Scientists can now read the body’s shift to fat burning from a single breath, turning an everyday exhale into valuable insights.
One device making this possible and drawing considerable attention is the Nutrion handheld breathalyser developed by Alivion, a spinout from leading public research school ETH Zurich. Researchers from the university published a validation study of the tool in the journal Device on Jul. 22. Although additional studies are needed, the paper shows the device performs reliably for everyday use.
This breathalyser tells users when their body burns fat instead of carbohydrates. People simply breathe into the mouthpiece while a smartphone app guides them to give a consistent deep-lung sample. A filter column catches the key compound while letting moisture escape, and a sensor then measures it accurately.
In the study, results from 12 volunteers who exercised or changed their diets closely matched those from lab mass spectrometry, the established method for precisely measuring tiny amounts of gases in breath. The device stayed stable over months and worked well under varying conditions.
Andreas Güntner, an assistant professor at ETH Zurich who led the work, outlined the journey in a social media post. The project began more than a decade ago with early patents and sensor demonstrations in 2017. It progressed through materials research, selective filters and human trials before reaching a commercial product now used in research and medical settings.
“This device allows daily tracking of individual fat oxidation and complements continuous glucose monitoring to provide a comprehensive assessment of individual metabolic response,” the authors concluded.
“While the cohort size was sufficient to evaluate device performance under realistic use conditions and to capture subject-specific breath acetone dynamics [12 subjects, 312 samples], larger and more diverse cohorts will be required for clinical validation and to assess usability in specific target populations.”
Read more: Breath Diagnostics advances pre-op pneumonia screening with FDA breakthrough designation
Fat burning joins a broad spectrum
Fat-burning and weight-loss tracking mark the newest application for breath testing, but the field already spans many developing areas.
Veterinary researchers have been exploring breath analysis for animals. Developers at Global Innovative Platforms Inc (OTCMKTS: GIPL) are advancing a breath test that detects heartworm in dogs by identifying specific volatile compounds, offering a non-invasive option that could spot infections earlier than standard blood tests. Clinicians increasingly rely on breath tests for stomach and gut disorders too, such as detecting Helicobacter pylori infections or small intestinal bacterial overgrowth through gas patterns.
For pneumonia breath screening, Breath Diagnostics recently gained FDA Breakthrough Device Designation for its OneBreath platform. It assesses pre-operative risk of postoperative pneumonia via exhaled compounds in cardiac surgery patients. At MIT, engineers are currently refining PlasmoSniff, a compact sensor that uses nanoparticles and light-based detection to flag pneumonia lung infection signals rapidly.
Breath analysis continues to broaden its reach, delivering more health information from something as simple as breathing out.
Read more: Prestigious medtech intelligence firm recognizes Breath Diagnostics for innovation
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