It's still going - the TrialNet and the NIH are continuing to recruit patients for their clinical study of oral insulin to slow the onset of type 1 diabetes.

In the study, researchers are testing whether an insulin capsule taken by mouth once a day can prevent or delay diabetes in individuals at high risk for developing type 1 diabetes. An earlier trial suggested that oral insulin might delay type 1 diabetes for about four years. This was found to be true in people with autoantibodies to insulin in their blood. Some scientists think that introducing insulin via the digestive tract induces tolerance of the immune system. Insulin taken orally has no effect on glucose because the digestive system breaks it down quickly. To lower blood glucose, insulin must be injected or administered by an insulin pump.

In type 1 diabetes, a person's own immune cells destroy the beta cells of the pancreas. Beta cells sense blood glucose and produce the hormone insulin, which regulates glucose and converts it to energy. The autoantibodies causing type 1 diabtes may appear in the blood up to 10 years before diagnosis. These autoantibodies to glutamate decarboxylase (GAD), IA-2, and to insulin itself indicate a greater risk for developing type 1 diabetes. For a person with high-risk genes and all three antibodies, the risk of developing diabetes in the next 5 years is greater than 50%.

On March 13, 2007, former President Bill Clinton joined global leaders to discuss ways to break the curve of the diabetes pandemic. The Global Changing Diabetes Leadership Forum held in New York City was hosted by Novo Nordisk and supported by the International Diabetes Federation (IDF). Yes, when people of this magnitude get together - you know it's serious business!

The forum convened the Masters of the Healthcare Universe to discuss ways to make diabetes a global health priority and ultimately, improve the way the disease is treated. The attendees were policymakers, patient organizations and healthcare professionals. It is estimated that 1 in 3 American children born in 2000 and beyond will develop type 2 diabetes. Worldwide, an estimated 246 million people have diabetes, and the number is expected to grow to 380 million within the next 20 years. A resolution today could prevent this harrowing disaster of tomorrow.

The Global Changing Diabetes Leadership Forum hopes to redefine healthcare around the needs of people with diabetes. Novo Nordisk has recognized that there is not a single answer to the diabetes pandemic. They seek to identify multiple actions to combat diabetes - from prevention to the treatment of serious complications. Lars Rebien Sørensen, president and CEO of Novo Nordisk says, . "Only by placing the person with diabetes at the center of care and changing how healthcare systems around the world approach the disease can this silent killer be defeated."

Novo Nordisk anticipates hosting a 2-day forum with this goal in mind. The forum will entail influential figures from around the world, participating in a series of workshops and dialogues designed to evoke a provocative debate about how to chart a course for changing diabetes management globally. For further details on the UN Resolution, please visit the unite for diabetes site.

2007 is well underway, and we are already seeing some change here in the U.S. Maybe not big changes, per se, but still some improvements from last year.

Case in point: Trans Fats. Toward the tail end of 2006, many fast food and snack food companies agreed to prepare their food with safer and healthier vegetable-based oils, thereby eliminating trans fats. Now into 2007, it seems as this change is fully coming to fruition, with McDonald's, Wendy's and even Frito Lay offering trans fat-free versions of their staple foods.

This is just one example of change. Spend about a minute thinking about other ways in which the U.S. has already changed in 2007, and you'll find it much easier a task than you might expect.

But, one very unfortunate thing that has not changed in 2007 -- and does not show signs of changing in the near future -- are the problems of the U.S. health care system.

Still the only major industrialized nation in the world without universal health insurance, the U.S. also continues to have a huge coverage gap -- with the number of uninsured people increasing from 40 million in 2000 to 47 million in 2005. As for 2007, that figure is even higher.

According to the Institute of Medicine, an estimated 18,000 lives are lost annually due to gaps in coverage. And while some states have implemented strategies and initiatives to help make coverage affordable by creating subsidized programs and creating an insurance pool for small businesses and the self-employed, most of these initiatives are not taking place in the states that have the greatest need. As a result, the coverage gap remains.

So, as 2007 continues on, the U.S. health care system will be one of the few things that will go unchanged. Fragmented, uncoordinated and unevenly distributed; the health care system is plagued by high administrative costs and missed opportunities to control chronic and life threatening conditions.