Breath odor as a clue to health problem

Diabetes
Collecting a breath sample and analyzing it, useful in medicine to diagnose certain conditions, and also used by the police to measure alcohol consumption.Since the time of Hippocrates in ancient Greece doctors have been aware that the odor of a patient's breath can aid diagnosis.

For example, the breath of a person with kidney failure smells similar to urine, and an undiagnosed diabetic's breath has a fruity odor.In 1784 French scientists Antoine Lavoisier and Pierre Simon Laplace analyzed the breath of a guinea pig to reveal that it consumed oxygen and exhaled carbon dioxide.

Many breath tests require the patient to consume a substance beforehand, with the test checking for the broken down products of this substance.Abnormal quantities of the broken down product indicate disease.

For example, before a breath test to diagnose malabsorption syndrome (a condition characterized by severe, chronic diarrhea caused by the small intestine failing to absorb food efficiently) the patient must eat a dose of xylose, a sugar normally completely absorbed in the intestine.Large amounts of hydrogen in the breath within the next few hours reveal the disease is present. Research into using an electronic "nose" to analyze patients' breath began in Britain in 1995.

Blood alcohol level
Forensic science uses sophisticated laboratory techniques to detect the presence of substances in the victim, in the suspected criminal, or at the crime scene.
For example, in determining whether alcohol was involved in a crime, the amount of alcohol in the blood can be measured in two ways.

One is to measure the amount of alcohol exhaled in the breath of an individual, which reveals the concentration of alcohol in the person's blood.Recent advances in technology have produced alcohol breath-testing instruments so accurate that their results are evidential (capable of providing evidence in court).

Blood-alcohol level can also be determined by actual blood tests, usually through gas chromatography.In this method, the blood sample is vaporized by high temperature, and the gas is then sent through a column that separates the various chemical compounds present in the blood.

Gas chromatography permits the detection not only of alcohol but also of other drugs, such as barbiturates, cocaine, amphetamines, and heroin.

Ayurvedic Medicine
Ayurveda does not seek to treat the symptoms of disease; instead, it seeks to restore the underlying balance of the doshas.The Ayurvedic practitioner diagnoses a patient’s constitutional type and imbalances through such techniques as questioning;

a. specialized pulse measurementsb. observation of the tonguec. eyesd. nailse. face and skinf. voice qualityg. urineh. breath odor.The practitioner then makes specific recommendations to bring the doshas back into balance.