Tomoya Nakazawa, lead researcher at Hamamatsu Photonics, recently announced a groundbreaking scientific discovery that could revolutionize the management of diabetes. According to Nakazawa, light can be used to track blood sugar levels, potentially providing a solution to the persistent challenge of monitoring and managing this disease.
"The proposed method can in principle be implemented in existing smart devices with a pulse oximetry function and is inexpensive, battery-saving, and simple compared with other noninvasive blood glucose monitoring techniques," said Nakazawa, according to Medical News.
News Medical reports that while numerous methods have been proposed to address the ongoing issue of diabetes, none have proven entirely successful. In particular, various treatments and strategies have been suggested for regulating blood glucose levels (BGLs), which are critical for insulin monitoring. The main obstacle has been that the resources required to monitor these levels are often not easily transportable and typically involve expensive components. To overcome this hurdle, researchers have turned to near-infrared light, which is both portable and less costly. Devices using infrared light to measure vital signs such as heart rate include smartwatches and smartphones.
According to News Medical, the primary objective of Hamamatsu Photonics in Japan is to resolve this significant health issue. Their pioneering work has been published in the Journal of Biomedical Optics due to its potential for transforming noninvasive glucose level monitoring. The team's discovery began with extracting oxyhemoglobin (HbO2) and deoxyhemoglobin (Hb) from near-infrared light. They then analyzed the metabolism and frequency of these elements and inferred a close relationship between them based on their promising results.
The research was deemed successful by News Medical after multiple tests were conducted on human subjects to validate their findings. These tests included exposing a participant at rest to near-infrared light, then altering their glucose levels by giving them sugary and sugar-free beverages. The researchers also conducted experiments using smartphone holders equipped with bright LEDs. While practical applications for this innovative research are still being explored, expectations for its potential impact are high.
