A just released report titled Local Government Actions to Prevent Childhood Obesity, from the Institute of Medicine and sponsored by the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation and Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, offers myriad steps local governments can take to prevent the escalating incidence of child obesity.

With all the conversation about the need for health care reform, there are no better places to focus our efforts and energy than on the prevention and better management of diabetes by supporting people's and society's work on living healthier lifestyles. Both obesity, often the predecessor to pre- and type 2 diabetes, and type 2 diabetes eat up a massive piece of the healthcare dollar pie. A focus on prevention of obesity and type 2 diabetes could offer us big benefits for our bucks!

Research is snowballing pointing to deficient vitamin D levels as one factor contributing to the onset of both type 1 and 2 diabetes.

Revised numbers from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) were just published in the National Diabetes Fact Sheet and they are, once again, disheartening and staggering but not surprising:

Plenty of research points to the health dangers of excess belly – or abdominal – fat, from preventing type 2 diabetes, to high blood pressure and more. Last week, a study published in the journal Neurology conducted by Kaiser Permanente’s research arm, linked excess belly fat to a high risk of dementia. Researchers found that the more belly fat participants were toting around, the greater their risk for dementia.