Fiji's 'quiet' diabetes crisis

Every 3.5 minutes in the US, a limb is amputated due to diabetes.

Black patients are losing their limbs at a rate triple that of other groups due in large part to inequities in diabetes care and management.

One in 10 adults worldwide has diabetes.

This Texas city is having an 'amputation crisis'

Texas has some of the highest rates of diabetes-related amputations in the country. Towering over the rest of the Longhorn state is the city of San Antonio, where men are nearly three times as likely to lose a limb to diabetes than women. This article explains how men in this majority Mexican American city are genetically and culturally at risk of Type 2 diabetes, a disease involving issues with the blood sugar-regulating hormone insulin.

An overview of 200 years of diabetes treatment

Diabetes treatment became truly effective after the advent of insulin injections in the early 1900s. Diabetes is becoming increasingly common. Current trends estimate one in three Americans will have diabetes by 2050. This overview explores two centuries of diabetes treatment—starting in 1812—and outline potential challenges to treatment and prevention.

Overmedication has put type 2 diabetics at risk of low blood sugar

Type 2 diabetics in the US risk dying from low blood sugar, an epidemic traced to a decades-old, multi-million-dollar drug industry campaign encouraging an average blood sugar level below 7%. Contemporary research correlated such levels with reduced risk of eye, nerve, and kidney damage and increased hypoglycemia risk.

Gestational diabetes occurs when the body can't produce insulin during pregnancy

Globally, pregnant people are increasingly at risk to develop gestational diabetes due to rising maternal ages and obesity rates. The condition is associated with heavier fetal weight, congenital abnormalities, and perinatal mortality, which includes stillbirths and deaths of babies younger than 7 days old.

The dark side of modern sugar production

Humanity's ancestors evolved to wring more calories from sugary fruits by storing excess sugar as fat, an adaption that's culminated in many peoples' palettes preferring calorie-rich sweet. Now, the desire for sugar has both contributed to a widespread health crisis and been at the center of atrocities around the world.

Diabetes is a chronic disease linked to insulin production and high blood sugar

Diabetes is a chronic, progressive disease caused by a lack of, or problems processing, the hormone insulin, leading to persistently high blood sugar. Around 90 to 95% of cases are Type 2 (chronic and caused by factors like diet and environment). The remainder are Type 1 diabetes (an autoimmune disorder).

Diabetes 101: Insulin deficiency leads to high glucose levels in the blood

Glucose, the brain's preferred energy source, enters the bloodstream when the body breaks down consumed carbohydrates. To manage this increase in readily available energy, the body releases the hormone insulin, which allows glucose to enter and fuel our cells. Without insulin, glucose remains in the blood, causing health issues.

Type 2 diabetes is a chronic disease that develops over time

Almost 90 to 95% of people with diabetes have Type 2 diabetes, occuring when the pancreas doesn't make enough insulin or the insulin fails to work correctly. Insulin malfunction causes the pancreas to crank out increasingly high amounts of the blood sugar-regulating hormone, leading to overwork and reductions in production.

Diabetes has downstream effects on the heart, eyes, kidneys, and more

High blood sugar levels in untreated diabetes roughen artery walls, increasing plaque buildup, heart disease, and high blood pressure risk. High levels also cause acid to build up in the bloodstream, potentially making the brain swell, the lungs fill with fluid, and the heart to beat arrhythmically—all fatal complications.

Fungal diseases cost the US around $19B annually.

Type 1 diabetes, affecting about 5%-10% of people with diabetes, is an autoimmune disorder inhibiting insulin production.

The myth of sugar rushes vs. the reality of sugar crashes

It's generally accepted that sugar rushes are a myth, and that hyperactivity is a more psychological experience. However, there is real science behind the rare sugar crash that primarily impacts those with diabetes. Read this article to understand how historical and cultural factors have shaped sugar perceptions, and how low blood sugar can trigger shakiness, fatigue, weakness, and more in diabetes patients.

The popularity of new weight loss drugs has led to a diabetes treatment shortage

The FDA approved Ozempic to help patients with diabetes, but the popularity of semaglutide as a weight loss drug led doctors to prescribe Ozempic to nondiabetic patients who needed to lose weight. Ozempic became so popular that manufacturers could not keep pace with demand, posing risks for Ozempic-users with diabetes.

