Ronald Reagan

“ Hope for the future lies in research. In recent years, scientists have laid the groundwork for an eventual cure for diabetes. Basic research has provided the tools with which scientists are describing the genetic, immunologic and biochemical mechanisms that underlie diabetes. Through research, we now know that diabetes has multiple causes, and scientists are developing the means to understand and correct these defects in ways specific to each cause. Research is also clarifying how best to treat diabetes. ”

“ Each year, an estimated 500,000 more Americans are told by their physicians that they have diabetes. This chronic disease interferes with the body's ability to derive energy from glucose, a type of sugar and an important product of digested food. When diabetes strikes children, it is in a form that can soon be fatal without daily injections of the life-saving hormone insulin. Most people with diabetes have another form of the disease that begins in adulthood and that, over the years, can insidiously and progressively damage the heart, eyes, kidneys, and nervous system. ”

“ The acute illness and long-term complications of diabetes cost the country an estimated $14 billion each year in medical outlays, disability payments, and loss of income. Individuals and families suffer an inestimable drain on their emotional and economic resources in coping with this disease. ”