By October, some people could be checking their blood sugar levels using silk instead of wearing it.
Eco-friendly strip
A Bengaluru-based start-up has designed an eco-friendly blood glucose monitoring strip made out of silk. It will be made by weavers with traditional weaving skills in five cities in Karnataka and Tamil Nadu.
While conventional strips are made of plastic embedded with electrodes that allow the machine to measure the glucose in the blood, the silk strips have electrodes woven into the fabric.
Dhananjay Dendukuri, CEO, CTO and founder, Achira Labs, said silk is a biocompatible material that allows capillary action. Once the electrodes are weaved in, the fabric is cut into strips, laminated and packed.
The plastic ones are expensive as manufacturing them involves several processes. The silk strips are expected to cost one-third that.
Mithila Jha, urban planner and Director (Strategy), Achira Labs, said members of the Working Women’s Forum will weave the strips on handlooms and power-looms, and also sell the product.
Grand Challenges Canada and Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) funded the research for the product, which the company has now patented.
Cheapest alternative
Prabha Adhikari, Professor, Department of Medicine, Kasturba Medical College, Mangaluru, said: “In a country where one in 10 persons aged above 20 and one in five aged 60 has diabetes, a cheaper alternative is definitely required.”
