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Jagid3 t1_iucdvad wrote

I can smell when a diabetic is getting hyperglycemic. It's just a specific scent.

I am sure it's the same for a dog.

I read about an older lady that could smell when a person was getting Parkinson's disease.

Once you recognize a scent you just know when you smell it again. And scent is chemical identification.

You can read about Joy Milne the Parkinson's sniffer here.

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sener87 t1_iucmi5u wrote

It's quite unlikely they smell insuline levels, they probably smell sugar. If your blood glucose goes up your metabolism changes, cells start burning more sugar, your kidneys start flushing out sugar, probably your skin too. So there are a bunch of potential chemical clues there.

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awkwardhare t1_iuczf6z wrote

They can be trained to smell low/high blood sugar through salivia samples although research suggests they're not that reliable so a continuous glucose monitor would be better - but dogs make us happy and some tech stuck to our arms doesn't. see here for deets

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Gobbedyret t1_iud5i4t wrote

I don't know precisely what the dogs are picking up on, but diabetic people's breath have a distinct smell that humans can notice, too.

It's causes by raised levels of ketones in the blood, which comes from the increased breakdown of fat when sugar is unavailable, either due to starvation or diabetes. Intense dieting, especially with a ketogenic diet (hence the name) can also cause it.

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eumenides__ t1_iudb3ev wrote

I’ve had a medical alert service dog for 10 years and am currently training my next one. It’s a complicated process, they can smell your blood glucose through breath, sweat, changing hormone levels as well as read your body language to figure out when you’re low or high or when you’re experiencing a rapid change in glucose levels.

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