Is it possible to cure diabetes?

Treatments for diabetes depend on the type of condition a patient has. Gestational diabetes typically goes away after birth, and those with Type 2 diabetes may be able to reverse their condition through diet, exercise, and blood sugar management. Type 1 diabetes has no cure, but can be successfully managed.

Diabetes is a hormonal disorder that occurs when the pancreas does not produce enough of a hormone that regulates blood glucose, called insulin, or when the body cannot effectively use the insulin it produces.

Why bananas are in trouble

The average American eats over 25 pounds of bananas every year, but we won't for long if a deadly soil fungus continues to spread. Learn what scientists are doing to save the popular fruit.

Addressing lifestyle factors, which influence inflammation, can cure some chronic diseases

In this video, a physician claims that he reversed a patient's Type 2 diabetes in six weeks by addressing inflammation drivers such as diet. More broadly, he argues that society needs to better consider and address numerous disease factors that are modulated by inflammation, such as stress, sleep, diet, and movement.

GLP-1s are linked to reduced worker illness and cost savings—a 2026 economic analysis finds the weight-loss drugs are tied to a 17% drop in worker sick leave days.

People with schizophrenia have triple the risk of developing diabetes

It remains contentious if something inherent about the disease or antipsychotics' side effects (weight gain) are mostly to blame. Some newly diagnosed schizophrenia patients already have insulin resistance, raising questions about if patients' brains are getting enough energy from glucose, and if dietary changes—like a high-fat, low-carbohydrate, moderate-protein diet—may help alleviate symptoms.

Between 2003 and 2023, nearly 5M Americans lived in food deserts, elevating their risk for conditions linked to unhealthy nutrition, including cancer, heart disease, and diabetes.

Insurance denials prevent lifesaving care for patients with eating disorders, according to an investigation from The Seattle Times.

America's financial burden from dementia in 2025 was $781 billion

That figure, calculated by researchers at the University of Southern California, includes medical and long-term care costs, unpaid family and friend caretaking, lost productivity for patients and their families, and the economic loss in quality of life for patients and their families. In 2025, they estimate there were 5.6 million people living with dementia.

Diabetes drug GLP-1 is a peptide (that's what the 'P' is for).

How weight loss drugs could reduce obesity costs

A detailed analysis from finance giant ING finds semaglutide and other weight loss drugs could significantly drive down global costs stemming from heart disease and other health problems associated with obesity. The benefits will vary, depending on each country’s demographics and drug and healthcare costs.

The additive effects of smoking, diabetes, and poor diet are the biggest risk factors for developing pancreatic cancer.

Obesity rates have more than doubled worldwide since 1990

In the US alone, the percentage of the population meeting the clinical standard of obesity rose from less than 20% to more than 40% over the past three decades. This rise has been matched by many countries across the globe, from industrialized to developing nations.

Telehealth demand for GLP-1s is on the rise as people seek it out for myriad reasons—the proportion of non-obesity and non-diabetes-related prescriptions for the drug soared from 4.5% in 2018 to 17% in 2023.

Type 1.5 diabetes is typically found in adulthood

Clinically referred to as latent autoimmune diabetes in adults, or LADA, this condition is often diagnosed as Type 2 diabetes. However, it’s an autoimmune disease that eventually requires insulin, just like Type 1 diabetes. Misdiagnosis can result in uncontrolled high blood sugar and a slew of other serious health issues.

Why Hawaiians live longer

Hawaii has the longest life expectancy at birth out of all 50 states, according to the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Key factors include strong healthcare, lots of sunlight, and active lifestyles.

Why Haiti is in crisis

Haiti’s crisis is decades in the making. Burdened by colonial debt, political instability, and economic collapse, the country faces worsening conditions. Gangs now control much of Port-au-Prince, hunger has reached near-famine levels, and violence continues to escalate. Here’s how Haiti got here—and what’s happening now.

In 2023, Americans spent more than $50B on weight loss drugs, a number expected to triple or more by the end of the decade.

Digital healthcare is helping emerging economies

In a world that is rapidly becoming more digitized, low and middle-income countries (LMICs) are trailblazing a path to cohesive digital healthcare ecosystems. This article from McKinsey & Company analyzes the different digital healthcare strategies...

