Our departmental laboratory recently became aware of a local start-up company that wanted to "Introduce Breath Analysis into Clinical Pathology Laboratory Testing." During the on-line conversation, a staff member wrote: "My friend swears his dog knows when his diabetic son’s blood sugar is off." Is this possible? Can a dog detect poor diabetic control

Answer

Ketosis (which occurs with poor diabetic control) can be detected in breath. Since dogs have a better sense of smell than humans, I would believe that a dog could detect ketosis.