Blood or breath

newbies
(Becky) #1

I’m shopping for a meter and just wanted to see which is better to test, blood or breath?

(Bacon is a many-splendoured thing) #2

Blood measurements are supposed to be more reliable, but a breath meter can be a lot cheaper.

My thought is that breath acetone is being wasted, not used, whereas a blood meter is measuring ketones that stand a chance of being used.

But actually, I never measure. I know I’m eating low enough carbohydrate to be in ketosis, and if I weren’t I’d be dead. :grin:

(Becky) #3

@PaulL
I love your sense of humor I also love all of your great advice, I respect all of your qualities including your progress!
I have never tested I’ve always assumed so I more or less just wanna see out of curiosity!

(Bob M) #4

The benefit to breath is that it’s a one-time cost. The detriments: it doesn’t really tell you that you are in ketosis; if you drink, you can’t use it the next day. If you eat high carb, for instance, you can register something on the device. If you know that you’re eating low carb, then the device does work.

Right now, I only have my Ketonix, which I’m using daily at work. I doubt the “50” on Monday was real, as I ate quite a few carbs over the weekend (a dinner where I did not think there would be many carbs, but there was, and I was still hungry, so I ate them all, some ice cream on Sunday):

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The rest I assume are “real”, although I don’t know why Thursday’s value is so low. When I started taking these 4 years ago, I got much higher readings.

I think blood is the best, but even it’s only a gross measure of what’s in your system. That it, it’s good to say “I’m in ketosis!” but not great if you want to, for instance, eat more protein (less fat) and see a change in ketones. I have found it not to be accurate for that case.

(KCKO, KCFO) #5

I already have to get my husband to do any BS pricking on me. I am a total needle phobe. So I like breath meters. Strips involve using a needle and they can be pricey. The breathalyzer is a one time purchase and you can use it anytime. Even take it with you when you are out and about if you want to track that often.

It is very handy for figuring out the GKI, DH takes my BS, then I use the breath meter and calculate GKI.

This is the one I use now https://smile.amazon.com/gp/product/B07NSKJ3DL/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_asin_title_o00_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1
Mine does have one issue, you don’t getting a reading on the first breath, always comes up correctly on the second, so probably a sensor warm up issue, not enough bother to go through refund/return process, so I just go with it as it is. Only another half min. to get the second reading. It came with a carry bag and 5 extra mouth pieces, you can easy wash those so I reckon the sensor will play out long before I go through all of them.

(Steve) #6

I had both at one point (resold my blood meter) - as after about a half dozen tests, the breathalyzer proved to be just as accurate (for a binary check) - really, you’re just looking for affirmation that you’re still in ketosis. People concerned about their ketone levels should find something else to occupy their time. :slight_smile:

Just remember that the blood meter is more accurate (more decimal places presented in the display as it’s mmol/litre, vs the BAC) - eg 1.5mmol/l equates to .02 on the breathalyzer as it’s rounding.

Edit: Oh, and this is the cheap breathalyzer I bought on Amazon.

(Bob M) #7

The only thing is that you have to know what’s considered to be “in ketosis”. For my ketonix, I have it in “sport” mode, which lists the lowest ketone level as 25. I had to do this, as my breath (or blood) ketones are always low after 6 years of doing this. Were I to put it in “nutritional” mode, 40 is the lower limit, which means that on only one day (the 46) was I supposedly in “ketosis”. Since I didn’t eat anything but meat and veggies, and did not eat at all on Monday, I was in ketosis Tuesday-Friday, however.