{"id":108877,"date":"2026-07-28T10:26:55","date_gmt":"2026-07-28T10:26:55","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ch\/108877\/"},"modified":"2026-07-28T10:26:55","modified_gmt":"2026-07-28T10:26:55","slug":"breath-not-blood-device-measures-fat-burning-in-exhaled-air","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ch\/108877\/","title":{"rendered":"Breath, not blood: device measures fat burning in exhaled air"},"content":{"rendered":"

In essence, the recently tested hand-held device is based on a sensor technology<\/a> that has been in development at ETH Zurich for over 10 years and was presented for the first time in 2017. Already at the time, G\u00fcntner and his co-authors were able to demonstrate that the gas sensors they had developed were so sensitive that they could detect a single acetone molecule in a hundred million other molecules.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Reproducible readings thanks to filter and app <\/p>\n

According to the researchers, readings from currently available acetone breathalysers have only limited reproducibility and can only detect pronounced metabolic changes. They not only respond to acetone, but also to other components of exhaled air, for example if test subjects ate or drunk something beforehand.\u00a0<\/p>\n

The researchers therefore developed a filter that blocks interfering molecules, and a smartphone app that guides test subjects in real time as they exhale. \u201cThe device measures the volume of exhaled air and only takes a sample that comes from deep in the lungs after a certain time,\u201d says lead author Simone Hersberger, adding: \u201cotherwise, every reading would be slightly different.\u201d In order for this to work, the devices are initially calibrated and adjusted to the patient\u2019s lung volume.<\/p>\n

From basic research to product\u202f\u00a0 <\/p>\n

The successful validation study is an important milestone for the researchers. \u201cWe were able to demonstrate that our device can detect slight differences in fat metabolism accurately and reliably,\u201d says ETH doctoral student Hersberger. Further studies are now intended to show whether the new measuring device can really be used to personalise therapies for metabolic disorders. In partnership with the University Children\u2019s Hospital Zurich, the researchers are currently looking at whether the hand-held device can help children with epilepsy better monitor their ketogenic diet. Other fields of application are the monitoring and optimisation of medical diets or of so-called GLP-1 therapies with weight loss jabs. Applications in amateur sports are also being considered.<\/p>\n

The ETH spin-off Alivion AG has launched the device under the name \u2018Nutrion\u2019. It is currently being deployed in international research studies and in medical facilities. To scale up further and to open up further fields of application, Alivion is seeking additional industry partners and strategic investors. \u201cThis example shows how the results of basic research can be put into practice and ultimately help society,\u201d says ETH professor Andreas G\u00fcntner.<\/p>\n

This work is being financially supported by Innosuisse, the Vontobel Foundation and the Accentus Foundation.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"In essence, the recently tested hand-held device is based on a sensor technology that has been in development…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":108878,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[6],"tags":[5977,5641,338,51],"class_list":["post-108877","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-zurich","tag-d-mavt","tag-press-release","tag-research","tag-zurich"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@ch\/116997131271194281","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ch\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/108877","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ch\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ch\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ch\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ch\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=108877"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ch\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/108877\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ch\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/108878"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ch\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=108877"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ch\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=108877"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ch\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=108877"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}