Biosensors to Detect Glucose and Control Diabetes

One of the top science and technology news updates is the global issue of diabetes. Diabetes is a very serious disease and one of the major health threats to economic and health development in the world today. It does not only pose issues to the sufferer but also to health professionals. Millions of people across the world, including children suffer from diabetes. In fact, survey states that as of 2013, up to 380 million people suffer from glucose and it is expected that up to 600 million people would suffer from glucose by 2035. Since the disease is on the rise, it is necessary to develop a technology to solve the problem.

Medical technology is greatly improving and would soon enter the stage where we do not need to regularly inject insulin or use finger prick blood tests to monitor/ control diabetes. The advancement in the field of biosensors will open up a whole lot of opportunities. One of them is the efficient monitoring of the blood sugar levels with a small sensor implanted under the skin. Such devices can also release insulin when needed and also communicate the details to a smartphone connected to them.

Overview on Diabetes

You will find a lot of science and technology online articles on diabetes and its causes. Hence, it is very necessary to control diabetes. Before defining what diabetes is and what causes it, it is necessary to note that there are two types of diabetes. These include type 1 and type 2 diabetes. Type 1 diabetes occurs when the beta cells that produce insulin in the pancreatic islets are destroyed. The type 2 diabetes occurs when the release of insulin is not sufficient and also as a result of the reduction in its effectiveness. Usually, type 1 diabetes occurs from childhood and it is oftentimes the most difficult form of diabetes but it the less common type. Type 2 diabetes occurs among old people but it is the more common type of diabetes.

Biosensors Role to Control Diabetes

Biosensors are novel technologies developed in order to monitor glucose level and therefore control diabetes. The sensor is implanted in the sufferer and therefore it is able to tell the level of glucose at each time. It is important to note that diabetes is actually caused by insufficient glucose level and therefore by detecting the level of glucose at each time, the problem can be solved.

One would argue that if diabetes is caused by insufficient glucose then it could have been treated if the sufferer takes glucose at every chance he has but it does not work that way. Hypoglycemia the opposite of diabetes occurs when glucose becomes excessive. Glucose intake has to be regulated because hypoglycemia which sets in when the glucose level is very high can cause brain damage and death.

The Continuous Glucose Monitoring (CGM) to Control Diabetes

One of the novel technologies and top notch ways to control diabetes is with the use of continuous glucose monitoring (CGM). This is simply the implantation of biosensors into the contact lenses in order to ascertain the treatment level of glucose and the resultant data is transmitted and sent to a pump in the patient’s body. If the data sent indicates low level of insulin, the pump will then inject the amount of insulin required by the body.

However, it is argued that this technology may not really solve the problem for the both kinds of diabetes. Other technologies have been developed to deal with the problems of glucose. You can learn more from top technology online news.

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