Deciphering America's Type 2 diabetes dilemma

Type 2 diabetes rates continue to climb in the United States, despite well-known treatments and prevention approaches. To better understand why, USA TODAY's health team traveled across the country, talking to researchers, clinicians and patients. They found people with diabetes often must fend for themselves against systemic barriers and a difficult disease.

We tell the story of America's Type 2 diabetes dilemma in five parts:

If Type 2 diabetes is preventable, why is the problem getting worse?

In the first story, we profile three people grappling with Type 2 diabetes, by far the most common form of the disease. One, a chef, manages to take control of her disease by changing the way she cooks. Another, an executive, puts his financial advantages to good use by stepping up his exercise routine and getting excellent medical care. A third struggles more without those outward assets, relying instead on his and his wife's optimism and perseverance.

Diabetes runs deep in rural Mississippi. Residents band together to make change.

The second story journeys to the Mississippi Delta, a land with rich soil that used to grow healthy produce. Now It's hard to find nutritious food here and diabetes is rampant. So, local residents have taken it upon themselves to help their neighbors and themselves.

Colorado's diabetes rate is the lowest in the US. But that's only half the story.

Then we travel to Colorado, the state with the lowest rate of Type 2 diabetes, which offers another way of looking at how zip code affects health in America. The state has prioritized diabetes care, built hiking trails and devoted its tobacco settlement money to prevention efforts. Still, there are pockets where diabetes remains a problem.

Managing Type 2 diabetes is complicated. And it’s likely to get worse.

Next, we spend a few days with a Philadelphia resident whose life is regimented by her diabetes and the many doctors' appointments needed to manage it. Doctors, too, are frustrated by the lack of time and resources they're given to adequately help their patients with diabetes and other chronic diseases.

Type 2 diabetes crisis can be controlled. These solutions are how we get there.

In the last piece, we explore what it will take to solve the problem of diabetes in America. No single approach will be enough, experts told us. Instead, a combination of existing food and education programs, medication, devices and a focus on prevention rather than treatment could begin to finally make a difference in the diabetes dilemma.

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Deciphering America's Type 2 diabetes dilemma. Why are rates rising?