Apple is moving closer to an ideal it pursued when Steve Jobs was still at the helm of the company: continuous, noninvasive monitoring of blood sugar. The goal is to allow diabetics to control their blood glucose levels, without the need to inject themselves.
A laser instead of a needle
In the United States, one in ten Americans is affected by diabetes. To limit the impact on daily life, injections before meals can be replaced by the use of a patch that will be renewed every two weeks. But Apple’s solution has recently advanced, explains the American media Bloomberg. He could avoid contact with blood to measure blood sugar.
To define the blood glucose level, the manufacturer of the iPhone uses an optical absorption spectroscopy process. Thanks to a laser, light is emitted at specific wavelengths. It allows reaching a subcutaneous area where interstitial fluid is present. The ability of the liquid to absorb glucose allows to deduce the glucose concentration, and thus determine the glycemia by using an algorithm.
Apple’s advances in the matter herald a commercialization of a blood glucose monitor in the market, according to US media sources. But the ultimate goal is to integrate this technology into the next-generation Apple Watch.
Technology at the service of health
Started in 2010, the project should still require a few years of work for the company. Especially since it is one of Apple’s most secret. It brings together even fewer people than the autonomous vehicle project or the mixed reality headset project.
The implementation of such a system within Apple’s connected watch would further strengthen the device’s medical applications. Released in 2015, the first version included a heart rate sensor. Three years later, the Apple Watch was able to perform electrocardiograms (ECGs). It also detects an ovulation period and calculates the oxygen level in the blood.
Above all, measuring blood sugar without biting would be even closer to the vision of Steve Jobs, one of whose dreams was to put technology at the service of health. With such a device, the Apple Watch could prevent the appearance of signs and symptoms of prediabetes. Then it would be possible to establish habits to delay, or even avoid, the development of the disease.
Source: BFM TV
