Glucose monitoring

Abstract

Blood sugar determinations have been overworked and given an emphasis out of all proportion to their actual importance. They are expensive and often provide no information not already available from the results of simple qualitative urine sugar analyses." 1 Russell M Wilder, 1949.The doctor's bag of the 19th century physician was part dispensary, part scientific laboratory. Alongside the stethoscopes, bandages, syringes and medication, sat a urine testing kit-a battered leather case with vials of caustic chemicals, droppers, spirit lamps and charred test tubes. Burns and stains on the doctor's clothing bore witness to the regular use of this equipment, while the medical literature was full of letters pleading for more practical solutions. Reagent papers were one possibility. They had been used by the scientific community since the 17th century when Robert Boyle first dropped his 'good syrup of violets, impregnated with the tincture of the flowers' onto white paper, noting that the subsequent addition of acid led the solution to turn red. 2,3 By 1876, litmus and turmeric papers were present in urine kits alongside the usual bottles of chemicals. In 1883, Dr George Oliver, a London-based physician and physiologist, published his experiences with reagent-impregnated paper for detecting glucose and albumin. His suggestions were rapidly adopted by Parke Davis who Cover photo. Glucometer II with Glucostix packs, 1986. Courtesy of Bayer AG, Bayer Archive Leverkusen