Dogs and Diabetes: Trained Dogs Use Their Excellent Sense Of Smell To Detect Diabetes In People’s Breath

Dogs deserve the man's best friend label on them. Aside from being a loyal companion, dogs can also help with people's health problems and prevent illness attacks from reaching dangerous levels.

A U.K. charity Medical Detection Dogs has trained 75 medical alert assistance dogs that help people monitor different health conditions like type 1 diabetes. Active since 2009, these dogs jump up and put their paws on a patient's shoulder if their sugar level falls to dangerously low levels, or hypoglycemia.

How Dogs Do It

People with type 1 diabetes have pancreas that is incapable of producing insulin and regulate blood sugar. These individuals' condition puts them in danger of hypoglycemia, which results in confusion, disorientation, shakiness, and sometimes unconsciousness, CNN listed.

Experts don't know exactly how medical alert assistance dogs detect low blood sugar in their owner's breath. Dr. Mark Evans, a consultant in diabetes and general medicine at England's Addenbrooke's Hospital, released a new study that examined 10 chemicals present in the breath released by people with type 1 diabetes. Evans' research team found that a compound called isoprene doubles in number whenever a patient's blood sugar falls.

There's a possibility that dogs can detect isoprene's presence in the breath, a feat that is impossible for humans but is easy for dogs thanks to their excellent sense of smell. However, there's also a chance that the dogs smell other compounds that indicate low blood sugar aside from isoprene.

What The Medical World Should Do

Medical Detection Dogs acknowledged that the 75 animals they have trained aren't enough to help patients monitor their health conditions. At the moment, there are around 40 puppies being trained, though there's a patient waiting list and only those with the gravest conditions are allowed to seek the dogs' aid.

Alan Peters, executive director and founder of charity Can-Do Canines, said it would be hard for them to train enough dogs to assist people with disabilities. However, the medical world can fix this by examining isoprene's role in type 1 diabetes and then building a wearable device that can detect that compound.

Claire Guest, CEO and founder of Medical Detection Dogs, said machines greatly help patients, but dogs provide a different path to healthcare. Guest stressed that dogs are flexible creatures; they adapt well in different environments and can function even if their owners forget to monitor themselves.

Jud, North Dakota in the U.S. has the Emergency Medical Response Dogs. These dogs are also trained to detect diabetes-related fluctuations in a patient's blood sugar, but they're also capable of responding to epileptic seizures and seizures caused by psychiatric conditions. The dogs nudge their owner when they pick up something wrong.