Diabetes mellitus is the most common metabolic disease worldwide. Every day, 1700 new cases of diabetes are diagnosed in the United States, and at least one-third of the 16 million Americans with diabetes are unaware of it. Diabetes is the leading cause of blindness, renal failure, and lower limb amputations in adults and is a major risk factor for cardiovascular disease and stroke. Normal glucose homeostasis requires the finely tuned orchestration of insulin secretion by pancreatic β cells in response to subtle changes in blood glucose levels, delicately balanced with secretion of counter-regulatory hormones such as glucagon. Type 1 diabetes results from autoimmune destruction of pancreatic β cells causing insulin deficiency. Type 2 or noninsulin-dependent diabetes mellitus (NIDDM) accounts for> 90% of cases and is characterized by a triad of (1) resistance to insulin action on glucose uptake in peripheral tissues, especially skeletal muscle and adipocytes,(2) impaired insulin action to inhibit hepatic glucose production, and (3) dysregulated insulin secretion (