As soon as next year, people will be able to check if they have diabetes a lot less painfully.
As it is now, patients have to fast overnight and have a blood test the next day to see if they have diabetes.
In the coming year of 2008, patients at risk of developing diabetes will have a lot less painful method to figure it out.
The doctor will shine a light on your forearm to diagnose it and it will take only about 1 minute.
"Scout, a device manufactured by VeraLight, emits a beam that measures collagen changes and the amount of blood sugar by-products hiding out in your skin. A high reading means your body likely isn't processing glucose efficiently--a hallmark of the disease," explains John Maynard, VeraLight vice president of product development.
This little device will be used at any time, even if you did not fast before.
You could even have donuts, it will not affect the diagnosis. By catching diabetes earlier, lots of complications like kidney problems, strokes, etc could be avoided.
Another benefit would also be a lot less cost for health.
Meanwhile, if you would like to get more information on diabetes, there are some excellent sites on the Internet that provide you with a lot of data.
http://www.diabetes.com/
http://www.diabetes.org/home.jsp
