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Tribune News Service

In recent years, smartwatches and smart rings have grown increasingly popular, adorning the wrists and fingers of consumers who use them to monitor their exercise, sleep and heart activity.
Now medical device companies, including Abbott Laboratories, are hoping health enthusiasts will embrace a new type of wellness accessory: wearable sensors to track glucose levels.
Previous, similar devices required a prescription in the US; the new ones do not, and they are not just for diabetics.
Abbott’s new device, called Lingo, is geared towards people who do not have diabetes but want to see how food and activity affect their glucose levels, and how that might be connected to their mood, energy level and sleep quality.

Abbott says it is the next frontier in wearable health technology, although questions remain about whether people will pay for it.
Doctors also caution that it is too early to say whether the devices will improve the long-term health of those who wear them.
Abbott’s Lingo biosensor is normally worn on the back of the upper arm to monitor glucose in the body’s interstitial fluid, which is the fluid between the cells, under the skin. Interstitial fluid absorbs glucose after it enters a person’s bloodstream.
The Lingo has a filament that sits just beneath the skin to measure glucose. Users can see their glucose levels on a phone app, and use it to log meals and exercise, and receive personal recommendations.
The device is similar to the company’s FreeStyle Libre, which diabetics use to track their glucose levels.

A disc remains on the arm for 14 days before it must be replaced. One Lingo sensor, lasting two weeks, costs US$49, two sensors cost US$89 and six sensors cost US$249.
Abbott competitor Dexcom released a similar device over the summer for non-diabetics, and diabetics who do not take insulin, called Stelo. A one-month device costs US$99.
With the devices, Abbott and Dexcom are growing beyond the US$26 billion diabetes devices market and into the market for wearable wellness devices.
“It really represents a bigger pivot into this wellness space … into broader metabolic health,” says Tom Kawalec, global life sciences medtech lead at global business management consulting company Accenture in Chicago.
But first, people have to buy the devices.
“You’ve got to think about who can afford US$89 or US$99 a month,” Kawalec says. “That’s kind of a big bite for a lot of the population.”
Not everyone who might benefit from the devices will be able to afford them, says Dr Natalie Cameron, an instructor of general internal medicine at Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine and a primary care doctor at Northwestern Medicine in the US state of Illinois.
Questions also remain about how useful the devices will be for people without diabetes.
A number of studies show that continuous glucose monitors have potential benefits for people without diabetes, but it is still unclear whether they improve health in the long term.
Dr Falguni Vasa, chair of endocrinology at Duly Health and Care in Illinois, believes the devices can play a role in helping people be proactive about their health.

They could be especially helpful for people with prediabetes, which occurs when people have blood sugar levels that are higher than normal but not yet in the diabetic range, she says.
“By identifying spikes, it gives them an opportunity to be a little more proactive with food choices and other lifestyle habits,” Vasa says. People might notice, for example, that their glucose spikes after eating certain types of foods, or drops when they go for a walk.
That is how continuous glucose monitors have helped Larry Colen, who has been wearing Dexcom’s new, over-the-counter device for a few weeks.
When he was first diagnosed with prediabetes about a decade ago, he measured his glucose levels by pricking his finger. But he felt there were too many gaps in the information he gained from doing that, and he did not appreciate the soreness in his fingertips.
Continuous glucose monitoring devices have helped him stick to a healthy diet by providing frequent, real-time feedback, he says.
“When I don’t see how badly a particular cheat meal affects me, it’s a lot easier to rationalise them,” says Colen, 64, of Riverside, California.
He wishes the technology had been available decades ago.
“I honestly feel that if everybody, at risk or not, wore one for a couple of weeks once a year starting at 40, and earlier for those at risk, thousands, or millions, of people would have the opportunity to change their lifestyle and prevent diabetes from becoming a problem rather than dealing with it after the fact,” Colen says.
Still, Vasa cautions, “Right now there’s certainly no [evidence] that shows that putting these sensors on people will, in the long term, prevent the onset of diabetes.”

Cameron also worries that the devices could cause some people to experience unnecessary anxiety about their health.
“For a limited amount of time, it might be helpful to increase awareness, but too much measuring may make already healthy people anxious,” she says.
She believes that the monitors could be helpful, noting that she has used devices such as a Fitbit to watch her step counts and stay on track with her own health.
“I do think having something monitoring really does help and it’s helped some of the patients I’ve seen,” Cameron says. “There’s a lot of potential to improve health and educate people on what is healthy and when to contact their doctors.”
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Wellness

Why wearable glucose sensors could be the next wellness trend

Continuous glucose monitoring devices help users stick to a healthy diet by providing frequent, real-time feedback, say manufacturers. Photo: Abbott

New wearable continuous glucose monitoring devices are geared towards people who do not have diabetes, but want to see how food and activity affect their glucose levels. Photo: Shutterstock