Listen to how bionic limbs are reshaping what it means to live as an amputee in this award-winning 2022 podcast series covering the stories of two amputees who struggled with shortcomings in prosthetic technology.

The US trails behind other developed countries in reducing its stillbirth rates and may learn from Australia

Australia is in the vanguard of efforts to bring down stillbirth numbers with a national stillbirth plan integrated into its healthcare system, supported by clinicians, nurses, midwives, and politicians. Its work also includes a public awareness campaign, more regular fetal monitoring and follow-up for potential interventions, and more maternal advice about care and safety during pregnancy.

A family's yearslong poisoning

Over 14 years, a southern Indian family slowly lost six members, several of whom were found foaming at their mouths. Upon the third death, a post-mortem examination was requested, revealing cyanide had been ingested, though it was ruled as self-inflicted. Several will edits and three deaths later, relatives turned a critical eye toward Joliyamma "Jolly" Joseph, who had married into the family and been present at each death.

See the global blindness burden by cause and continent.

Fungi have been used to restore island habitats in the central Pacific

After removing 1.5 million invasive coconut palm trees and eradicating the black rats that fed on them, as well as seabirds and crabs, conservationists working with the US Fish and Wildlife Service identified areas where fungi could be transplanted to provide nutrients to native trees. These trees serve as nesting sites for seabirds whose guano nourishes coral reefs.

In 2023, Native Americans had the lowest life expectancy at birth among all racial and ethnic groups

Native Americans and Alaska Natives face significant health disparities linked to chronic underinvestment in reservation health infrastructure, poverty, and multigenerational psychological harm—often called historical or inherited trauma.

CDC does not require docs to report hand, foot, and mouth cases which makes tracking difficult

Mid-Atlantic states saw a surge of hand, foot, and mouth disease in 2025 for as-yet unknown reasons. Virginia, Maryland, and New Jersey, reported elevated outbreak numbers in 2025 as compared to other recent years, but since the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention does not require mandatory reporting of positive HFMD cases—unlike strictly notifiable diseases like measles—it's hard to truly know the extent of the outbreaks and how significant the caseload is as compared to prior years across the region or country.

'Sloth fever' is an emerging health threat, especially to pregnant women

This disease, caused by the Oropouche virus, is found in animals including sloths, primates, and birds. It primarily spreads through the bite of midges—insects commonly called "no-see-ums." It's endemic to the Amazon region, but US travelers are increasingly contracting it internationally.

How family members disappeared into dementia

This narrative feature describes one family's troubling experience with frontotemporal dementia, or FTD, which emerges in the prime of adult life — as young as 40, in some cases — and degrades the brain's ability to plan, organize, express language, understand social cues, and exercise judgment.

Teddy Roosevelt was once given a daily dose of an artificial sweetener, prescribed by his doctor.

GLP-1 drugs are under investigation for treating Alzheimer's, Parkinson's, and drug addiction

Researchers are investigating GLP-1 applications for a variety of chronic conditions. One area of interest stems from how study participants using GLP-1 for diabetes and obesity reported describing less longing for wine and cigarettes while taking the medication—intriguing researchers about using the drugs for addiction applications. The drug, they theorize, could bind to receptors that mediate desire. (Some users may experience a paywall.)

The discovery of insulin led to a controversial Nobel Prize in 1923

For centuries, Type 1 diabetes was fatal. The 1920s "discovery" of insulin netted two of its creators—Frederick Banting and his boss, John Macleod—a Nobel prize. Separately, the German doctor Georg Zuelzer synthesized an effective version of the life-saving drug years earlier but was interrupted by World War I.

Some researchers have pushed for 'food deserts' to be rebranded as 'healthy food priority areas.'

Millions of aging Americans are facing dementia or cognitive impairment—alone

An estimated 4.3 million people aged 55 or older who have cognitive impairment or dementia live alone in the US. The individuals facing these challenges are more likely to be women, people of color, and to generally be poorer and less educated than other older adults who are also living alone.

See Virginia's spike in HFMD cases in 2025

The state's own tracking showed a significant jump in HFMD cases in July 2025 as compared to the prior few years, and that more people were visiting the emergency room and urgent care centers for the disease, but epidemiologists could not explain why the numbers were so high.