
The instrumentality itself is small, but nan hype astir it is big.
Continuous glucose monitors are only astir nan size of a quarter, but nan companies that waste them make immense claims astir their wellness benefits: You tin "revolutionize your health," 1 institution says.
President Trump's nominee for surgeon general, Dr. Casey Means, is simply a salient proponent of continuous glucose monitoring. She co-founded a company that distributes nan devices and sells an app to thief group usage them.

The show is simply a painless spot that sticks to your skin. Every fewer minutes aliases so, it sends a awesome to an app connected your telephone pinch an estimate of your humor sugar. (It measures nan sweetener attraction betwixt your tegument cells, which astir correlates pinch your humor sweetener level.) The app besides helps you support a log of everything you eat, truthful that you tin way really different foods effect your humor sugar.
Studies person recovered that this exertion has transformed attraction for group pinch diabetes. "It has revolutionized their and their families' lives," says Elizabeth Selvin, who researches glucosuria astatine Johns Hopkins University.
But successful March 2024, nan Food and Drug Administration approved nan first continuous glucose monitors for group without diabetes. Currently, 2 companies are making them: Dexcom and Abbott. Each spot lasts astir 2 weeks and costs astir $50, truthful search your humor sweetener for an extended play of clip costs astir $100 each month.
The captious mobility is: Do they really thief group without glucosuria aliases prediabetes amended their health?

Lily Padula for NPR/ㅤㅤㅤ
The theory
After you eat a repast that contains carbohydrates, a patient person's humor sweetener rises, peaks and past mildly falls backmost to baseline.
"These peaks and troughs are nan normal physiological consequence to consuming carbohydrates, successful group without diabetes," says nutritionist Sarah Berry, a professor of nutrition astatine King's College London. Berry is besides chief intelligence astatine Zoe, a institution that distributes continuous glucose monitors (CGMs) and an app to construe nan data. "We do not request to flatten these curves," she says.
But problems tin originate erstwhile these peaks go excessively predominant and excessively high, Berry says. That could put you astatine a higher consequence of obesity, cancer, cardiovascular disease and Type 2 diabetes, studies show. It tin besides make you hungrier betwixt meals, Berry says, truthful you'll eat much astatine nan adjacent meal.
The thought down glucose monitoring is that it could thief you place circumstantial meals aliases repast sizes that nutrient utmost peaks. Then if you modify nan meal, that displacement could thief you suffer weight, trim your consequence of glucosuria aliases simply thief you consciousness better.
The findings
Two awesome studies person tested this mentation pinch randomized power trials. In nan studies, group wore a glucose monitoring spot for a play of clip while they tracked what they ate connected an app. Researchers utilized nan information to creation a personalized fare aimed astatine lowering humor sugar. Then nan scientists tested really good this CGM-based fare stacked up against a modular low-fat aliases Mediterranean diet.
At a organization level, nan findings person been mixed. In 1 study astatine nan Weizmann Institute of Science, nan CGM-based fare didn't thief group suffer much weight than simply pursuing nan Mediterranean diet. However, it did thief them little their humor sweetener more, scientists reported successful nan diary Diabetes Care.
The 2nd study compared nan CGM-based fare to a low-fat, high-whole-grain diet. On average, some diets led to nan aforesaid magnitude of weight nonaccomplishment and mini improvements successful humor sugar, researchers astatine New York University reported successful nan diary JAMA Network Open and The American Journal of Clinical Nutrition. But Collin Popp, who helped lead this study, said nan wide findings don't show nan full story. These conclusions show only nan mean consequence crossed nan full population, Popp says.
"When you look astatine nan individual level, it's very different," he says. For immoderate people, nan glucose-monitoring attack helped tremendously. Some group mislaid a ample magnitude of weight. "We had individuals coming backmost and saying, 'You changed my life. I mislaid 30 pounds and I consciousness great.' Other group successful nan study put connected weight."
So now scientists are trying to fig retired who benefits from this technology.

