It makes you wonder why strips don’t cost more than they do.

Then the electric current goes down circuits printed on a thin film of gold to the meter, where a computer chip turns it into a numerical reading. So the colored patch at the end of the strip includes absorbents to soak up blood and enzymes to turn it into electricity and stabilizers to protect the enzymes. But “strip makers have partly tamed enzymes and increased their life span by incorporating chemicals that stabilize them.” Gebel, exposure to humidity or temperature extremes can damage the enzymes, reducing accuracy. “That’s a fine balance.”īecause they use enzymes, strips are delicate. “You want hydration around the enzyme to keep it active, but not too much because that will lead to degradation,” says Selly Saini, the worldwide director of strip products for Johnson & Johnson. That electricity…is read out by the meter as a glucose concentration.” It’s much faster than the old way, which was based on reading a color change, and requires much less blood.Īpparently, working with enzymes is hard. According to an article by Erika Gebel, PhD, in Diabetes Forecast, “ Electrochemical test strips, the world standard today, employ enzymes…that convert glucose into an electrical current. Modern strips work by measuring the electrical energy in glucose in the blood.

Accu-chek test strips cost