The New 10-Year Plan for Diabetes Research

In March of 2011 The National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases (NIDDK) announced the creation of a 10-year strategic plan for diabetes research. The Diabetes Mellitus Interagency Coordinating Committee developed the plan. This committee is a group that is authorized by congress.

Diabetes in the U.S.

The main goals of the plan are to set priorities and identify the best opportunities for research going forward. The plan is designed to keep the various agencies conducting diabetes research all on the same page in order to maximize their efforts and results.

The plan will focus on several aspects of diabetes, one of the major ones being the effect of obesity on type 2 diabetes. Since obesity is one of the main risk factors its prevention is also an area that will be covered. For example, determining genetic links, environmental links, or hormonal and neural factors that may affect balance in the body, could lead to new ways to treat obesity.

Another area of study related to diabetes and obesity is adipose tissue biology. This research looks at the things that regulate the number of fat cells, their size and their distribution. Knowing more about how these mechanisms work will lead to a better understanding of prevention.

Insulin resistance, the role of the central nervous system and obesity prevention and treatment are also areas of focus for the strategic plan.

The strategic plan doesn’t just cover research for type 2 diabetes though. The autoimmune mechanisms that affect type 1 diabetes are a major area of focus.

The ultimate goal of course, is better prevention and treatment of diabetes. The plan focuses on developing better treatments such as artificial pancreas technologies to help improve sugar levels as well as prevention of complications.

Diabetes also affects some populations more than others. There are higher percentages of people affected by diabetes in the elderly and in certain racial and ethnic minorities. Studying the reasons why this happens will hopefully lead to a reduction in these cases. The plan will continue to use clinical trials since these have proven successful in discovering new knowledge and treatments in the past.