Non-invasive Blood Glucose Monitoring via Infrared Absorbance

Diabetes affects millions globally, requiring consistent monitoring of blood glucose levels (BGL) to prevent health complications. Currently, glucometers and glucose patches are the most effective monitoring technologies, but they are invasive or minimally invasive, which can be cumbersome, especially for children and the elderly. This has led to a growing demand for non-invasive glucose monitoring methods, which have become the focus of much research. Despite the emergence of promising techniques, challenges related to practicality and effectiveness have hindered their adoption. This study aims to validate near-infrared absorption (NIR) as a non-invasive glucose monitoring method. A prototype device was developed using a 940 nm infrared (IR) emitter and a photodiode detector with a detection range from 800 to 1600 nm. The prototype was tested for sensitivity using solution samples with varying glucose concentrations and for selectivity using common blood components like ascorbic acid, tartaric acid, and lactic acid mixed with glucose solutions. Initial tests without optimizations showed a good correlation with R2 value of 0.85. With optimizations, the correlation for the sensitivity improved to 0.87. These findings suggest that NIR has the potential to be a viable non-invasive glucose monitoring method, paving the way for further research and development of practical devices for everyday use.