How dogs are saving diabetics' lives

Can a dog’s nose save a diabetic’s life? Man’s best friends are known to sniff out bombs, drugs and even bedbugs, but can they smell trouble for type 1 diabetics? A new study done in the UK shows that the diabetic “alert” dogs were able to detect 70 percent of episodes of abnormal blood sugar, incidents which can be dangerous, even deadly, for type 1 diabetics. How do they do it? Dogs that are noted to have a better sense of smell (such as golden retrievers) than their counterparts are the ones chosen for training. They use this highly sensitive sense to sniff out changes in the blood that occur when blood sugar becomes too low or too high. Doctors know that when blood sugar becomes too high, for example, it causes a chemical reaction in the blood that creates a fruity or sweet odor on their breath. Doctors may not always be able to smell it but dogs can since their sense of smell is 40 times greater than ours. They can also pick up the scent from sweat and skin. How are they...