Early detection of diabetes through analysing human breath

Human breath analysis is an emerging field of medical diagnostics that promises rapid, noninvasive monitoring and prediction of illnesses. Even though the broad application of breath analysis remains a challenge, the development of portable, hand-held devices for reliable and continuous, real-time measurement of important breath markers such as acetone is both feasible and desirable. Several methods have been utilized to analyze trace compounds in human breath. The most common is gas chromatography (GC) with flame ionization detection (FID), mass spectrometry (MS), or ion mobility spectrometry (IMS). However, these methods impose high cost and limited portability on the user which hinder their application as standard diagnostic tools. At the same time preventative and personalised medicine approaches are heralded as the ‘next big thing’ in health and patient care. An opportunity to decrease overall costs and utility of diagnostic or screening services while improving their quality is likely to have a positive impact on these approaches.