Blood sugar monitors are ‘life savers’ for diabetics – but can they help everyone else too?

The monitors have been seen as life-changing and life-saving for those with diabetes – but their use as part of an effort to control metabolism and overall health for people without diabetes has raised concern among some doctors.

Wearable blood sugar monitors have been life-saving for people with diabetes. Now, some companies are trying to repurpose them as a health tool for everyone.

The growth in popularity of the monitors among people without the condition has accelerated in recent years.

Zoe, a company selling the monitors in the UK, had more than 200,000 people on their waiting list in 2022 and currently has more than 100,000 users.

Lingo, which was launched in 2023, is a wearable device for non-diabetics, produced by Abbott, the global healthcare company behind the world’s most-used glucose monitor for  diabetes.

But access to the data comes at a cost.

Lingo users pay around £300 for two months to receive suggestions for their eating and exercise, such as which foods to eat and in what order, based on their body’s reaction to different foods.

Zoe users pay around £25-£60 a month after an upfront cost of just under £300.

Sarah Tan, Europe general manager of Abbott’s Lingo business, said: “The way it works is you have the biosensor on your arm, it transmits your glucose levels in real time to your smartphone, and then you get small tips and insights as to how you can make small changes to your every day and create long-lasting habits so that you can feel better, have more energy, improved mood.”

The aim of tracking your blood sugar levels is to limit “spikes”, which can happen after eating foods dense in sugar or carbohydrates, a lack of physical activity or several other factors.