Scientists have developed a new optical sensor that may quickly detect vitamin B12 deficiency, a condition linked to an increased risk of dementia and Alzheimer's disease. <br/><br/>The newly developed sensor takes less than a minute and requires minimum preparation, whereas current testing methods are time-consuming and costly. <br/><br/>Georgios Tsiminis, research fellow at the University of Adelaide in Australia said that the sensor is an early first step towards a point-of-care solution for measuring and tracking B12 in healthy ageing adults. <br/><br/>The sensor uses an optical measuring technique called Raman spectroscopy which produces a unique optical fingerprint of a target molecule, in this case vitamin B12.