Real-time glucose and heart monitoring in a smart wearable device

A new kind of wearable wristband could reshape how people with diabetes understand and manage their health. In addition to checking blood sugar, this wearable checks a series of important indicators at once of your body—providing real-time insight into your glucose levels, heart rate, blood pressure, alcohol intake and much more.

The advanced system merges chemistry and tech to bring you a more complete, individualized and real-time method of managing diabetes.

The wristband wearable does more than ordinary glucose monitors. It has a tiny flexible microneedle array that takes painless samples of fluid just beneath the surface of the skin. This interstitial fluid contains important clues about the chemistry of your body. These tiny pins hold special enzymes that spot glucose, lactate and alcohol. These are important molecules that change in response to what you've eaten, drunk or exercised.

The microneedles can be replaced easily and are beneficial for individuals with sensitive skin or individuals who desire to use the band continuously. It minimizes the risk of infection and allergic reaction as well.

But the wristband doesn't just report chemical readings. It also has a gentle ultrasonic sensor that gently pushes against your skin to gauge how your blood flows. It monitors your arterial stiffness and blood pressure, both vital indicators of heart health. And atop all of that, an ECG sensor monitors your heart rate from your wrist. These measurements all combine to paint an instantaneous complete picture of your health.

The system originates from researchers at UC San Diego and has just been published in the journal Nature Biomedical Engineering. They wanted to correct an increasing problem: individuals with diabetes receive too little real-time information regarding how their activities—such as eating or drinking—will affect their wellness. Currently available devices are mostly focused on glucose.

Widespread and effective diabetes treatment requires more than a single glucose reading," postdoc An-Yi Chang told The Brighter Side of News. "Glucose, lactate, alcohol and cardiac signal monitoring at the pain-free wristband can aid individuals with a better understanding of their health and permit early action to prevent diabetes.

Chang also co-first authored the research with UC San Diego's Aiiso Yufeng Li Family Department of Chemical and Nano Engineering members Muyang Lin, Lu Yin and Maria Reynoso. They were mentored during their research project with professors Joseph Wang and Sheng Xu, whose labs continue research with wearable health tech.

Wang's lab works on chemical signal detection and Xu's lab works on wearable ultrasound. What they both brought together created a device with capabilities greater than mere readings. The outcome: a wristband that incorporates physical and chemical monitoring into one simplified device.

As you wear the wristband, it connects to a smart display that shows you live readings. You can see your glucose levels rise or fall after a meal, track alcohol levels after a drink, or check your lactate levels during a workout. You also get updates about your heart rate, blood pressure and how stiff your arteries are—signals that often show early signs of cardiovascular trouble.

The payoff of this combination became apparent during testing at the laboratory. When researchers compared the results of the wristband's glucose sensor with a traditional glucose meter and a continuous glucose monitor, the results closely matched. And performance also stood out during alcohol tests, with high agreement with results from a breathalyzer. And lactate measured during exercise closely matched corresponding results from a laboratory-grade blood lactate meter.

What makes this gadget impressive is that it can display all of these indicators simultaneously. As your heart rate increases during an exercise routine, you can also see your lactate increasing. Should you consume a beverage with your evening meal, you can see your glucose and alcohol levels change concurrently. This offers individuals a closer glimpse of their body's real-time response—and enables individuals as well as their physicians to detect possible precursors of issues.

The wristband group foresees extensive possibilities of further improvement. They are refining it to trace yet further signals—perhaps other molecules of the bloodstream or indicators of stress. They also aim at operating the device through clean sources of energy like sweat or sunlight, keeping it charged with a minimal number of plugs.

Perhaps machine learning could become a part of it. With increasingly personal data pouring into the wristband, advanced software could discern patterns. Eventually, it may actually predict problems before they occur—issuing warnings or recommendations based on patterns of your body.

This type of real-time understanding may alter the course of how both patient and provider consider chronic illness. Diabetes mellitus is complicated and has manifestations much greater and further-reaching than blood sugar.

Laying the foundation of a device that monitors something beyond glucose, the research group aims to empower individuals with greater control of their health one subtle signal at a time.

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