I read some very interesting statistics re Diabetes;

Diabetes in the U.S.

The Bad News About Diabetes
Currently 2.6% of the U.S. population, or 5.5 million Americans, are known to have diabetes mellitus; however, the disease remains undiagnosed in about the same number, i.e., another 5.5 million Americans have the disease but are unaware of it or will develop the disease during their lifetime. Over 600,000 new cases of diabetes are diagnosed each year.

Officially, 34,000 deaths each year are attributed to diabetes, placing diabetes as the sixth leading cause of death in the U.S. But, in actuality, approximately 320,000 individuals with diabetes die each year, and diabetes is a significant contributing factor in a large number of these deaths. Seventy-six percent of individuals with diabetes die from vascular disease (cardiovascular disease, stroke).

Diabetes is the leading cause of new cases of adult blindness in the U.S. Approximately 5000 individuals with diabetes become blind each year.

Diabetes is the leading cause of kidney failure requiring dialysis in the U.S.

Other than accidents, diabetes is the leading cause of amputations of legs or feet in the U.S. Fifty percent of all amputations in the U.S. are performed on individuals with diabetes.

Heart attacks are 2.5 times more likely in individuals with diabetes. Strokes are 5 times more common.

Source: http://www.kellogg.umich.edu/patientcare/conditions/diabetes.html