Eleven percent of individuals living in the U.S. reported being diagnosed with diabetes during the third quarter of 2011. While this number seems large, it's a drop from the figures reported in both 2009 and 2010.

Healthways and Gallap obtained these diabetes stats by asking American if a physician or nurse ever told them if they had diabetes. The question asked didn't distinguish between type 1 or type 2 diabetes.

Believed to be linked to diabetes, the obesity rate in the U.S. has also slightly declined in both the second and third quarters of 2011. Overall, the obesity rate in 2011 to date is slightly lower than that of 2010. Here again, Gallap obtained the obesity rate based upon height and weight stats as self-reported by respondents.

Because people who are obese are roughly three times as likely to develop diabetes than their normal weight counterparts, it's really no surprise that the diabetes rate has decreased slightly to correspond with the slight decrease in obesity rates. Accordingly, the states that report the highest obesity rates have much higher statistics of individuals with diabetes.

The most common form of the disease is type 2 diabetes, and does not have a foolproof cure. However, individuals with diabetes or prediabetes can control their symptoms through lifestyle changes, which includes eating healthy and exercising.

As individuals become more informed about the consequences of obesity and diabetes coupled with being armed with weapons to fight these conditions, the rates of both will continue to drop -- hopefully.