According to a RAND Corporation study, fewer and fewer diabetics are going undiagnosed these days. Specifically, the gap has closed dramatically over the last twenty-five years. So much so that Hispanics and African Americans are now no more likely than whites to be undiagnosed. Good news, to be sure.

And the news is especially good for men. James P. Smith, who authored the study, says that twenty-five years ago about fifty percent of men with diabetes did not even know they had the disease. Jump forward to 1999-2002, however, and the number drops to about twenty percent.

Smith concludes that even though ethnic and gender disparities remain, we are certainly doing a lot better at getting people diagnosed and into treatment. Diabetes programs that target minorities can take a lot of the credit for this shift, Smith believes.

On the down side, the less-educated people among us are much more likely to go undiagnosed and, when diagnosed, are less likely to successfully incorporate lifestyle changes required to manage the disease. Also of concern, Smith says, is the fact that even though obese people are at a high risk for diabetes, they nevertheless are more likely to have undiagnosed diabetes than are slimmer people.

The media kingpins at "O" Magazine have proved their standards of greatness in social policy, once again. The masters of the Oprah universe are posing the question: diabetes - are you at risk?

The public service comes equipped with eye-opening statistics on how to slow down, and even in some cases, prevent the onset of diabetes. According to the article, the trick is to get a blood glucose test every three years starting at age 45. Of course, additional risk factors like high blood pressure, poor triglycerides, hormone imbalances, ethnicity, and siblings or parents with diabetes can increase the need to begin checking earlier than the age of 45. No matter what your age, if you notice excessive thirst, frequent urination, extreme and persistent hunger, or unexplained weight loss despite overeating, get your blood glucose measured. You may already be diabetic. Other symptoms include fatigue, recurrent yeast infections, slow-healing sores, and blurry vision.

If your blood sugar indicates that you're headed for diabetes, there's a lot you can do. In a study conducted over several years, prediabetics who exercised at moderate intensity for 30 minutes five times a week and dropped between 5 to 7 percent of their body weight, cut their risk of the disease by 58 percent. This approach was nearly twice as effective as taking medication, which mainly helped participants who were younger than 45 and extremely obese. If half of the Oprah-watching population took heed to the warning are you at risk - Oprah might single-handedly pump the brakes on the diabetes epidemic. She didn't become the most successful female talk show host in American history for nothing!

The results of a new study, just published in Diabetes Care, indicate that diabetes affects the heart in different ways depending on ethnic group. Researchers from Wake Forest University School of Medicine conducted a multi-ethnic study of atherosclerosis, focusing on heart mass - the weight of the heart muscle. While all diabetes sufferers have an increased risk of heart failure, damage at the early stages took different forms for different groups. Among the findings: of the ethnic groups studied - white, African American, Hispanic and Chinese - only Chinese participants did not seem to have an increase in muscle mass, which was observed in the other ethnic groups. This kind of information could help medical professionals in the future to better tailor preventive care from person to person.