Diabetes is a health problem that requires regular monitoring of your blood sugar levels. Now a special tattoo promises to constantly signal blood sugar levels simply by looking at color changes.
Don't store avocado like this: it's dangerousIl diabetes it is a health problem that requires constant monitoring of the blood sugar concentration. Now a special tattoo to be applied to the skin promises to keep the levels under control blood sugar without any effort, simply by noticing any changes in color.
Daily checks in people with diabetes can be a difficult and uncomfortable routine to accept as, to date, it is necessary to use the special kit several times a day with the result that, some lazier patients, may miss blood glucose monitoring. To overcome this problem, and make life easier for diabetics, the making of one is being studied special tattoo that can change color based on changes in blood sugar levels.
It is not the first time that a tattoo has been thought of to monitor blood sugar, researchers from the University of San Diego, in the USA, were already working on a temporary tattoo with similar qualities a few years ago.
Now the original device to keep blood sugar at bay was designed by a research team born from the collaboration between Harvard University and MIT. Scientists have realized a special reactive ink called DermalAbyss which, if tattooed on the body of a patient with diabetes, allows you to control sugar levels by simply signaling the result through color. This special instrument is in fact able to alter its tones in response to changes in the fluids within the body.
The substance, once injected, is reactive not just glucose levels but also to sodium and also to the pH of the body and potentially, therefore, it could be also useful for other pathologies in addition to diabetes.
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The tattoo is still being tested and still has to overcome many obstacles before it can actually be used on human skin, guaranteeing safety, reliability and avoiding possible allergic reactions. However, the good conditions are there. We will see if in the next few years we will see it appear on the market.
Photo: media.mit.edu
