Image credit – State University of New York
When it comes to monitoring solutions for diabetics, it usually involves invasive measures which some users might not necessarily appreciate, although right now for the most part it is the only way. However researchers at the State University of New York could have come up with something non-invasive.
This comes in the form of a paper-based patch that can be worn on the skin like you would a Band-Aid, as you can see in the photo above. What this does is that it monitors the glucose levels of the wearer by wicking away sweat into a reservoir which is then converted into electrical energy and used to power a biosensor. This biosensor can then monitor the wearer’s glucose levels without the need for an external power supply, meaning that it can be worn discreetly when working out.
This is actually not the first time that sweat-based measuring systems have been attempted, but in the past previous solutions have run into problems like difficulty of collecting enough sweat or sweat evaporation due to the long time required to collect samples, and this latest development supposedly solves some of those shortcomings.
It could still be a while before we see this patch become mainstream and offered commercially, but its development does hold promise as an effective and potentially inexpensive way of managing diabetes.
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