Diabetic Help

Researchers at pharmaceutical company Eli Lilly and an association that places assistance dogs in Indianapolis, IN are working together on an exciting new project that will study how dogs are able to detect low blood sugar in their diabetic owners. Diabetics suffer from a condition by which the pancreas does not produce enough insulin to maintain a healthy level of blood glucose. If a diabetic person’s blood glucose level drops too low, he or she may become unconscious or even go into a coma.

One dog who has had a lot of success in identifying low blood sugar is a two-year-old named Pete. Pete, like all dogs, has a sense of smell 10,000 times more sensitive than that of humans. Pete’s owner is a scientist with Eli Lilly, and she is trying to figure out what is inside a dog’s nose that makes it possible to smell low blood sugar. If the researcher can figure out how to reproduce that kind of sensitivity, more diabetic people can be protected from the consequences of low blood sugar.

Until the researchers isolate what is inside Pete’s nose, the Indiana Canine Assistance Network will continue to train dogs like Pete. It’s a slow and expensive process though. In the last ten years, the organization has trained 100 dogs, and the training has cost $25,000 or more for each dog.

http://www.diabetesadvocacy.com/diabetes_news.htm

What might be a reason the author mentions the cost of training?