Washington

The Diabetes Prevention Program (DPP) is a researh study being conducted at twenty-five medical centers around the country. Sponsored by the National Institutes of Health's (NIH) National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases (NIDDK), the program hopes to prove that type 2 diabetes can be prevented by altering one's lifestyle and/or medication.

"This is the first program of its type where we are actively seeking to find a way to prevent a disease and not just treat it," said David Nathan, M.D., study chairman of the DPP and director of the Diabetes Center at Massachusetts General Hospital in Boston.

Although the six-year study began last year, research sites are still recruiting participants. In fact, participants will be recruited for two more years.

Medlantic Clinical Research Center is collaborating on the project with Howard University, the only historically Black college or university involved in the study. Wayman Cheatham, M.D., from Howard University School of Medicine's Department of Endocrinology, codirects the Washington, D.C., study with Robert Ratner, M.D, head of Medlantic.

Nationally, 4,000 volunteers will be screened for the program and they must be suffering from a condition known as impaired glucose tolerance (IGT). People with IGT have blood sugars which are higher than normal but not high enough to be considered diabetes. A major risk factor for type 2 diabetics, approximately 21 million Americans have IGT. However, according to NIDDK, most them do not know they have the condition.

The program is designed for people with IGT who have fasting glucose levels between 95 and 125. Fasting glucose levels are blood-sugar measurements taken after a person has not eaten for twelve hours. Fasting glucose levels above 125 are considered diabetic; levels between 110 and 125 are considered Impaired Fasting Glucose; levels between 70 and 110 are considered normal; and levels below 70 are considered too low, or hypoglycemic.