Until now, blood was used in diabetes testing machines to evaluate the blood sugar level of patients. Latest studies have now shown that tears can also used effectively to evaluate blood sugar levels. The study was conducted by University of Michigan researchers and the study was published in Analytical Chemistry journal. When studies were conducted on animals in laboratory, tears were found to give an accurate measure of blood sugar level. The device used for testing was an electrochemical sensor.
Increase in the number of diabetes cases all over the world
According to the researchers, there is a drastic increase in the number of people suffering with diabetes all over the world. As per statistics, 5% of the world’s population is diabetic. In addition, the lead researcher of the study Mark Meyerhoff said that the frequency of diabetics is also increasing. Obesity was said to be the major culprit behind this alarming scenario. Given the demand for devices that test diabetes, Meyerhoff and his team decided to develop a new method that did not involve drawing blood to test glucose levels. Tears were the next best choice. The level of blood sugar in tears was found to give an accurate evaluation.
Blood test is not necessary
People who suffer from very high level of diabetes may have to test their blood sugar level by drawing blood more than eight times a day. Piercing finger with a needle to extract blood is a painful and uncomfortable process. This leads to a dangerous ramification. People who need to test their blood sugar do not do it often enough due to the pain caused. This hampers testing the glycemic index and leads to inefficient control of glycemic levels. This might lead to further complications. Testing using tears is more comfortable and less painful.
What does the study say?
According to the study, tears are accurate in providing results as is blood. Further, those who need to measure blood sugar several times a day do not have to be intimidated by the task because tears do not cause pain at all. The device that has been developed is sensitive enough to measure very small amounts of blood sugar as well. It can detect 1.5µM add or subtract 0.4 µM of glucose. This provides an accurate enough solution to testing of glucose in the blood. It is also a non invasive and painless way of testing blood glucose.
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