When glucose monitors mightiness beryllium useful
1. If you're highly delicate to carbohydrates
Nutritionist Karen Kennedy has been helping group construe and understand their glucose-monitoring information for 5 years. In her experience, these devices thief immoderate group observe a heightened sensitivity to carbohydrates, moreover to patient versions, specified arsenic full grains.
"They eat brownish rice, quinoa, beans, atom aliases oatmeal, and their humor glucose consistently goes really high," she says.
The show helps them recognize that they'll negociate their humor sweetener amended connected a low-carb diet. "Not zero carbohydrates, but little carbohydrates," Kennedy says.
"They alteration their diets, and past their humor sweetener comes down dramatically," Kennedy says. "If they tin support up that caller diet, they consciousness amended and lose visceral fat."
2. If you request other information to eat healthier foods
Many group already cognize what they request to do to amended their metabolic health. But putting this proposal into believe — that's hard, some Kennedy and NYU's Popp say.
The speedy feedback from a continuous glucose show whitethorn springiness them a nudge to really instrumentality nutritional advice. "It's a motivator," Popp says.
For example, 1 of Kennedy's clients intelligibly needed to adhd much macromolecule and fat to their breakfast.
"They were like, 'Sorry, but this is my breakfast, and it has worked for maine for 30 years.'"

Then nan customer wore a spot for a week and saw really that meal changeable their humor sweetener super-high. They instantly changed their breakfast, Kennedy says. Right away, nan customer could spot really this caller meal improved their humor sweetener levels.
"They didn't person to hold a fewer months and spell to nan expert to spot it working," she says. "That agency tin beryllium motivating."
3. If you request much consciousness astir your diet
In nan study astatine NYU, immoderate group greatly benefited from nan CGM-based diet. When Popp and his workfellow dug into their information deeper, they recovered 1 cardinal facet for this success: whether nan personification consistently logged their meals into nan device's app complete nan six-month experiment.
For immoderate people, simply documenting what they ate helped them amended their fare and their humor sweetener levels, Popp says. "I show group each nan time, 'Monitoring what you do tin play a immense domiciled successful your health.'
"And you don't request to log nan nutrient accurately," he adds. "It's nan specified enactment of documenting it that's important for astir people."

"We cognize that consciousness helps group suffer weight," adds Johns Hopkins' Selvin. "And it doesn't person to beryllium pinch an app. I person a workfellow who uses a small pouch notepad. It adds accountability" — and it's cheaper than glucose monitoring.
Before you determine to bargain nan device, experts say, beryllium aware:
Many group find nan information confusing and unhelpful.
"Many group travel to maine and say, 'I person been utilizing nan instrumentality for 3 aliases moreover 12 months, and I person each this data, but I don't cognize what it means. I don't cognize really to little my humor sweetener aliases amended it,'" Kennedy says.
People really request to beryllium knowledgeable astir what nan information means, Popp agrees. But that acquisition will spell only truthful acold because astatine this point, immoderate of nan information is still mysterious to scientists and doctors.
If you're staying wrong a normal range, opportunity astir 70 mg/dL to 140 mg/dL, scientists still don't understand what nan peaks and troughs mean.
"There's nary existent modular guidelines astir what's a bully highest aliases a bad highest successful nondiabetics," Popp says.
The information tin beryllium misleading.
First off, nan devices aren't ace precise aliases accurate, and our bodies don't ever respond nan aforesaid measurement to nan aforesaid food. One caller study successful The American Journal of Clinical Nutrition found that nan aforesaid repast connected 2 different days gave very different readings. Another mini study, successful nan aforesaid journal, recovered that nan continuous glucose show overestimated people's humor sweetener levels compared pinch straight measuring it successful nan blood.
Second, nan information tin make group interest astir — aliases moreover extremity — eating patient foods that origin normal humor sweetener fluctuations. For example, Popp has a friend who started to interest astir blueberries because they made her humor sweetener emergence somewhat and past decline.
"You don't want to commencement tagging foods arsenic 'unhealthy' conscionable because it led to what I perceived arsenic a minuscule humor sweetener spike."
Third, immoderate group tin person what looks for illustration normal humor sweetener levels but still person insulin resistance, Kennedy explains. In this case, their bodies compensate by overproducing insulin. To fig this out, you would request to spot a expert and person your insulin levels checked.

"Continuous glucose is simply a useful metric," she says. "But it's only 1 metric, and you person to usage it successful nan discourse of laboratory results and different signs and symptoms."
Edited by Jane Greenhalgh