Originally published March 26 2005
Blood sugar monitor worn like wristwatch may help manage diabetes in young patients
by Mike Adams, the Health Ranger, NaturalNews Editor
The GlucoWatch, a blood sugar monitor that is worn like a wristwatch and which does not use a needle to check sugar levels, is being evaluated as a possible tool to use in toddlers and young children with type 1 diabetes. Young children often have difficulty in expressing their symptoms, which makes case management problematic.
A wristwatch-like monitor that checks blood sugar without a needle may be useful for managing diabetes in young children, new research suggests.
The study looked at the feasibility of using the monitor, sold as the GlucoWatch G2 Biographer, in toddlers and young children with type 1 diabetes, a disease in which the immune system mistakenly destroys pancreatic cells that make the hormone insulin.
Insulin is needed to move the sugar digested from foods out of the blood and into cells to be used for energy.
People with type 1 diabetes must take injections of synthetic insulin every day in order to survive; they also have to check their blood sugar levels several times a day with a finger-prick test.
The GlucoWatch device, which can be worn like a watch or around the ankle, continuously monitors blood sugar levels throughout the day or overnight.
It cannot replace finger-prick tests, but is instead intended to give diabetics a better idea of how their blood sugar fluctuates throughout the day.
The monitor is approved for use only in adults and children older than 7, but younger children and toddlers could potentially benefit, according to the authors of the new study, because they are often unable to tell their parents when they have symptoms of low blood sugar.
"They don't express the symptoms like older children do," said lead author Dr. Eba Hathout, director of the Pediatric Diabetes Center at Loma Linda University in California.
The fact that the monitor appears "tolerable and usable" among young children is promising, Hathout told Reuters Health, because good blood-sugar control is essential for reducing the long-term risks of diabetes --- which include damage to the kidneys, heart, eyes and nerves.
All content posted on this site is commentary or opinion and is protected under Free Speech. Truth Publishing LLC takes sole responsibility for all content. Truth Publishing sells no hard products and earns no money from the recommendation of products. NaturalNews.com is presented for educational and commentary purposes only and should not be construed as professional advice from any licensed practitioner. Truth Publishing assumes no responsibility for the use or misuse of this material. For the full terms of usage of this material, visit www.NaturalNews.com/terms.shtml