Baseball practice
At first sight, meeting Caroline is like seeing the other parents: They are waiting for the baseball practice to finish. She dropped her kid off 2 hours ago for his twice-weekly training session at the local park. And just now she returned to perform further chauffeur duties. They are taking longer than planned, so patience is called for, which, she admits, is not one of her strong suits. Caroline impatiently scrolls through her phone, hoping it won’t be long now.
Acetone
What makes the occasion a little unusual is that her kid was recently diagnosed with diabetes. A whole new scheme of care has entered the family’s roster and will likely be part of the kid’s reality for the rest of its life. That started a few months ago when they ended up in a clinical trial for a new sensor: It detects acetone parts in the breath.
For many years now, diabetes is diagnosed by analyzing glucose levels in blood, sweat or urine. This requires a lab to analyze samples and usually takes a doctor visit and a few days of waiting for the results. For quite some years, research has been ongoing into other methods of detecting glucose patterns that may indicate diabetes and other chronic diseases. Some of this research focusses on acetone and ketones. There’s conflicting evidence of whether detecting levels of acetone reliably indicates diabetes, but that has not deterred research and product development.
Its proponents argue that acetone in human breath is a key biomarker for noninvasive diabetes diagnosis, as its concentration correlates with blood glucose levels and ketone body accumulation, particularly in diabetic ketoacidosis (DKA).
Research has focused on developing sensors capable of detecting acetone at low concentrations for rapid, convenient testing. A recent development by Penn State engineers involves a graphene-based breath sensor that detects acetone levels, with results indicating diabetes risk when levels exceed approximately 1.8 parts per million (ppm). This research was funded by institutions and companies from China and the US.
This sensor, fabricated using zinc oxide and laser-induced graphene (LIG) foam, operates at room temperature, offers a low detection limit of 4 parts per billion, and provides results within minutes from a breath sample.
One in five don’t know
These advancements aim to provide portable, cost-effective, and non-invasive alternatives to traditional blood, urine or sweat based glucose monitoring.
The researchers of this sensor assert that it offers a practical, low cost and quick solution for early diagnosis, especially relevant given that nearly one in five people with diabetes in the US are unaware of their condition.
Almost by accident
Caroline’s kid participated in the clinical trial on a whim. They tried the sensor which at this stage involves blowing into a bag and dropping the sensor into that bag. Within minutes the level of acetone is revealed. When it turned up unusually high numbers, they ended up at the doctor to get the traditional tests. Those, after an anxious week, confirmed that their kid has diabetes and need to start a potentially lifelong supplement of insulin combined with ongoing measurements of glucose levels in the blood and suitable lifestyle adjustments.
As Caroline has since found out, Type 1 diabetes is no longer a death sentence, but a chronic condition that can be successfully lived with when taken seriously. Early diagnosis is the first step. In their case the detection was a coincidence.
There’s an app for that
A new app on her phone shows her kid’s blood glucose level of that moment albeit with a short delay. She’s learning that low intensity baseball practice lowers blood glucose by increasing muscle glucose uptake and insulin sensitivity. No worries: She has the banana in her purse, ready to prevent too low glucose numbers.