Abbott blood sugar sensor for people without diabetes now available for sale

Tracking blood sugar is officially commonplace. Abbott announced Thursday that its over-the-counter continuous glucose monitor, Lingo, now available for sale in the US. It is cleaned up from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration for adults who do not use insulin and want to understand how their diet and daily life affect blood sugar levels.

Lingo Awards starts at $49 for a two-week sensor and goes up based on the length of the plan. You can use your FSA or HSA dollars to purchase it. Lingo is already available in the UK.

Last month, Dexcom, another diabetes tech company, announced that its over-the-counter continuous glucose monitor called Stelo is available for sale. Stelo was cleaned up by the FDA for people with diabetes who do not require insulin and for any other adult who wants to better understand how the foods they eat affect their glucose levels. costs $99 for a two-pack of sensorswhat a month’s supply is. Just like Lingo, you can use your FSA and HSA dollars to buy it.

While people with diabetes need to monitor their blood sugar levels to make sure their bodies have the right amount to stay safe, blood sugar is everyone’s primary form of energy. How well the body uses blood sugar is also a measure of metabolic health — a term the medical community is still working on to describe how the body uses energy and how much risk someone has for health problems such as heart disease.

But accurately tracking blood sugar levels, or even accurately defining what it means to be “metabolically healthy,” is tricky. What we eat, the type of exercise we’ve recently done, and even the stress we experience can all affect glucose levels. And consumer wearables like smartwatches and smart rings can’t measure blood glucose, despite the existence of a few counterfeit devices on the market that aren’t FDA-approved.

This means that the world of blood sugar monitoring is the domain of diabetes tech companies like Dexcom and Abbott, which already have sensors and technology — continuous glucose monitors — that many people with diabetes use every day. And the companies at the forefront of diabetes tech have also laid the groundwork for bringing metabolic health more mainstream. Both of Abbott’s over-the-counter CGMSs are based on the popular FreeStyle Libre sensor technology, while Dexcom’s over-the-counter Stelo follows the popular G6 and G7 CGM technology for people who use insulin.

Here’s what we know about the new over-the-counter CGMs, plus insights from a company working on a new, noninvasive way to measure blood sugar levels.

Read more: The FDA wants to remind you that your smartwatch cannot yet measure blood sugar levels

Over-the-counter CGMs are officially here. Who needs one anyway?

The Stelo from Dexcom is now available. It is designed for people with type 2 diabetes and prediabetes, so they can see how different foods, sleep habits, stressful events and more affect glucose levels. It is also cleaned up by the FDA for any adult who wants to “better understand how diet and exercise can affect blood sugar levels.”

Abbott’s Lingo, which the company first announced at CES 2022 along with plans for a suite of biosensors that track more than just glucose, is also available for purchase. The FDA cleaned up Earlier this summer, Abbott introduced another glucose meter specifically designed for people with type 2 diabetes, but it is not yet available.

CGMs are worn on the back of your arm and look like a small bandage. When attached, a small sensor that goes slightly under your skin reads your blood glucose information and sends it to a connected app, so you can track your blood sugar information throughout the day and note any trends. Some CGMs are already used for “biohacking” of glucose levels by people who want to know how their body reacts to food or what affects their glucose levels. Companies such as Nutrisense are marketed more as a consumer product, but require a prescription, which can be requested through the websites of the respective companies.

The question of “who actually needs this?” remains, however. As Dr.Robert H. Shmerling wrote in a article for Harvard Health PublishingCGMs can cost thousands of dollars a year, and companies that market their use to the general public could make big profits in an area of ​​health care that is currently unexplored. has no research to support it outside of diabetes management. In its press release, Abbott pointed to the study findings that only 12% of American adults considered “metabolically healthy”, But glucose measurements are only one of a few factors used to qualify metabolic health.

On the other hand, one in three Americans has prediabetes — a step for Type 2 diabetes that may be reversible. Providing actionable information about higher-than-average blood sugar trends could give many people the information they need to make health choices — if they can afford it, that is. Neither Dexcom nor Abbott have provided exact prices for their consumer CGMs at this time, but CGM costs for people with diabetes who don’t have health insurance remains a barrier to access to health care.

Because consumer CGMs don’t require a prescription and many cases likely wouldn’t be considered medically necessary, someone at higher risk for developing type 2 diabetes would still likely pay top dollar for an over-the-counter CGM. The high cost of biosensors is one reason there’s interest in noninvasive, even more consumer-friendly measures to monitor blood sugar.

Read more: An AI-built ‘digital twin’ can improve your health, says this startup

Noninvasive blood sugar monitoring featured at American Diabetes Association conference

There’s no way to accurately measure blood sugar levels without getting under someone’s skin at least a little bit. Even CGMs require a tiny sensor on the wearable patch, even though it’s arguably less invasive than a fingerstick.

One company, Knowledge Labsis working to change that. The company was on the American Diabetes Association Scientific Sessions in Orlando earlier this summer and promising results presented about the ability of its wearable device, the KnowU, to get stable blood sugar readings without penetrating the skin. The company is still a long way from a market-ready device, and it’s still collecting data to submit to the FDA — the prototype is still bulkier than a CGM, potentially making it a harder sell even if it’s less invasive. But the company is expanding on the idea and use of photonics and sensors that are already integrated (for various purposes) into smartwatches and used to measure factors like blood oxygen.

Because LEDs can’t accurately track glucose information, Know Labs had to go “further out on the electromagnetic spectrum,” the company’s CEO Ron Erickson told CNET. He said that while a medical device is likely the first step for the company, he’s not opposed to opening up the patented technology to consumer wearables.

Erickson calls Know Labs’ technology “form-factor agnostic” and wants glucose readings to show health trends. That’s exactly the point of wearables that show health trends.

“My longer-term vision, beyond glucose, is focused on predicting health,” he said.