FDA warns against smartwatches, rings to monitor blood sugar

[rk911]

Saw this AP article in today's paper and thought it was a good fit for this forum given how many of us here love technology. Moderator: Pls move it to the Health forum if you believe that forum is more appropriate.

https://edition.pagesuite.com/popovers/dynamic_article_popover.aspx?artguid=4524fe0d-0988-445e-a198-cd4fa2981e60&appcode=DUPAGE&eguid=310a6061-9ced-4434-a409-2a0bf3affe54&pnum=68#

 

[qwerty3656]

As you said it's blood sugar monitors - not regular fitbit type watches. And the issue is that they can be inaccurate and cause you to take the wrong level of medication (not that they cause harm themselves).

 

[audreyh1]

So it’s about blood sugar monitoring. Didn’t even know any claimed to do that although some have been working on it. Certainly never heard of a ring.

If you are taking insulin you have to be very careful.

 

[braumeister]

So it’s about blood sugar monitoring. Didn’t even know any claimed to do that although some have been working on it. Certainly never heard of a ring.

If you are taking insulin you have to be very careful.

There are smartwatches that can display the reading from a CGM if you're wearing one, but I don't think there are any that claim to measure it themselves.

 

[audreyh1]

There are smartwatches that can display the reading from a CGM if you're wearing one, but I don't think there are any that claim to measure it themselves.

Those CGM monitors are FDA approved and not included in the above warning just in case someone misses that.

This may be a preemptive move by the FDA.

 

[Aerides]

It's too bad the article doesn't list the products in question. But, specifically, it's saying that if it isn't testing your blood, it's not going to be accurate...which...duh!

But perhaps there are some theranos wannabe devices out there.


Here's a piece from the Verge with more details:
https://www.theverge.com/2024/2/21/...rt-ring-blood-glucose-monitoring-diabetes-fda

apparently there are some (obviously no-name garbage) products out there making these claims, but no legit ones.

 

[Zathras]

It's too bad the article doesn't list the products in question. But, specifically, it's saying that if it isn't testing your blood, it's not going to be accurate...which...duh!
....

Careful, CGMs don't test your blood either, yet they have very good accuracy.

CGMs estimate blood sugar levels in the interstitial fluid, which closely mirrors blood sugar levels.

 

[SecondAttempt]

There are smartwatches that can display the reading from a CGM if you're wearing one, but I don't think there are any that claim to measure it themselves.

About 20 years ago there was a lot of enthusiasm in the optical engineering field for measuring blood glucose optically through the skin. There was good reason for this because the glucose molecule rotates the polarization of light passed through it. This opened the door to detecting glucose levels through the skin. There was a lot of venture capital money [-]flushed down the toilet[/-] spent pursuing this technology but unfortunately none of the approaches ever panned out. Perhaps someday someone will figure out how to do this but unfortunately, even though we understand the physics pretty well, making this work in practice has been elusive.

 

[HF63]

Careful, CGMs don't test your blood either, yet they have very good accuracy.

CGMs estimate blood sugar levels in the interstitial fluid, which closely mirrors blood sugar levels.

Thanks for providing this info, very interesting.

 

[CosmicDreamer]

It's too bad the article doesn't list the products in question. But, specifically, it's saying that if it isn't testing your blood, it's not going to be accurate...which...duh!

But perhaps there are some theranos wannabe devices out there.


Here's a piece from the Verge with more details:
https://www.theverge.com/2024/2/21/...rt-ring-blood-glucose-monitoring-diabetes-fda

apparently there are some (obviously no-name garbage) products out there making these claims, but no legit ones.

Thanks for the additional info and the Verge link! It is concerning that there might be misleading products out there, especially when it comes to something as important as blood sugar monitoring.