Smartwatches could monitor body chemistry for real-time health check

Developed by engineers at UCLA, the system looks for chemical indicators found in sweat to give a real-time indication of what is happening inside the body. A study detailing the technology has been published in Science Advances.

Wearable wrist device tracks metabolites via sweat

Glasgow University team power wearables with sweat

Smartwatches can track of how far someone has walked, slept and what their heart rate is. Working with a tethered smartphone or other devices, a smartwatch records those health indicators over a long period of time, but they cannot monitor a person’s body chemistry.

For that, they need to track biomarker molecules found in body fluids that are highly specific indicators of health, such as glucose and lactate, which tell how well the body's metabolism is working.

To address that need, the researchers engineered a disposable, double-sided film that attaches to the underside of a smartwatch. The film can detect molecules such as metabolites and certain nutrients that are present in body sweat in very tiny amounts. They also built a custom smartwatch and an accompanying app to record data.