Apparently, the air you exhale gives away more information about you than you’d think. Toshiba used that fact to create a breathalyser that detects a great number of health problems after blowing air into it for 30 seconds.
There’s a saying that circulates not only between medical personnel, but also between common people, that it’s easier to prevent than to treat. With that in mind, Japan’s Toshiba proceeded to create a piece of equipment that can help with disease detection and prevention. The main benefit of that? Let’s just say that it can stop a health problem in the tracks, especially if it detects it at an early stage. If Toshiba takes care of all the hygiene problems that go along with such a device, the disease-detecting breathalyser could start a revolution in the medical field.
Until now, diagnosing a health problem used to take a lot of time, not to mention that it implied a lot of stress. Also until now, breathalysers used to be used for detecting the alcohol concentration in someone’s blood. By introducing this device, Toshiba changed both these conceptions. Probably one of the best aspects about Toshiba’s breathalyser is that it could also help with diets and exercises.
There are several downsides related to this product, however. First of all, Toshiba only made it available in its home country, and at the moment, it’s uncertain whether the disease-detecting breathalyser will make it out side of Japan. Secondly, the device would have been better if it was more portable, in the current version being as large as a small dishwasher.
The exhaled air is charged with an infrared laser and if it contains acetone, methane or acetaldehyde, these trace gases will react in a certain way to the radiation. Researchers from the Waseda University, one of the main superior education institutions in Japan, are currently working on improving the device. The clinical measurements of acetone concentration in exhaled breath conducted by these scientists will help them create a connection between this aspect and fat metabolism, hence my statement that the device could prove useful in diets.
Toshiba to start commercial production of the disease-detecting breathalyser next year, and hopefully, it will become available on more continents, as its usefulness cannot be denied.
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