Smartwatches and smart rings “shouldn’t” measure blood glucose levels. It is the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) that suggests this to consumers, patients and medical staff, warning them to be careful when they find devices on the market that promise to integrate technologies for non-invasive detections (i.e. without pricking their finger or piercing the skin). Another account, to clarify, is FDA-cleared devices for continuous blood glucose monitoring that send data to apps installed on wearables.
“The FDA has not authorized or approved any smartwatches or smart rings intended to measure or estimate blood glucose readings on their own.”
The risk of relying on unauthorized devices is too high, as diabetics may base the dose of insulin or other medicines on inaccurate measurements, with inevitable consequences on their state of health. Unfortunately, there are products on the market from different brands that pretend to be non-invasive devices: “these smartwatches and smart rings,” the FDA once again reiterates, “do not directly test blood sugar.”
The FDA therefore reminds consumers to
Do not purchase or use smartwatches or smart rings sold as blood glucose level measuring devices
Do not rely on such devices because they may make wrong measurements
Talk to your doctor for advice on an authorized device
The U.S. agency has launched a communication strategy to warn consumers of this problem and is working to stop the marketing of illegal devices.
No big tech company offers products of this kind: Apple is working on it, but apparently the time is still long and the marketing of a hypothetical Apple Watch with a non-invasive blood glucose meter will inevitably have to go through FDA approval. In the past, Fitbit has proposed a “smart” solution for detection, but only through an external device from Dexcom – Dexcom G5 Mobile CGM. On Fitbit Ionic, in essence, you could read the data collected by the external medical device, nothing else.
