Diabetes: For Patients and Consumers

General Information

• Diabetes Forecast magazine, published by the American Diabetes Association, discusses diabetes-friendly recipes, tips for staying healthy with diabetes, and other topics of interest to those with diabetes.
  • Minimizing Diabetics’ Risks During Pregnancy describes what women with diabetes can do before and during pregnancies to help them and their infants be as healthy as possible.
• National Diabetes Education Program (NDEP) is a federally funded program to improve health for people with diabetes and to prevent type 2 diabetes. Its website contains a range of information for patients on diabetes-related topics.
  • Tips for Teens Be Active! Fact Sheets provide useful information about diabetes and encourage teens to take action to manage their disease for a long and healthy life.
  • A tip sheet on helping loved ones provides practical suggestions to help friends and families with diabetes and lists organizations that can help.
• The CDC’s National Diabetes Fact Sheet 2011 (PDF - 2.66 MB) provides a comprehensive set of facts on the occurrence of diabetes in the U.S.
• Type 1
  • Camps for Kids article Diabetes Forecast describes summer camps for children with type 1 diabetes.
  • The Guide to Raising a Child with Diabetes, 3rd Edition, published by the American Diabetes Association, shows parents how to help their child adjust insulin, feel healthy with a busy schedule, negotiate the challenges of feeling different, and more.
  • The American Diabetes Association’s tips on family communication provide advice on communicating with a child who has diabetes and working together with a spouse to manage a child’s type 1 diabetes.
• Type 2
  • The NIDDK’s webpage Am I At Risk for Type 2 Diabetes? Taking Steps to Lower Your Risk of Getting Diabetes, part of the National Diabetes Information Clearinghouse, discusses prediabetes, type 2 diabetes, and how to reduce one’s risk for this disease, among other related topics.
  • The NIH SeniorHealth website for seniors provides six videos on preventing and managing diabetes and on preventing diabetic retinopathy and vision loss from the disease.
• Gestational diabetes (GDM) and diabetes in pregnancy
  • Managing Gestational Diabetes: A Patient’s Guide to a Healthy Pregnancy is a booklet published by the NICHD that explains gestational diabetes, its causes, and its symptoms. It also provides a general treatment plan for the condition that patients and health care professionals can use to set up a treatment regimen that addresses the woman’s specific needs.
  • Am I At Risk for Gestational Diabetes? is a booklet published by the NICHD that explains gestational diabetes, lists the risk factors for the condition, indicates who should be tested and when, and explains how to get more information about gestational diabetes.
  • The book Diabetes and Pregnancy, published by the American Diabetes Association, describes how pregnant women with diabetes can improve their health and that of their infants.

Services, Resources, and Support

• The We Can! program, supported in part by the NICHD, is dedicated to improving children’s activity and nutrition in order to improve health, including preventing type 2 diabetes.
• The ADA’s Project Power provides churches with resources for integrating diabetes awareness messages and healthy living tips into church life.
• The ADA’s Choose to Live: Sisters Strong Together program for African-American women teaches these women how to take care of themselves to stop diabetes.
• Just a Touch is a series of ADA community-based educational modules to fight neuropathy and kidney damage from diabetes in African-Americans.
• Helping Student w/Diabetes Succeed: A Guide for School Personnel, from the National Diabetes Education Program, is a resource guide that helps those involved with a student’s care and education provide optimal diabetes management in school.

Please note: Links to organizations and information included on this page do not indicate endorsement from the NICHD, NIH, or HHS.