Researchers from VeraLight Inc. recently reported at the Sixth Annual Diabetes Technology Meeting in Atlanta that a new screening device that doesn't require blood was able to significantly outperform both the fasting plasma glucose (FPG) test and the A1C test for identifying individuals with impaired glucose tolerance (IGT).

IGT is a condition that often progresses to type 2 diabetes, therefore its detection is very crucial.

"...results showed a prototype of the device was able to identify 78% more individuals with the IGT form of pre-diabetes than the FPG test, and 47% more than the A1C test."

VeraLight Inc. is the the developer of the non-invasive diabetes-screening device code-named "Scout" and its researchers conducted the study on 322 subjects ranging from 21 to 88 years old with a broad range of skin color.

The said product, slated for market launching in early 2008 is able to detect abnormal concentrations of the skin biomarkers known to be associated with diabetes in less than one minute using fluorescent light from an individual's forearm.

Take note: WITHOUT drawing blood and no overnight fasting prior to testing, unlike the FPG and AIC test.

Wow, non-blood pre-diabetes screening?! I am all for that kind.

Read the full press release (a pdf file).

Daily-Diabetic has a similar entry on a Dutch product that uses fluorescent light to measure blood sugar.