Earlier this year I wrote about an innovative new sweat band that not only keeps the sweat from your eyes, but actively monitors your perspiration for things such as dehydration levels.

It’s part of a growing trend towards wearable devices that are able to infer quite sophisticated medical diagnoses from relatively simple bodily measurements.

A Dutch team from Eindhoven University typify this new approach.  They’ve developed a wearable microchip that’s capable of analyzing our sweat for signs of any number of diseases.

Smart sweat sensors

The project utilizes laser micro-manufacturing, with a pump that is powered by evaporation drawing fluid from the skin and over a micro-sensor where it is analyzed for disease.  Once the analysis has been performed, the sweat passes through a channel, after which it evaporates as normal.

The process aims to measure the salinity and acidity of the sweat in the belief that this will provide a strong insight into a variety of diseases, such as cystic fibrosis, as well as various skin conditions.

That is only the start however, with the team also hoping to expand the range of diseases and conditions tested for, all in the hope that earlier diagnosis will be crucial in the successful treatment of the diseases found.

The device has been built using plastic foil with a porous paper built into the design to draw in our sweat.  Evaporation then attracts the sweat over the sensor so that the data can be collected.  As we sweat constantly, this process also allows us to monitor trends over time rather than at an isolated point.  What’s more, this also negates the need for any battery to power the device as it can operate without electrical charge.

We’ve seen a number of ‘lab on a chip’ type devices emerging over the past few years, and their development will undoubtedly increase the functionality of wearable health and fitness devices.