| One part of controlling diabetes is
to regularly monitor your own blood sugar levels. The results of
self-blood-sugar-monitoring allow the person with diabetes and their health care providers
to adjust their diabetes plan as indicated. Research has shown that tightly controlling
blood sugar can prevent or slow down the development of problems that can happen from
diabetes. Current methods of self-blood-glucose-monitoring require a blood sample. This
can be painful and difficult for people with diabetes, who may need to take blood samples
up to four times or more per day. Therefore, scientists have been trying to find new ways
for people with diabetes to measure their blood sugar without needing a skin puncture to
get a blood sample (noninvasive method).
Before a noninvasive device is available to the public, the device must pass inspection
by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA). It is FDA's job to make sure that any medical
device is safe, accurate, and reliable. This inspection is important because decisions,
such as adjusting the amount of insulin to take, will be based on the results of the
device. To date, no device has been approved and it will probably be at least several
years before one is approved.
Some of the noninvasive ways being studied to measure glucose levels include
- Shining infrared light through a person's forearm or finger.
- Drawing glucose from the blood up through the skin using a low-level electrical current.
- Measuring glucose levels in saliva or tears.
To learn more about noninvasive blood glucose monitors, call the Consumer Information
Service at FDA's Center for Devices and Radiological Health at (301) 443-4190.
Additional Information on Noninvasive Blood Glucose Monitors
The National Diabetes Information Clearinghouse collects resource information on
diabetes for Combined Health Information Database (CHID). CHID is a database produced by
health-related agencies of the Federal Government. This database provides titles,
abstracts, and availability information for health information and health education
resources.
e-text posted: 17 March 1998
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