Contact lens could indicate glucose level

A non-invasive method to measure glucose levels in bodily fluids has been developed by researchers at the University of Pittsburgh in the US.

It consists of a thin plastic sensor that changes colour based on the concentrations of glucose and could be worn like a contact lens. This could save diabetes sufferers having to prick their fingers several times a day to test their blood sugar levels.

The sensor will change from red, which indicates dangerously low glucose concentrations, to violet, which will indicate dangerously high glucose concentrations. When the glucose level is normal, the sensor will be green. The researchers are still determining the number of detectable gradations, but believe it may be as high as the finger stick meters currently provide. The technology would be able to be incorporated into currently available commercial contact lenses, which would be replaced weekly.

The University of Pittsburgh has licensed this patented technology to a start-up company that will engineer the material and commercialise it. The researchers believe the product is at least a year from being tested in humans.

'There has been increasing demand for continuous, non-invasive glucose monitoring due to the increasing number of people diagnosed with diabetes mellitus and the recognition that the long-term outcome of these patients can be dramatically improved by careful glucose monitoring and control,' said Dr Sanford A. Asher. professor of chemistry in the faculty and College of Arts and Sciences at the University of Pittsburgh.