By Devin Powell
A new, gentler technique for measuring blood sugar uses a pair of laser beams instead of a needle. The device could provide a way for diabetics to monitor their glucose levels without the pain of pricked fingers.
The physicists who created the device hope it will one day be used in hospitals to monitor patients continually, or miniaturized for the home. But first, the researchers will have to prove that their approach works not just for sugar water but in actual humans, a hurdle that has tripped up many previous efforts.
“Having a noninvasive way to measure glucose has long been a holy grail for our community,” says Andreas Mandelis, an applied physicist at the University of Toronto, who with a colleague describes the technique in an upcoming issue of Physical Review E.
For at least 20 years, scientists have tried to use beams of near-infrared light to measure glucose levels in the body. This light passes through human tissue harmlessly. Chemical bonds in the sugar molecule vibrate when struck by it, absorbing energy. This absorption can be measured, providing information about the concentration of glucose in the blood.