Scope for saliva to replace blood in diabetes monitoring

An Australian-invented Saliva Glucose Biosensor could solve an urgent unmet need for 463 million people living with diabetes worldwide, according to an industry paper published by bioscience investment enterprise The iQ Group Global. The paper concludes that infrequent glucose monitoring using current invasive methods is putting diabetes patients at a higher risk of serious long-term and irreversible health complications.

Regular self-monitoring of glucose levels throughout the day helps people with diabetes to understand the impact that food intake and physical activity have on their glucose levels. If these levels get too high or too low, it can cause serious complications such as blindness, heart disease, kidney failure and early death.

According to the report, up to 60% of people with type 1 diabetes and 67% of those with type 2 diabetes do not monitor blood glucose as often as recommended, with ‘fear of needles and pain of finger-pricking’ cited as the major reasons for reduced self-monitoring of blood glucose.

The Australian-invented Saliva Glucose Biosensor is reported to be the world’s first non-invasive replacement for finger-prick blood glucose testing. Under development by The iQ Group Global at the University of Newcastle (Centre for Organic Electronics), ISO testing has shown the Saliva Glucose Biosensor can accurately monitor glucose levels in saliva at concentrations 100 times lower than levels detected in blood by other glucose-monitoring devices.

Data released by the International Diabetes Federation (IDF) for World Diabetes Day reports that 463 million people are currently living with diabetes globally — 25 million more people than was predicted by the IDF in 2010 for the year 2025.

Download the white paper Addressing the Challenges of Invasive Glucose Monitoring.

Image credit: ©stock.adobe.com/au/Dmitry Lobanov