Smartphone with non-invasive Blood Glucose Measurement

#1

I have been saying for years that, when Apple launches an iWatch that monitors my blood glucose without having to prick myself all the time, I would buy it just to play with it all the time. Apple has, as we all know, still not delivered.

Then there are those continuous glucose monitoring devices that you put on your arm and tell you everything about the food you eat and how your blood glucose changes, basically in real time. Here in the UK there is a new device called ZOE that is being pushed a lot (ads on the keto youtube channels). This is too expensive for me as I would have to pay for it myself.

But then I saw this morning that there are smartwatches at fairly reasonable cost that claim they can achieve a non-invasive blood glucose measurement. An example is here..

The reviews are all over the place, from people who say it works well to people who say the blood glucose measurement is rubbish (same for the sleep analysis, which would be another toy to play with). However, in my experience with these devices, people who say it does not work properly might simply not have set it up properly.

Background: I’d love to have - in part as a toy, in part because it’s useful - something to measure in real time how certain foods affect my blood glucose, to play with during the weekend (during the week I am all keto, so I know my blood glucose is fine; but I would also play with the sleep analysis tool and other stuff). Seeing how my body reacts to various carby foods (e.g. 75 grams of pasta vs 120 grams of the same pasta vs 100 grams of very buttery risotto) as the hours go by would be fascinating, as I am very interested in knowing how my body reacts to food. However, not if I have to prick myself all the time with strips @£1 a pop.

Anybody here has any experience with this kind of device?

Thanks to all in advance

Chetogenico

(Bob M) #2

I bought a year’s supply of the Freestyle Libre from Sweden (where it’s over the counter). It’s incredibly helpful. For instance, I realized that soup from an Asian restaurant causes my blood sugar to spike, I’m guessing because of the thickener they use (likely corn starch).

And everyone says to test your blood sugar 1-2 hours after eating, but what I found using the CGM was that my blood sugar went up and down in an hour. In other words, testing 1 hour later, and my blood sugar was back to where it was. So testing 1 hour later was useless.

EXCEPTION: The exception to this is real pizza. Pizza caused me high blood sugar for hours. Another thing caught by the CGM.

Like you, though, I’m waiting for something non-invasive or minimally invasive and cheaper than the Freestyle libre, which is insanely expensive (and the in the US, you have to get a prescription for it).

I do note that if you’re low carb, you will have little to nothing to look at. Here’s data from a US FreeStyle Libre. On Tuesday morning, I exercised, and that caused my blood sugar to go up, leading to higher blood sugar that whole day (another thing I learned using a CGM):

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#3

Thanks Bob,

I have looked on the internet and in the UK Freedom Libre 2 makes Zoe look cheap :wink: . It certainly is moving me towards thinking that a one-off £100 expense for one of those smart watches might be worth the trying when the better alternative is at £100 a month…

You write that you bought provisions for 1 year from Sweden over the counter. Just as a curiosity, can you tell me how much it cost?

Thanks
Chetogenico

#4

There’s just no way. If Ailbaba style Chinese knockoff watches could actually pull that off, then the Garmin’s, FitBit’s and Amazfit’s of the world would be doing it as well.

On the CGM’s, do you guy not have the subscription based companies over there for getting them? They’re huge with the Athletic types, biohackers and people that don’t want to deal with Doc’s since you really don’t need them prescribed anymore (although getting one prescribed and having it all covered is nice). I only had one for a short time, but it got too pricey, but that was years ago when you pretty much needed a doc. I tried to pull that off again, my doc said if she prescribed me one with my current numbers she’d (an me) would get it pulled after the fact.

May give you some ideas, maybe google subscription CGM? You guys must have them over there, If you follow anything biohacker-y, they always show.

#5

Yeah Ifod, my thinking was that the Chinese Alibaba knockoff might do it at a level that is way too inaccurate for the demanding standards of Apple, but good enough for a £100 device (and for some other forum member here, which appears not to be the case).

Still: rubbish or not, I have ordered it and should receive it tomorrow. Maximum loss £88.19. I will make sure to play with it enough to get at least some of my £88 back.

I hope it keeps the time at least…

(David Cooke) #6

I very recently watched:


and the only conclusion I came to was to wait a year or two.
#7

Haha, definitely report back on that! That’ll be interesting to see for sure.

(Doug) #8

Indeed. :wink::stuck_out_tongue_winking_eye::smile:

(Bob M) #9

It was a long time ago (2017), and I seem to remember it being $60+/month, so somewhere near $1,000, I think. I think the exchange rate was good for the US at that time.

I’d love to see something around $25/month or less, or ideally the price of a watch. (Let’s ignore that you’ll probably also need a phone or a way to access the data.)

I also got a few month’s supply of the FS Libre in the US. I had to get a prescription, and it was way more expensive. I also thought the one from Sweden was better, not sure why. For instance, the US version seemed to need a while to get to what I thought was a reasonable blood sugar value – it started high. The Swedish one didn’t do that. They were both 14 days, though, which is good. (The US one was 10 days for a long time – who can remember to change it at 10 days?)

#10

Thanks Bob, I see we are talking a serious expense even if bought from a Country where it’s available over the counter.

Meanwhile, the toy has arrived and it’s… quite a toy. It’s not really the glucose values that are disappointing (for the price, I don’t really complain for a 20% variation in measurements made one after the other ;). It does generally follow where I think I will be, but again it’s so vague I don’t need the watch to know 4 hours after a carb meal my glucose is higher…). The disappointment is that for 2 nights in a row it told me I slept 0.00 hours. No idea how to make it work or if it will ever work (the instructions don’t say, they merely say the sleep function works only when you’re asleep).
The only thing that works properly and reliably is the heart rate, which will be good on a fast walk.

But yeah, not worth even the limited money.

EDIT: Actually I have just looked at my phone and it appears the data on my sleep have been stored there, with information about the duration and intensity of sleep. It seems to broadly match the real events, but it does not account for the rapid bathroom visits. Still, a neat feat.