According to speculations, Apple has made another modest step toward creating a ground-breaking blood glucose monitoring capability for the Apple Watch, although the feature is still years away.
According to a recent Bloomberg story, the project is currently at the “proof-of-concept” level and Apple has reached a “significant milestone” in delivering non-invasive, continuous blood glucose monitoring to the Apple Watch. The main difference seems to be that the technology is now functional but still “has to be reduced down to a more practical size.”
The next generation of blood glucose monitoring has the potential to drastically alter the lives of people with diabetes. The condition necessitates frequent blood sugar monitoring, which is often done with finger-prick testing. CGMs (continuous glucose monitors), like as the Freestyle Libre 3, have made it possible to accomplish this more recently.
The latter can send readings to third-party Apple Watch apps, but the new technology outlined in Apple’s classified “E5” project may increase the practicality of blood sugar monitoring to a new level.
Patches must be changed out every few weeks, but Apple’s technology reportedly use “silicon photonics,” which fires light through the interstitial fluid in your skin to measure your blood glucose levels.
Nevertheless, despite the technology’s promise, it is still a long way off. According to Bloomberg, the system has been in development for more than 12 years and there are “still years of work ahead.” It appears that Apple’s engineers are constructing a prototype that is “roughly the size of an iPhone,” thus its inclusion in an Apple Watch is still a long way off.
Early in a product’s life cycle, the “proof of concept” stage is far from a guarantee that an idea will be adopted by consumers. For instance, a Google startup and the pharmaceutical company Novartis collaborated on a project in 2014 to develop a glucose-sensing contact lens, but it was ultimately shelved because researchers discovered “insufficient consistency not our readings.”
Even so, the revelation of a tiny advancement in this possible Apple Watch technology is encouraging for the expanding population of diabetics (1 in 10 Americans and 1 in 14 Britons have the disease, respectively; opens in new tab). Although though many of the greatest smartwatches on the market can already assist you in monitoring blood glucose levels, they typically rely on connecting to external monitors to do so and aren’t considered medical equipment.
From the heart-rate sensor for an electrocardiogram (ECG) on the Apple Watch Series 4 to the blood oxygen sensor on the Apple Watch Series 6, Apple has progressively been adding new health-focused sensors to the Apple Watch.
Apple is eager to promote their use in some recent heart health research initiatives since they undoubtedly offer benefits (opens in new tab). The Apple Watch is more of a screening tool for medical-grade devices because they aren’t substitutes for them, and the same is probably true with its alleged blood glucose monitoring technology.
As evidenced by the Apple Watch’s present sensors, obtaining a high enough level of precision in health readings is more difficult than simply miniaturizing the technology. It’s important to note the similarities between this and the Apple Watch’s ECG capability, which is intended to identify indicators of atrial fibrillation, says TechRadar’s Fitness & Wellbeing editor Matt Evans. Going to the doctor and obtaining a proper heart check is still advised because it can be very helpful, but doing so is simply a suggestion due to the difficulty in getting devices legally approved for medical usage by regulatory agencies like the FDA.
Even the Huawei Watch D, which has specialized blood pressure hardware, cannot be utilized for the purpose of a medical diagnostic, according to him. “Real diabetics who require
The issue that finally caused Google’s glucose-sensing contact lens research to fail(opens in new tab) was “insufficient consistency in our measurements.”
There’s no doubt that Apple’s seeming innovation is exciting, and few businesses can match its financial power. Nevertheless, you shouldn’t let the promise of non-invasive blood glucose monitoring influence your decision to get a smartwatch any time soon.
