Citation:
Claire Turner, Christopher Walton, Shu Hoashi and Mark Evans. Breath acetone concentration decreases with blood glucose concentration in type
I diabetes mellitus patients during hypoglycaemic clamps. Journal of Breath Research, Volume 3, Number 4, 2009, Paper Number 046004.
Abstract:
Conventional wisdom is that breath acetone may be markedly elevated in type 1
diabetes, but that this only occurs during poor blood glucose control and/or
intercurrent illness. In contrast, little is known about breath acetone at more
representative everyday blood glucose levels in diabetes. We used selected ion
flow tube mass spectrometry to monitor the breath of eight patients with type 1
diabetes mellitus during 'insulin clamp' studies in which insulin and glucose
were infused into patients to lower blood glucose levels in steps from normal
values into the low glucose (hypoglycaemic) range. The concentration of acetone
in breath and the blood sugar concentration of the patients were monitored at
each blood glucose concentration. The blood glucose level at the start of the
study was typically about 6 mM L-1, whereas the breath acetone concentration at
this blood glucose level was unexpectedly variable, ranging from 1 part-per-
million to 21 ppm, in contrast to what was previously believed, i.e. that type 1
diabetes mellitus is characterized by high acetone levels. In all eight
patients, the breath acetone declined linearly with blood glucose concentration.