September 25 : A new study at the University of California, Irvine has shown that breath-analysis may serve as an effective, non-invasive method for monitoring blood sugar levels in diabetes.

The researchers used a chemical analysis method developed for air-pollution testing during the study, and found that children with type-1 diabetes exhaled significantly higher concentrations of methyl when they had high blood sugar, a condition known as hyperglycaemic.

“Breath analysis has been showing promise as a diagnostic tool in a number of clinical areas, such as with ulcers and cystic fibrosis. While no clinical breath test yet exists for diabetes, this study shows the possibility of non-invasive methods that can help the millions who have this chronic disease,” said Dr. Pietro Galassetti, a diabetes researcher with the General Clinical Research Center (GCRC) at UC Irvine.

The study published in the online version of the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences involved 10 children with type-1 diabetes mellitus. Dr. Dan Cooper and Andria Pontello of the GCRC took air samples during a hyperglycaemic state, and progressively as they increased the children’s blood insulin levels.

UC Irvine chemists F. Sherwood Rowland and Donald Blake examined the exhaled breath samples in the laboratory, and measure the levels of trace gases in excess of the parts-per-billion range that contribute to local and regional air pollution.

The children’s breath samples were analysed for more than 100 gasses at parts-per-trillion levels, and the results showed that methyl nitrate exhaled concentrations had increased as much as 10 times more in diabetic children during hyperglycaemia than when they had normal glucose levels.

According to the researchers, the methyl nitrate concentrations corresponded with the children’s glucose levels. The higher the glucose, the higher the exhaled methyl nitrates, they said.

Galassetti said that during hyperglycemia, in type 1 diabetes there are more fatty acids in the blood that cause oxidative stress. Methyl nitrate is likely a by-product of this increased oxidative stress, he added.

“Currently, we are involved with new studies looking at the correlation of other gases with hyperglycemia and other variables, including insulin. Eventually, we hope to put together a full exhaled gas profile of diabetes, and our efforts look promising,” he said. (ANI)

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