366M Now Have Diabetes

The diabetes epidemic is getting worse, the International Diabetes Federation said today, estimating that 366 million people across the globe now have the disease. In comments delivered at a European meeting in Lisbon, the group called the numbers "staggering," noting that 4.6 million people die of diabetes every year, or an average of one person every seven seconds, according to the AP.

Globally, $465 billion is spent fighting diabetes each year. There's still no cure in sight, Scientific American notes, but studies show that you can reduce your risk of developing the type 2 version of the disease drastically by eliminating lifestyle risk factors like smoking, obesity, and excessive alcohol consumption. (More diabetes stories.)