About Diabetes

Help Prevent Diabetes, Treat Obesity

Obesity is linked to up to 53 percent of new cases of diabetes every year. Healthy weight management can help prevent and even reverse diabetes and most importantly leads to better health for those with or at risk for diabetes.

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Treat Obesity Like the Chronic Disease it Is

Obesity is a common, chronic, and progressive disease with many medical, physical, and psychosocial issues, including a significant increased risk for type 2 diabetes. Over 85 percent of people with type 2 diabetes have overweight or obesity.

Research shows people with type 1 diabetes are also at a growing risk for obesity and related health conditions. Obesity is linked to heart disease, stroke, and certain types of cancer. These are among the leading causes of preventable, premature death. Across the United States, obesity trends are on the rise for children and adults with almost 20 percent of children and adolescents and over 40 percent adults having obesity.

The ADA's Standards of Care in Diabetes—2024

The Standards of Care in Diabetes—2024 includes all the American Diabetes Association's (ADA's) current clinical practice recommendations and is intended to provide clinicians, people with diabetes, researchers, payers, and others with the components of diabetes care, general treatment goals, and tools to evaluate the quality of care. There is strong and consistent evidence that obesity management can delay the progression from prediabetes to type 2 diabetes and is highly beneficial in treating type 2 diabetes.

In people with type 2 diabetes and overweight or obesity, modest weight loss improves glycemia and reduces the need for glucose-lowering medications. Larger weight loss substantially reduces A1C and fasting glucose and has been shown to promote sustained diabetes remission through at least two years. Several modalities, may aid in achieving and maintaining meaningful weight loss and reducing obesity-associated health risks.

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ADA-Funded Obesity Research

The ADA's research supports projects aimed at understanding the biology of appetite regulation and metabolism, the identification of new treatment targets, and trials exploring pharmacological and behavioral interventions to enhance and sustain weight loss.

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Share Your Story

Have you or a loved one been impacted by obesity? Please help ADA fight for access to obesity treatment by sharing your story. Every person deserves treatment for their chronic disease.

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