Breathalyzer device tells you when you start to burn fat

Want to know if you’re working out hard enough and burning fat? Just take a deep breath and blow.

Scientists out of Japan have created a portable, breathalyzer-type device that can tell users whether or not they’ve entered the fat-burning phase of their exercise and diet regime, by detecting levels of acetone in the breath.

Acetone is produced in the blood when fat is broken down. It’s also expelled through tiny sacs in the lungs called alveoli.

The pocket-sized device can detect acetone concentrations of between 0.2 to 50 parts-per-million. After breathing into the device, levels are calculated and then can be sent to a smartphone either by Bluetooth or cable within 10 seconds.

For their study, scientists from the NTT Docomo Research Laboratories in Japan recruited 17 adult volunteers who had a body mass index higher than the Japanese average.

One group served as the control group and was told to carry on with their normal lifestyle. The second group was put on a light exercise program which involved 30 to 60 minutes of jogging or fast walking every day. The third group was put on the same exercise program but was also put on a calorie-restricted diet.

The experiment lasted 14 days.

Volunteers were asked to breathe into the device before breakfast each day. Results showed that while the first two groups failed to lose any significant amount of fat, the third group succeeded in melting off the pounds.

Breathalyzer tests also corroborated results, as breath acetone concentrations increased significantly with the last group.

The study was published online in the Journal of Breath Research last week.

Researchers say the lightweight pocket-sized device which is powered by double AA batteries, could serve as an important tool in the battle against the bulge and weight-related illnesses such as diabetes.

Meanwhile, in 2010, Swiss scientists developed a sensor they said could detect Type 1 diabetes, likewise by measuring acetone levels in the breath. Those with Type 1 diabetes have unusually high levels of acetone in the body.