One-tenth of American women - 11.5 million - had diabetes in 2007, according to the National Institutes of Health (NIH). That number is up from 9.7 million in 2005, and nearly a third of cases are undiagnosed. Women account for about half of the 246 million cases of diabetes worldwide, according to the International Diabetes Federation.

These figures are continuing to rise alarmingly, mainly because obesity is leading to more cases of type 2 diabetes. The number of diabetes cases more than doubled from 1980 to 2002, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) reported in 2006. The growing prevalence of diabetes includes gestational diabetes, a temporary condition that can occur only during pregnancy and that puts a woman at higher risk for developing type 2 diabetes later in life.

Diabetes is considered a serious health challenge for all women and, in particular, women of color, including blacks, Hispanics, Native Americans, Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders.

Nearly 1 in 4 black American women over the age of 55 have diabetes, which is almost twice the rate of white women. Women of Native American and Alaskan descent have three times the risk as compared to whites, and 25 percent of Hispanic women have been diagnosed with diabetes. Gestational diabetes is estimated to be 50 to 80 percent more common in black American women than in white women.

Diabetes is among the top 10 leading causes of death for women of all ethnicities.