ABSTRACT
Diabetes mellitus (DM) is a disease which afflicts more than 20 million people in the United States (US) and many more worldwide. Projected figures are that the number of individuals with diabetes will increase from 166 million in 2000 to 330 million by 2030; areas most affected by this increase include Africa, the eastern Mediterranean region, and southeast Asia where a quadrupling of the incidence of DM is expected to occur. In the US, the lifetime risk for developing diabetes in an individual born after 2000 is 33% for Caucasians and 50% for Hispanics. These numbers reflect the explosion of obesity in the US and worldwide. Type 1 diabetes, accounting for about 10% of people with diabetes mellitus, is an autoimmune disease wherein the insulin-producing β cells of the pancreas are destroyed. Treatment relies solely on the use of insulin.
