New research is being done to develop a way to test for, and monitor, blood sugar levels in people with diabetes without using blood.

Dr. Jonathan Claussen, research scientist at the U.S. Naval Research Lab and former Purdue University doctoral student, says a new type of biosensor has been created to detect glucose levels non-invasively in fluids such as saliva, tears or urine. He says this biosensor could detect if someone has diabetes at a doctor's or dentist's office or to monitor glucose levels with a home monitoring apparatus.

Claussen says they've created their own saliva and tear solutions to test this procedure but haven't yet tested it on human diabetes patients. He says the next step is using human patients with diabetes so they can monitor saliva and blood glucose levels simultaneously.

Claussen says it could take five to ten more years of research before a prototype becomes available.