Diabetes is an affliction that affects a large number of persons nowadays. One big problem is about early detection, since a person who has diabetes which is not being detected and treated can suffer many problems. There is no control on the intake of sugar, or treatment with drugs to control the growth of sugar levels in the body, and consequently the problem of higher level of sugar in the body keeps on growing, in many cases, being detected only when the patient starts to suffer damage. However, current checking through the blood test is traumatic for many people, and for those who cannot stand a needle, it is very problematic. There is research ongoing about how to detect diabetes through other means, and this article talks about using the human spit for this purpose (link to article):
While searching for biomarkers that may indicate diabetes, doctors examined the saliva of 40 different patients. Through salivary analysis, they managed to devise a new 'non-invasive' method for detecting diabetes that foregoes the uncomfortable prick of a needle- patients need only to spit into a cup.
"Our goal was to characterize proteins in human saliva that may indicate prediabetes and type-2. Analysis of these proteins allowed us to develop a new method for screening, detecting and monitoring the diabetic state," said Srinivasa R Nagalla, MD, and a member of the research team.
If this technique does become successful, it will be of big help in being able to detect diabetes much earlier than possible for a large number of patients.
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