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FDA authorizes first wearable device that monitors ketone and blood sugar levels

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Re: FDA authorizes first wearable device that monitors ketone and blood sugar levels

#151

Earlier quoted context omitted.

If the large studies are to be believed, you could save hundreds of thousands of lives and many billions in excess expenditure, because stable blood glucose shortens length of stay. People with diabetes alone account for 60% of hospital expenditure, so improving their care improves the system in a big way.

>People with diabetes alone account for 60% of hospital expenditure That number seemed too large to be true, and I think you might be conflating some numbers... The NIH study about Economic Costs of Diabetes in the US in 2022 [1] states: >For cost categories analyzed, care for people diagnosed with diabetes accounts for 1 in 4 health care dollars in the U.S., 61% of which are attributable to diabetes. So, 25% of heal…

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Re: FDA authorizes first wearable device that monitors ketone and blood sugar levels

#152
post #113

A friend died of diabetic ketoacidosis. He loved technology and seeing people succeed. Thinking of him with this news. Miss you Dan. Grateful we're moving forward on so many fronts in the world.

He was my roommate in 2001 in San Jose. We came up with the idea of having a place where nerds could come together to hang out and learn from each other and we decided to call the concept "Hacker Dojo". I had a sign laser engraved in 2002 at a state fair to memorialize the idea but we didn't actually get to open a Hacker Dojo until 2009. There's a conference room in it called Kaminsky. Dan was not a very good roommat…

I wasn't sure how specific to be in my comment, but I'm glad the people who knew him know who it is. Speaks a lot of the man. I'm also 100% ready to believe he was not a good roommate by the condition of his car ;)

Cheers to Dan.

Re: FDA authorizes first wearable device that monitors ketone and blood sugar levels

#153
post #48

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Automated glucose control will be the next frontier in so many areas of healthcare. What areas do you have in mind outside of diabetes management?

I’m willing to bet we can see longevity improvements from better blood sugar control. Not 100% certain but extremely likely, this would include potential heart attack and dementia reduction…

IMO blood sugar is too simple and focused on because of ease of measurement. Someone can have rollercoaster blood sugar and be far more metabolically healthier than someone with low and steady blood sugar. Continious insulin and cortisol monitors are far more interesting IMO

Re: FDA authorizes first wearable device that monitors ketone and blood sugar levels

#154

Earlier quoted context omitted.

>People with diabetes alone account for 60% of hospital expenditure That number seemed too large to be true, and I think you might be conflating some numbers... The NIH study about Economic Costs of Diabetes in the US in 2022 [1] states: >For cost categories analyzed, care for people diagnosed with diabetes accounts for 1 in 4 health care dollars in the U.S., 61% of which are attributable to diabetes. So, 25% of heal…

oof, that's what I get for commenting late! I was thinking of that 23% number.

In fairness, that’s still massive.

Re: FDA authorizes first wearable device that monitors ketone and blood sugar levels

#155
just got the https://www.stelo.com/ device. Doesn't hurt at all to install under your arm. The applicator just does this big SNAP! when you press the button and the filament goes under your skin but it's painless and no blood, it's not a needle at all.

Re: FDA authorizes first wearable device that monitors ketone and blood sugar levels

#159
post #100
post #88

Ketones are only going to be present if you are exceptionally bad (very high carb diet) or exceptionally good (very low carb diet) at managing your blood sugar. It's not going to be terribly useful for your average diabetic who has fairly good control over their blood sugars.

Which makes me think the market for these is diet-focused folk. Get the FDA to clear it on medical grounds for a specific usecase then sell it more broadly. This already happens with CGMs. The bulk of the sales is with people who want them for lifestyle monitoring even though they're only medically cleared for diabetes use.

It would be beyond stupid for a healthy "diet focused" person to want to use this. They're not at risk for ketoacidosis, and there is zero evidence that continually measuring ketones would be useful in any sense. That's different from the purported use of CGMs, which is to monitor for glucose spikes in response to specific foods (and even then, the evidence that monitoring glucose spikes in healthy people has any benefits is really thin).

If someone really wanted to measure their ketone levels there are simple urine tests that do it - there is no need to measure it continuously for healthy people. And if they want to see if they're in ketosis it's pretty easy to determine - if they're on an ultra low carb diet and their breath smells like shit, it's a good sign they're in ketosis.

Re: FDA authorizes first wearable device that monitors ketone and blood sugar levels

#160
post #134

Earlier quoted context omitted.

He was my roommate in 2001 in San Jose. We came up with the idea of having a place where nerds could come together to hang out and learn from each other and we decided to call the concept "Hacker Dojo". I had a sign laser engraved in 2002 at a state fair to memorialize the idea but we didn't actually get to open a Hacker Dojo until 2009. There's a conference room in it called Kaminsky. Dan was not a very good roommat…

Dan was a spectacular brain, and made contributions that still echo today. He is one of two friends to have passed from DKA. Miss you, Zach. RIP. Miss pwning with you.

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