A sensor is worn on the back of the upper arm and a tiny filament sits just beneath the skin to monitor glucose in the body’s interstitial fluid. Photo: Shutterstock

Dr Falguni Vasa believes wearable glucose monitoring devices could play a role in helping people be proactive about their health. Photo: Duly Health and Care

Dr Natalie Cameron says wearable sensors could help improve health and educate people on what is healthy and when to contact their doctors. Photo: Northwestern Medicine

Why your ‘balanced’ diet might not be as healthy as you think. 5 expert tips on what to eat

Quinoa, bell pepper, cucumber, arugula, cherry tomatoes, and mozzarella. Photo: Shutterstock

Indian dishes based on lentils, peas and chickpeas make for balanced meals, and equally healthy alternatives exist in other cuisines. Two doctors walk us through how to eat well in a sustainable, fun way. Photo: Shutterstock


Dr Matthew Landry is an assistant professor of population health and disease prevention at the University of California, Irvine. Photo: www.theguyititian.com

Shilpa Bhupathiraju is an assistant professor of medicine at Harvard Medical School. Photo: x.com/shilpa_b_raju

Home gardening, even in a small way, is a great way to get kids involved in food preparation and knowing where it came from. Photo: Shutterstock

A balanced lunch of quinoa, fresh bell pepper, cucumber, arugula, cherry tomatoes and mozzarella, with wholegrain bread. Photo: Shutterstock

When it comes to maintaining a balanced diet, Landry encourages people to enlist others for support, eating together to build social connections over food. Photo: Shutterstock

Bhupathiraju says involving kids in the food preparation makes things “more fun”. Photo: Shutterstock

‘Miracle’ GLP-1 agonist weight-loss drugs help US woman shed 18kg, stop her prediabetes

Drugs semaglutide and tirzepatide, developed to fight diabetes but with powerful weight-loss effects, were key to property agent Kathryn Dean (above) achieving long-term weight loss. Photo: Instagram/@kathryndeanrealtor

Kathryn Dean (far right) with other luxury property agents in March, 2020 – three years before she started using semaglutide. Photo: Instagram/kathryndeanrealtor

Semaglutide is sold as Ozempic, Wegovy and Rybelsus. Photo: Shutterstock

Kathryn Dean felt like she was 25 again after taking semaglutide and tirzepatide for about 18 months. Photo: Kathryn Dean

Some patients have lost up to 30 per cent of their body weight on drugs like semaglutide, but there were also cases in which no weight loss was achieved, says Dr Eugene Kwan, at Central Health Hong Kong. Photo: courtesy of Eugene Kwan

Currently, Saxenda is the only GLP-1 drug registered for weight loss available in Hong Kong, but tirzepatide is expected to be available in the city in 2025. Photo: Shutterstock

In a study of more than 18,000 overweight or obese people, those treated with tirzepatide were significantly more likely to achieve clinically meaningful weight loss than those given semaglutide. Photo: Shutterstock

Texas-based obstetrician and gynaecologist Dr Garrett Garner holds a model showing what 2.2kg of fat looks like. Photo: Dr Garrett Garner

The Zoe test – how can it help make you a biohacker? We try nutrition testing kit that checks blood sugar and microbiome

Tara Loader Wilkinson wears a continuous glucose monitor, one aspect of Zoe, a nutrition testing kit with a companion app that, based on your test results, suggests changes in your eating habits. Photo: Tara Loader Wilkinson


The packaging shows the ingredients of the breakfast biscuits and the blue biscuits that come as part of the Zoe Method kit. Photo: Tara Loader Wilkinson

The writer wears the CGM that came as part of the Zoe kit. Photo: Tara Loader Wilkinson

The breakfast biscuit taken as part of the Zoe analysis to test changes in blood glucose levels. Photo: Tara Loader Wilkinson

The blue biscuit that comes as part of the Zoe kit. It is meant to turn your poo blue, so you can measure the time it took from eating to leaving your system. Photo: Tara Loader Wilkinson

The writer has a bowl of porridge for breakfast to see how it affects her blood glucose levels. Photo: Tara Loader Wilkinson

To keep blood-glucose spikes to a minimum, Zoe suggests mixing carbs with fats when having a snack, such as having an apple with peanut butter. Photo: Shutterstock 

Young Hongkongers with prediabetes have 88 per cent risk of suffering from diabetes in lifetime, study finds

The study used data from 2.6 million of the city’s residents. Photo: Sam Tsang

Authors of the study say screening for diabetes in Hong Kong could be more widespread. Photo: Shutterstock

Lifestyle

Health & Wellness

Health

Devices like the Lingo and the Stelo work exactly like a diabetic glucose monitor, although some experts doubt their value for non-diabetics


Devices like the Lingo and the Stelo work exactly like a diabetic glucose monitor, although some experts doubt their value for non-diabetics.


Disease

Medicine