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As technology advances in diabetes care with continuous glucose monitors, insulin pumps and AI-driven alerts, another kind of intelligence is proving just as powerful: a dog’s nose.
Across the country, specially trained diabetic alert dogs are learning to detect dangerous changes in blood sugar before medical devices do, news agency SWNS reported.
Kona, a 1-year-old labrador retriever in Ohio, alerts his owner, 7-year-old Kennedy Berce, to rising or falling blood sugar by gently placing a paw on her arm. Often, Kona is able to alert up to 30 minutes before the child’s glucose monitor registers a problem.
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After completing two months of scent detection training, Kona now works around the clock — just like hundreds of other diabetic alert dogs, according to the same source.
Those who live with diabetic alert dogs say the animals provide safety and peace of mind. For Kennedy Berce and her family, that means having a constant companion who can sense danger before anyone else knows something is wrong.
Diabetic alert dogs have been trained to sense life-threatening drops or spikes in blood sugar. (iStock)
“At just 7 years old, she can be full of energy even when her blood sugar is 45. That’s why Kona is such a lifesaver,” Lindsey Berce, Kennedy’s mother, told SWNS.
“He can sense the change before Kennedy feels anything at all, and often before we even know something’s wrong from her technology.”
Low or high blood sugar levels cause chemical changes in a person’s body that humans can’t smell. Diabetic alert dogs are trained to recognize these scents and alert their owners through specific actions like pawing or licking, according to the American Kennel Club.
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Dr. Frank Dumont, an internal medicine physician and executive medical director at Virta Health in Colorado, told Fox News Digital it comes down to how the body and technology process signals.
One of the main limitations of current diabetes medical devices is the lag between what’s going on in the body and the blood vessels, the doctor noted.
Medical devices often have a short delay in detecting blood sugar changes, while trained alert dogs can sense them in real time. (iStock)
Trained alert dogs have the intuition to detect glucose shifts in real time, even when the person is sleeping, often responding to hormonal changes before sensors pick them up.
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This early detection can be especially critical for people whose blood sugar levels drop suddenly or reach dangerously low levels, said Dumont.
“That’s the kind of thing that can cause a seizure or a coma or even death,” he warned.
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Both type 1 and type 2 diabetes involve high blood sugar levels, but for different reasons. Type 1 occurs when the body’s immune system destroys the cells in the pancreas that produce insulin, while type 2 develops when the body still makes insulin but no longer responds to it effectively.
“The treatment is very different,” Dumont said. “Sometimes we have to resort to medicines like insulin, but we’re usually trying to do other things to help people get their nutrition right.”
Both type 1 and type 2 diabetes involve high blood sugar levels, but require different types of treatment. (iStock)
While diabetic alert dogs can provide crucial early warnings, they are not a replacement for medical devices or ongoing monitoring, experts emphasize.
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Although the animals undergo extensive training and require consistent reinforcement to help improve accuracy, they cannot provide exact blood sugar measurements.
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Those interested in using a diabetic alert dog as part of their diabetes management should speak with a doctor to determine the best approach for their individual needs.