On feasibility of near-infrared spectroscopy for noninvasive blood glucose measurements

Abstract

Non-invasive blood glucose measurement has long been desired since the invasive methods are not suitable to perform continuous monitoring. Near Infrared Spectroscopy is one of the most popular methods used in studies; however, despite more than 20 years of research, a practical and reliable noninvasive NIR glucose sensor is yet to be developed. In this study, we investigated the feasibility of NIRS towards the detection of glucose concentration. Although we can obtain adequate sensitivity, our measurements suffer from poor selectivity due to the fact that we can only detect the impurity level of water by NIRS due to strong water absorbance.