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Hello again, Diabetes Awareness Month. Yup, November marks another national awareness month -- aimed at those in America who are pancreatically-challenged or rapidly heading in that direction. And on Nov. 14, we'll once again mark international World Diabetes Day honoring the birthday of insulin co-discoverer Dr. Frederick Banting, who was born on this day in 1891. As always during this time of year, we've been inundated with marketing pitches from organizations big and small. And as always around this time of year, many in our community ponder the perennial question: Does it all matter? Really? Admittedly, it's not outside the realm of reasonableness to question the effectiveness of NDAM (shorthand for National Diabetes Awareness Month). But our country is in a different place in 2017 compared to past years, is it not? It's a good time to set skepticism aside to argue that November's designation as Diabetes Awareness Month truly does matte...

 A very happy (and hopefully blue-colored) World Diabetes Day , Everyone! Of course, this annual celebration was placed on this particular day thanks to its historical D-significance as the birthday of co-creator of insulin, Dr. Frederick Banting, who was born on Nov. 14, 1891 -- and would be celebrating his 122nd birthday here in 2013 if we were alive today! (In fact, the Banting Homestead in Canada just opened a new education center in conjunction with World Diabetes Day this year.) So, we raise a Diet Coke (or Fresca) in his honor today, while marking another World Diabetes Day, which dates back more than two decades, but really started getting traction in 2006 when the United Nations adopted a resolution making it an official day of observance. Gauging the Impact of World Diabetes Day Today, we wanted to take a closer look just how the World Diabetes Day awareness campaign has evolved through the years, and what kind of impact is it having? So guess what? ...