Prevent diabetes complications like
heart disease
Your monthly support funds new ways to reduce the impact of diabetes on the heart.
Diabetes-related heart disease is a serious complication and the leading cause of death in Canada. Dr. Brian Rodrigues has identified an approach that could prevent heart damage and stop heart failure from taking lives.
The heart is a constantly beating organ that requires a steady supply of fuel for energy, which it obtains from sugar and fats. When living with diabetes, the heart has limited capacity to use sugar and must adapt to largely using fats, which leads to heart damage.
With your help, Dr. Brian Rodrigues has identified a protein produced mainly in the heart, VEGFB. It has exciting potential in the prevention of heart disease because it can shift energy production in the heart back to using sugar which in turn reduces diabetes.
Because there are limited therapies that target heart failure with this condition, your support of this project can make a major impact in the lives of people with diabetes who are at risk of developing heart disease.
Read more about Dr. Rodrigues' research in Protecting the Heart Against the Effects of Diabetes.
A message from Leslie Ann
"I was diagnosed with diabetes just after my 10th birthday in 1975. Back then, the prescribed treatment was one shot of slow-acting insulin once a day, urine testing and a regulated diet. There was no home glucose monitoring. Heck, the Internet didn’t come until nearly a few decades later.
"Diabetes Canada was the only easy way to get information on research, improvements to self-management, and tricks to living a healthy lifestyle without the tools of today. Since my diagnosis, so much has changed. Every improvement made to diabetes care is important.
"Diabetes is a 24/7 autoimmune disease that requires constant management. It means calculating the impacts of every possible thing, whether it be exercise, food, blood testing, pump infusion set changes, illnesses like the flu or a cold, late meetings at work, and so much more. Any research discovery that makes living with diabetes easier and reduces the risk of complications is a lifeline to me."
Read more about Leslie Ann's story in Changing Lives Through Research.
Diabetes research breakthroughs happen because of you. Your monthly gift is funding
life-changing discoveries for the 11.9 million people in Canada living with diabetes or prediabetes.
Diabetes Framework for Canada tabled in Parliament
This is a hard-won victory for people in Canada living with diabetes—thanks to you!
After five years of advocacy by thousands of people in Canada impacted by diabetes, The Honorable Jean Yves-Duclos, Minister of Health, has tabled in Parliament the Diabetes Framework for Canada.
Diabetes Canada led the call to address the growing and silent epidemic of diabetes which impacts more than 11.7 million people across Canada and costs the healthcare system almost $50 million to treat every day. The framework is a plan of action that will support people at risk of and living with diabetes, improve access to care and treatment, and ensure better health outcomes.
To learn more, read Framework for Diabetes in Canada.
Supporters like you deserve special recognition for your dedication to helping make this moment possible. Here are a few of the milestones you helped us achieve along the way:
- 2018: Diabetes Canada released Diabetes 360: A Framework for a Diabetes Strategy for Canada with recommendations for governments.
- 2021: The Government of Canada commits $35 million over five years for research, prevention, innovation, and the development of a national framework for diabetes.
- 2021: Bill C-237, an Act to establish a national framework for diabetes, receives all party support in the House of Commons and Senate, and Royal Assent.
- Today: The Diabetes Framework for Canada is tabled in Parliament
While we work to find a cure to End Diabetes, we are thankful for this important step towards improving the quality of life for millions of our loved ones who live with diabetes or are at risk of developing diabetes. When we work together, so much is possible!
Read about other milestones in the 2022 Impact Report.
"I am so thankful that this comprehensive plan is helping address the growing impact of the diabetes crisis across our nation. I am hopeful that as a result, people like me will be able to see and benefit from some long overdue changes that will provide us with more measurable and positive outcomes."