Japanese UG-201 Meter - No Blood Required

Well I've been saying how much I want a non-invasive blood sugar meter. And I've finally found one coming on the market. The UG-201 doesn't require any finger pricking. It uses innovative pee on a stick technology.

Ick!

On the one hand, this meter has a lot of really good ideas. The sensors can be reused 200 times (ick!) and will cost about ¥6,000 or $56 Canadian Dollars. That's about a quarter a test - I pay seventy five cents now. Yay for cheapness. Huzzah for the environmentally friendliness of a re-usable sensor. They've got to be able to come up with this for blood.

They're working on a separate USB memory system that the results are transmitted to via infrared. This idea I love. Meter testing should be separated from meter results. Work together closely, yes. But I want whatever is holding my results to plug in to any computer and give me instant access to the data. No downloading software, no installing. I want something that I can take with me on vacation, use at work, or kill time with when I'm on a plane. There's no mention of any software like this in the article, but it seems like a good first step to me.

So two really good things. Then there is the downside.

Personally, I'd rather live with a tiny pinprick than have to run off to the bathroom every time I need to test. There's a three minute wait between tests as well. That's a long, uncomfortable time hanging around a bathroom if you need to re-check the numbers. Plus the fact that you don't always have to go to the bathroom, and that bathrooms are not always immediately available.

A huge issue is also accuracy. If testing on your arm is 10-15 minutes delayed from your finger pricks, how out of date is your blood sugar number going to be when it has time to affect your urine? The system also needs to be re-calibrated weekly which adds to the inconvenience.

And did I mention the whole Ick factor? The idea of carrying around a sensor, using it, rinsing it off, and tucking it into my purse seems so unhygienic. Somehow a tiny drop of dried blood on a test strip doesn't bother me at all.

Still, this will probably be a popular product. They've been selling a non-portable version since 2004, and this announcement is for the release of a portable model. I wonder what other diabetes technology is being developed in Japan?