Dogs can detect patients’ low blood sugar

♦pet dogs of Type 1 diabetics can be trained to sniff out dangerous episodes of low blood sugar, the biggest study conducted so far has shown.

Researchers from Bristol University assessed the reliability of 27 dogs for between two and four months and compared their alerts to blood records kept by their owners each time the animal sensed something was wrong. They found that on average the dogs correctly alerted their owners to 83 per cent of hypoglycaemic episodes, also known as low blood sugar, in over 4,000 incidents.

The dogs were trained by the charity Medical Detection Dogs to respond to a change in odour when blood sugar drops and alert the patient so they can restore their glucose levels.