Dogs detect through their smell many things that happen to us unnoticed, such as drugs and explosives, and also certain alterations in the human organism. There are dogs that become "guardian angels" of some children and adults because sniff diabetes.
In the United Kingdom, a seven-year-old girl has been living with a Labrador dog for two years. The dog is trained to detect changes in body odor that announce fluctuations in blood glucose levels and to immediately notify the girl, her parents or teachers when they occur.
Soon several children and adults with diabetes in Spain will have a dog as a companion. At the Hospital Clinic of Barcelona and at the Autonomous University of Barcelona they work for train dogs to detect sudden drops in glucose in people with diabetes.
The idea that dogs could "sniff diabetes" came from a study conducted three years ago by Queen University, Belfast, among 212 patients dependent on insulin. Two out of three research participants said that when they had had a drop in sugar, their dogs reacted by whining or barking.
Apparently, the hypersensitive smell of dogs detects some change in body odor that occurs when blood sugar levels drop in the body. It is the hypothesis that researchers consider. They have called the Amicus Canis project, with the collaboration of the Agust Pi i Sunyer Biomedical Research Institute (IDIBAPS) -Hospital Clínic, the Autonomous University of Barcelona, Argus Detection Dogs and the Association of Diabetics of Catalonia.
The research aims in the first phase to find out what the dog smells when hypoglycemia is recorded so that they can be trained to discover 100% of the cases.
The second phase of the initiative aims to develop a technological tool that alerts diabetics of sugar drops and can react accordingly, although this is still far away.
Today there is no no efficient system to prevent hypoglycemia nor is it a method to avoid the associated emotional and physical alterations, especially those that occur inside the home at night, where this type of crisis can generate significant family distress.
That's why ideas like these dogs trained to detect hypoglycemia It is so interesting, especially in children.
