (GDM) and their offspring.

A booklet for adults and tip sheets––in English and Spanish––for both adults and children are available on the NDEP website at www.ndep.nih.gov.

The “It’s Never Too Early to Prevent Diabetes” campaign focuses on providing women who have had GDM with information that outlines practical steps they can take to prevent or delay type 2 diabetes, such as losing a small amount of weight if overweight, making healthy food choices, and increasing physical activity. This new campaign initiative is the latest message from the NDEP’s Small Steps. Big Rewards. Prevent type 2 Diabetes campaign.

GDM is a common condition that affects about 7 percent of all pregnancies in the United States. Those whose GDM goes away after delivery have a risk as high as 50 percent of developing type 2 diabetes in the future. Children of mothers with GDM also are at increased risk for type 2 diabetes, as well as obesity.

“Mothers who have had GDM need to know that they and their children have an increased lifelong risk for developing type 2 diabetes,” said Deputy Surgeon General Rear Admiral Kenneth P. Moritsugu, M.D., M.P.H. “The risk doesn’t go away. By making modest lifestyle changes to lose a small amount of weight—usually by making healthy food choices and being more physically active—women can help prevent or delay the disease. Children can lower their risk for type 2 diabetes by not becoming overweight or obese.”

GDM has been increasing around the country, which may reflect rising obesity rates nationwide. New York City, for instance, saw a 46 percent jump in GDM between 1990 and 2002, while the number of cases in northern California increased 35 percent between 1991 and 2000.

Recent research funded by the National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases shows that adults at risk for diabetes can lower that risk by as much as 58 percent through lifestyle changes, including a low-calorie, low-fat diet; and more physical activity.

Small Lifestyle Changes Yield Big Rewards in Preventing Diabetes Among Older Adults

Campaign materials, including tip sheets, posters, and radio and print public service announcements are available on the NDEP website at www.ndep.nih.gov/campaigns/SmallSteps/SmallSteps_nottoolate.htm.

Lifestyle changes can reduce the risk of developing diabetes, especially for older adults. That is the message the National Diabetes Education Program (NDEP) is trying to get across to people over age 60 through the “It’s Not Too Late to Prevent Diabetes” public awareness campaign.

The campaign encourages older adults to find out whether they are at risk for type 2 diabetes and to take steps to prevent or delay the disease, such as losing a small amount of weight and getting at least 30 minutes of physical activity five times a week. The Diabetes Prevention Program, a major research study funded by the National Institutes of Health, found that these lifestyle changes reduced the development of diabetes by 71 percent in people aged 60 and older.

Researchers at the National Institutes of Health and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recently reported that nearly 22 percent of people aged 65 and older have diabetes (see Research News). About 40 percent of adults between the ages of 40 and 74—or 41 million people—have pre-diabetes, which increases the risk for type 2 diabetes, heart attack, and stroke.

NIDDK Continues to Distribute National Diabetes Action Plan

To download the plan online, visit aspe.hhs.gov/health/NDAP/NDAP04.pdf (PDF, 1.5 MB).

Recognizing that individual action isn’t enough to stem the increasing rate of diabetes in the United States, the Department of Health and Human Services devised a national action plan to improve the prevention, detection, and treatment of diabetes. The National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases (NIDDK) continues to distribute the plan, Diabetes: A National Plan for Action, through the National Diabetes Education Program and the National Diabetes Information Clearinghouse.

An advisory committee that included former NIDDK Director Allen Spiegel, M.D., oversaw the creation of the plan, which outlines steps other stakeholders, in addition to individuals, can take to leverage and coordinate resources to fight diabetes, including researchers and professional educators, health care and health insurance providers, employers, communities, schools, the media, and tribal and other government agencies. The plan document also highlights federal diabetes activities and includes patient information about diabetes risk factors, prevention, detection, and care.

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NIH Publication No. 06–4562
September 2006