Diabetes management is a complex and evolving challenge, particularly when it comes to accurately tracking and understanding how various factors affect blood sugar levels and overall health. Traditional glucose monitoring systems often fail to account for other key factors that influence diabetes progression, such as diet, alcohol intake, exercise, and stress. Additionally, people with diabetes are at higher risk for cardiovascular diseases, which are not always monitored continuously outside of a clinical setting. Researchers have now developed a wearable wristband that tracks glucose levels along with other key chemical and cardiovascular signals in real time, enabling all-in-one monitoring for diabetes and cardiovascular care.

The solution, developed by researchers at UC San Diego (La Jolla, CA, USA), integrates several advanced technologies into a single wearable device. The wristband uses a microneedle array that painlessly samples interstitial fluid to measure glucose, lactate, and alcohol levels through three enzymes embedded within the microneedles. Additionally, it employs ultrasonic sensors to monitor blood pressure and arterial stiffness, while ECG sensors measure heart rate. The device is linked to a smart display that shows real-time data streams from the sensors, allowing wearers to see how daily activities, such as meals and exercise, affect their glucose and cardiovascular responses. The wristband is designed to be flexible, lightweight, and easy to replace, supporting longer-term use without the risk of infections or allergic reactions.

The wristband was tested and validated through comparisons with commercial devices for glucose, alcohol, and lactate monitoring. The findings, published in Nature Biomedical Engineering, confirmed that the wristband provided accurate, real-time tracking of glucose, blood pressure, heart rate, and arterial stiffness. The device showed a strong correlation with blood glucose meters, continuous glucose monitors, breathalyzers, and blood lactate meters. These results demonstrate the potential for the wristband to offer a comprehensive physiological snapshot and help identify dangerous trends before they escalate. Going forward, the researchers plan to expand the system to include additional biomarkers, make it powered by sweat or sunlight, and integrate machine learning to analyze the collected data.

“Comprehensive and effective management of diabetes requires more than just a single glucose reading,” said An-Yi Chang, a postdoctoral researcher at UC San Diego and co-first author on the study. “By tracking glucose, lactate, alcohol, and cardiovascular signals in real time, this pain-free wristband can help people better understand their health and enable early action to reduce diabetes risk.”

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