The American Diabetes Association (ADA) urges Americans to make food choices that can help prevent obesity, the leading risk factor for developing type 2 diabetes. The ADA recommends diets with reduced calories and low in saturated fat. So, if you were to attend an ADA meeting or catered function, what would you expect to be given to eat? At a press briefing in Washington, D.C., February 21, the ADA offered the following "general guiding principles" that it says must be observed at all ADA events:

Preparation: Entrees, side dishes, salads, and salad dressings should be prepared using unsaturated oils such as olive oil, canola oil, and corn oil.

Entrees: Six ounces or smaller portions of lean meat, fish, or poultry prepared using low-fat methods such as grilling, broiling, sautéing, poaching, roasting, baking, stewing, stir frying, microwaving, or braising. A low-fat vegetarian alternative must be available at all meals.

Sauces/Dressings: Dressings and sauces should not be served directly on food. These items should be passed separately. Offer oil and vinegar in separate containers as an alternative salad dressing. Butter and margarine can be served. No cream sauces.

Vegetables: All are acceptable.

Soups: No cream-based soups.

Salads: No high-fat meats, only reduced-fat cheese.

Dairy: No table cream. Whole and 2 percent milk are acceptable. Skim milk must be served for coffee or tea. Only reduced-fat yogurt or reduced-fat cheese. Only reduced-fat sour cream. Only reduced- or low-fat ice cream.

Breads/Cereals: All breads are acceptable. No cereal where there is added sugar (e.g., Sugar Pops, Frosted Flakes).

Dessert: All desserts must be low- or reduced-fat. Fresh fruit must be served at every meal.

Beverages: No regular calorie soda. Teas, coffee, diet soda, water, and real fruit juices are acceptable. Provide decaffeinated coffee and teas as well as regular selections.

A plated meal consisting of appetizer, soup, entrée, salad, side dishes, and dessert cannot have more than 1,000 calories, and whenever possible the total number of calories in the food should be displayed.

The ADA also recommends that ADA meetings should have "some period at which moderate exercise is encouraged."

In overall messages about diabetes, the ADA estimates the total number of Americans with diabetes at 20.9 million, with another 41 million in the category "pre-diabetes." That's a 14 percent increase over the past two years. The ADA also estimates that 33 percent of all children born in 2000 will develop diabetes at some time in their lives. Increasing numbers of children are being diagnosed with type 2, and African Americans, Latinos, Native Americans, and Asian American/Pacific Islanders seem to be at special risk.

Type 2 diabetes, which is the most common form, occurs when either the body does not produce enough insulin or the cells ignore it. "Insulin is necessary for the body to be able to use sugar," the ADA points out, and sugar is the basic fuel for all the cells of the body. Insulin takes sugar from the blood into the body's cells. When that process is interrupted, glucose builds up in the blood instead of going into the cells, starving the cells for energy and causing the high glucose build-up to damage eyes, kidneys, nerves, or the heart.

Type 1 diabetes, formerly called "juvenile onset" diabetes, is a condition usually diagnosed in children, in which the body does not produce insulin at all, requiring patients to continuously monitor their blood sugar and inject insulin.

Information about both type 1 and type 2 diabetes is available at the ADA's website, www.diabetes.org, and on the federal government's health information website, www.medlineplus.gov.

See also Diabetes and Schools at http://www.healthinschools.org/sh/diabetes.asp.