Study Could Lead to Bloodless Testing for Diabetic Blood Sugar

A new breakthrough may lead to patients with type-1 diabetes being able to check their blood sugar levels by using breath analysis instead of having to use devices that break the skin to attain a small blood sample.

A study from the University of California, Irvine has shown that children with type 1 diabetes exhale methyl nitrates in much higher concentrations when they are hyperglycemic. And they determined this fact by using a chemical analysis method that is currently being used to check for air pollution.

The study was done with 10 children who have type-1 diapetes mellitus. The researchers took air samples when the children were in a hyperglycemic state and kept taking the samples regularly as they increased that children's blood insulin levels.

The samples were sent to UC Irvine chemists F. Sherwood Rowland and Donald Blake. The chemists examined the breath samples with methods that they had developed for work they were doing in atmospheric chemistry, where they measure the levels of trace gases that contribute to air pollution. Their group is one of the few in the world that can measure accurately at very small amounts.

The chemists analyzed the samples for samples of more than 100 different gases at parts-per-billion levels and found that the methyl nitrate exhaled concentrations were increased as much as 10 times more during hyperglycemia than when the glucose levels were normal. And the rate of increase went up proportionally with the glucose rate, the higher the clucose the higher the exhaled methyl nitrates.

The reason behind this is the fact that during hyperglycemia in type 1 diabetes there are more fatty acids in the blood. Fatty acids cause oxidative stress and methyl mutrate is a by product of the increased stress. It is in the air at very low levels and is also in the breath of healthy people at parts - per -billion levels.