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Apple Monitoring Blood Glucose

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Re: Apple Monitoring Blood Glucose

#101

Post by swsieber »

aedron wrote: post #59

Apple's recent obsession with health monitoring is weird from a branding standpoint. Losing appeal with young people is the nightmare of any technology company, becoming known as that gadget for geriatrics is another level of dejection. I read that this focus is particularly driven by Tim Cook's fascination with the space. It sort of confirms my idea of him as not a very image conscious CEO, especially in contrast wi…

Except reading the article says the team behind this was initially kicked of by Jobs...

And personally, I don't think it's all that weird. I think it fits perfectly with branding, but maybe I'm less aware of it.

Re: Apple Monitoring Blood Glucose

#102

Post by swsieber »

JustSomeNobody wrote: post #77
proyb2 wrote: post #69

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I don't think you could say for the general young generation. Google, Apple and Samsung have been vie for these feature in 2014. It is not uncommon to focus on health space when the technology is mature, we can't live and worry about our health. What is the point if you have the greatest smartphone watch and still lead unhealthy lifestyle?

Generally speaking, if you're leading an unhealthy lifestyle, buying a new gadget will not change that. I'm sure there's plenty of anecdata to counter this, though.

If I had a device that let me know the health impact (from an insulin sensitivity standpoint) of a food I ate without invasive stuff, I'd use it in a heartbeat, and I'd listen (except for cheese - if it said cheese would bad, I'd ignore that bit).

Re: Apple Monitoring Blood Glucose

#104

Post by ldrndll »

justforFranz wrote: post #103

I'm sure it's helpful for diabetics, but it won't be long at all before Apple is selling that data to your health insurer - who will f you.

Any reason to believe they'd actually do this? Apple are one of the few companies that seem to genuinely value customer privacy[1]; They make their money selling your products, not selling your personal information after all. If this were a Google or Facebook product on the other hand...

[1] I could point to numerous examples of this (removing APIs used to track individual iOS devices, fighting the government on proposed encryption backdoors, etc), but I think the onus is on you to rather provide evidence to suggest this is something they would do :)

Re: Apple Monitoring Blood Glucose

#105

Post by analog31 »

Kluny wrote: post #88
analog31 wrote: post #70

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Indeed, I design similar equipment for industrial use. Non invasive blood glucose has been a holy grail of analytical technology for decades. Lots of smart people have gone bankrupt trying to solve this problem. The sensors are probably good enough already. Algorithms for sorting out massive libraries of spectral data exist. It's a hard problem. That's not saying Apple doesn't stand a chance, but that they're enterin…

That is supposed to be Apple's strength though, isn't it? They never do anything first , they just do it right first.

Indeed, but those successes have tended to be in design and marketing -- not to denigrate those fields, but this is basic science, and hasn't even been done first yet.

Re: Apple Monitoring Blood Glucose

#106

Post by JeremyBanks »

justforFranz wrote: post #103

I'm sure it's helpful for diabetics, but it won't be long at all before Apple is selling that data to your health insurer - who will f you.

This is an ridiculous suggestion. Apple's products have had minimal data reporting and a focus on privacy. They even conceded awkward UI and bugs around messaging for the sake of keeping it secure. Their advertising project failed partially because of their unwillingness to track users. They famously took the US government to court and won in order to prevent them from being forced to unlock a phone, for fear of the precedent it would set.

What possible reason could you have to assume that they would sell health data, for which all of the same reasoning applies as well as it being more heavily regulated by the government?

Re: Apple Monitoring Blood Glucose

#107

Post by korethr »

This article talks about type 2 diabetes, but I'm wondering why a non-invasive continuous blood glucose monitor would not be just as useful and desirable for type 1s as well. A friend of mine has type 1, and more than once, she's expressed hopeful anticipation for a future combined non-invasive blood glucose monitor and insulin pump -- effectively an external artificial pancreas to take over the functionality of her broken natural one.

Re: Apple Monitoring Blood Glucose

#108

Post by charlesism »

korethr wrote: post #107

This article talks about type 2 diabetes, but I'm wondering why a non-invasive continuous blood glucose monitor would not be just as useful and desirable for type 1s as well. A friend of mine has type 1, and more than once, she's expressed hopeful anticipation for a future combined non-invasive blood glucose monitor and insulin pump -- effectively an external artificial pancreas to take over the functionality of her…

It would be very desirable, but all of the many companies who have tried to get accurate results non-invasively have failed. With Apple's resources, perhaps they'll lick the problem, but I wouldn't bet on it.

So to answer your question: Probably because if a Type 1 Diabetic uses a non-invasive glucose monitor to determine their insulin dosage, much of the time they will overdose, and possibly fall into a coma or die.

Re: Apple Monitoring Blood Glucose

#109

Post by ng12 »

richie5um wrote: post #28
pimeys wrote: post #20

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Here in Germany the Dexcom G4 system with Animas Vibe insulin pump became fully covered by the health insurance last November and a couple of weeks ago I got my system working. It is a pretty amazing improvement to my life: both the pump and CGM. The G4 transmitter has a 2.4 GHz radio and I built an extra device with Wixel and Bluetooth to transfer the data so my Android phone so xDrip+ and my Android watch can displ…

Unfortunately I can't get this in the UK. I asked, but they only give out to kids or people who poorly manage their T1. :(

As an American this is the single biggest fear I have about a nationalized healthcare system. I've been using the Dexcom CGM for 4 years and never had to pay more than a standard co-pay. It seems to me systems like the NHS are set up to serve the majority and people people with (relatively) rare diseases get screwed.

Re: Apple Monitoring Blood Glucose

#110

Post by ng12 »

acoster wrote: post #51
templaedhel wrote: post #6

As a type 1 diabetic I'm super excited to see apple working in this space, even if they're focusing it on type 2 to start (a logical move, considering there is something like 30x more type 2 diabetics in the US). I think making it easier to track glucose levels in real time is the number one thing that can be done to improve quality of life for both types of diabetics. The "CGM" (continuous glucose monitor) has reall…

My partner is type 1 diabetic, and CGMs were a game changer for her (they started rolling out in Switzerland last year). She's been using the FreeStyle Libre ( https://www.freestylelibre.co.uk/libre/ ), which uses NFC and on select markets has an Android app available, but here we still have to use the handheld reader.

> they started rolling out in Switzerland last year

Wow, do you know why this is? The Dexcom G4 is already 5 years old and is absolutely a life-saving system.

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