Native Americans embrace tradition to defeat diabetes - USATODAY.com: Finding a Native American in Towaoc, Colo., who does not have diabetes or know someone with diabetes is rare.'It is the exception,' says Gerald Pond, general manager of the Ute Mountain Casino Hotel and Resort.
Pond, whose roots are with the Assiniboine tribe in Montana, comes from a family of nine. Seven members have been diagnosed with type 2 diabetes, he says.
Of the 3.3 million American Indians and Alaska Natives in the USA, about 16% have diabetes, most of them type 2, says the Indian Health Service, part of the Department of Health and Human Services. That's almost twice the rate of diabetes in whites.
Thousands of scientists are gathering this weekend in Orlando for the American Diabetes Association's 70th scientific sessions, an annual conference that focuses on advances in diabetes research and the needs of patients, including high-risk groups such as Native Americans and African Americans.
