In a 2021 report to the United States Congress on Leveraging Federal Programs to Prevent and Control Diabetes and Its Complications, Diabetes Center affiliate faculty member Dean Schillinger, MD, served as Co-Chair to one of its subcommittees, "Diabetes Prevention in the General Populations," resulting in the following findings.

Recommendations for Diabetes Prevention in the General Population

To delay, prevent, and control diabetes, and to reduce racial, ethnic, and income-related disparities in diabetes outcomes, changes need to take place in the social and environmental contexts in which U.S. residents live, learn, work, and play. Fostering such change cannot be left only to those federal agencies that are accountable for health care. Large-scale success can only be achieved by also engaging those federal agencies whose primary focus is not on health but whose policies and programs play an important role in shaping the social and environmental contexts that influence diabetes incidence and complications.

To address this critical need, the National Clinical Care Commission recommends

• Updating and increasing funding to the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s nutrition assistance programs to promote both food security and dietary quality;
• Increasing breastfeeding rates through effective federal programs and paid maternity leave;
• Implementing federal strategies to encourage the consumption of water over sugar-sweetened beverages in the U.S. population;
• Updating the Food and Drug Administration’s food labeling policies and practices to prevent and control diabetes;
• Providing the Federal Trade Commission with the authority and resources to regulate the food and beverage industry’s marketing and advertising to children;
• Modifying federal department and agency policies to reduce environmental exposures associated with diabetes in the ambient environment (air, water, land, and chemical) and improve the built environment by enhancing walkability, green spaces, physical activity resources, and active transport opportunities;
• Expanding housing opportunities in health-promoting environments for low-income individuals and families through the Department of Housing and Urban Development’s programs; and
• Optimizing and expanding research programs that will enhance our understanding of the social and environmental conditions associated with a greater risk of diabetes and its complications, and evaluating the effects of changes in these conditions on diabetes-related outcomes.

To read the entire document, please download the attachment below.