Sweat suffers a bad rap, but Gatorade may change sweat’s status with a new biomarker patch. We’ve written many times about sweat’s potential as a source of medical biomarkers. Most recently we covered UK startup Sweati’s ongoing development of a patch that employs microfluidics and microchip analysis to measure glucose, lactate, and hydration. Last November we wrote about a team led by John Rogers of Northwestern University’s McCormick School of Engineering working on a smart patch that analyzes sweat to track stress.
Gatorade’s Gx Sweat Patch is a one-time use device that only measures the wearer’s hydration, and is marketed for athletes. An associated Gx App (currently iOS only) displays the wearer’s sweat profile results including fluid loss, sweat rate, and sodium loss. The wearer places the patch on the inner left arm during a workout. When the workout is over the user scans the patch with a smartphone using the Gx App to see their sweat profile. The app also gives recommendations on hydration based on the user’s sweat profile.
Gatorade’s GX Sweat Patch is available for $25 for a 2-pack. The Gatorade solution is a fitness product, but the bigger story is that this is a mass-produced commercial product that uses technology that could easily be adapted to other biomarkers that could be important for health and medical applications.
