Scientists have come up with a wearable sweat monitor that keeps check on an individual’s health by monitoring the chemical composition of his/her perspiration.

Described on Wednesday in Nature, the new device is sufficiently flexible to move with the body. It has Bluetooth capabilities, thus, can send data in real time to a smartphone.

There could be a day soon when it might alert sweat drenched users to their vulnerability of dehydration, fatigue, stress and other physical ailments, and may make activity monitors such as Fitbit look terribly basic.

Senior author on the paper, Ali Javey, a professor of electrical engineering at the University of California, Berkeley, said that the ultimate aim is to have a pathology lab right on the body.

At present, the group’s monitor has the capability to track levels of four biomarkers in sweat such as electrolytes like sodium and potassium, and metabolites like glucose and lactate. The monitor is also equipped with a sensitive temperature sensor.

The authors mentioned that low levels of sodium and potassium in sweat may signal the onset of muscle cramps and dehydration whereas monitoring glucose in sweat may give clues about body glucose levels. Sweat lactate levels are correlated with low blood flow in certain body parts.

Javey said that, however, this is just the beginning. The team has been working on a range of other proteins, molecules and ions that may offer more clues to the physical well being of a person.

For so many years, doctors have been primarily dependent on blood, and to a reduced extent urine and saliva, for getting information regarding how well the body is functioning in a particular time.

Sweat was among the bodily fluids that weren’t present in that panel, mainly because the collection of sufficient perspiration to use in a chemical analysis was challenging.