For Type I patients, who must inject insulin several times a day, the new system will be less useful. The problem is that it takes time for changes in the blood sugar levels to be reflected in the saliva. And that means the concentration of glucose in the saliva always lags that in the blood by around 30 minutes or so. That’s long enough to cause serious problems if, for example, sugar levels in the blood are dropping precipitously.
Nevertheless, carbon nanotube-based sensors could be significantly cheaper and more robust than the enzyme-based ones that are commonly available today. And that in itself is an important factor for healthcare systems already overburdened by the high cost of treating this disease.
http://www.technologyreview.com/view/514456/carbon-nanotube-sensor-detects-glucose-in-saliva/
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