Thanks to new sensors, sweat can be studied precisely. In the future, researchers hope that these analyses can help prevent diseases and even save lives.
Sweating is a natural mechanism to cool the body. We become particularly aware of it in summer with heat, sport or alcohol. On this subject, some of our beliefs are also erroneous.
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Today, these bodily fluids are the focus of particular attention in medical technology. Noé Brasier is a fellow at the Collegium Helveticum and a researcher at the Institute of Translational Medicine at ETH Zurich. According to him, “today’s wearable sensors can generate completely new information.”
A treasure trove of medical information
“Sweat is much more than sodium chloride,” explains Noé Brasier. It is the biomarkers such as proteins, hormones or metabolites, such as glucose or lactate, that make this fluid so interesting for researchers. They can provide information about a patient’s health. “The potential is enormous to detect diseases at an early stage or to adapt therapies to each patient.”
The amount and nature of our sweat depends on a number of factors. What we eat and drink, our physical activity or the emotions we feel play a role. “The many influencing factors make it difficult to interpret the information contained in sweat,” says the ETH researcher. This means that information can be obtained from the molecules present in sweat, but what exactly they reveal about the body and its condition is still being studied. And the research is only just beginning.
Data to combine
But the context in which a sweat biomarker is measured is also crucial. Noé Brasier reminds us: “I cannot draw conclusions based on the general stress level and health from the cortisol content of sweat alone.” However, if additional parameters such as heart rate, core body temperature or ambient temperature were measured, it could better classify a value. Sweat analyses are only useful in combination with other clinical measures in order to understand a person’s health status in the appropriate context.
In the future, biochemical sensors could not only evaluate sweat, but also record other parameters at the same time. This will result in complex data sets. With the help of artificial intelligence, clinical measurements can then be correlated with each other.
Faster and cheaper analyses
Blood analysis is currently considered the gold standard for medical diagnosis and physical monitoring in the event of illness. “Blood sampling is usually only possible in a hospital or doctor’s office. It is time-consuming, invasive and expensive,” says the researcher. Sweat measurements, on the other hand, can be carried out in the patient’s everyday life.
The doctor sees another advantage in the sensors: they can not only measure a single value at a given moment, but also collect sweat data over a longer period of time. This makes it possible, for example, to track and understand the course of a disease.
A number of start-ups are already developing applications: the first wearable sensors are coming onto the market. But these are lifestyle products and the measurements are imprecise. According to Noé Brasier: “It could be several years before these products are clinically validated.”
Nina-Lou Frey (SRF)
