More than 450 million adults between 20 and 79 years old are living with diabetes around the world and this figure may rise to around 700 million by 2045. In many countries, there’s a gradual increase in cases of type 2 diabetes. For diabetics, it is important to quickly and accurately measure blood sugar level. CGM or continuous glucose monitor could provide almost real-time monitoring of blood sugar level for smartphone users and it could be a lifesaver. CGM can add glucose readings feature on most mainstream smartwatch, especially useful for people with diabetes.
Dexcom
Dexcom is a San Diego-based company and a leader in CGM market that allows smartwatch users to view glucose data. It pioneered connectivity with Apple Watch in April 2015. The current Dexcom G6 mobile app offers compatibility with Android and Apple watches. It shows essential information including glucose level, time periods and arrow trend. The company is still developing direct-to-smartwatch connectivity, which will be available in the end of 2021 with the upcoming G7 model.
K’Watch Glucose
K’Watch Glucose is near non-invasive solution to measure blood sugar level. It doesn’t monitor the blood sugar level continuously, but it will do so each time you touch the button. The company, PKVitality, claimed that the K’Watch is the first wearable device with glucose monitor sensor that measures blood sugar level directly under the skin. It comes with, K’apsul’ a proprietary sensor with many microneedles, which penetrate the skin painlessly to measure interstitial fluid.
Eversense Implantable
This CGM is unique, because it doesn’t have receiver and it depends on smartphone apps. When you enable the system, you will get alerts for low or high blood sugar levels. Eversense is compatible with Apple Watch, Android smartphones and iPhones. The company is developing an Android smartwatch with CGM integration, but we still have definite no timeline.
According latest reports, Samsung Galaxy Watch Active 3 and Galaxy Watch 4 will have blood sugar monitoring sensor. This new ability should make it easier for diabetics to analyse their blood in real time. They will use optical sensors to get fairly accurate reading and it’s not necessary to draw blood. For a while now, we have been hearing that the South Korean company is developing a non-invasive technique to monitor blood sugar level. The company uses Raman spectroscopy, which is a special method to monitor blood glucose level.
With Raman spectroscopy, the technology uses small laser beams to analyse chemical composition. Samsung said that among non-invasive technologies, this spectroscopy method has the highest level of accuracy. At CES 2021, there’s a prototype smartwatch with similar spectroscopy method made by Quantum Operations, a Japanese startup. It could produce blood sugar reading in only 20 seconds. The new feature may give Samsung an uptick of smartwatch sales, due to large cases of diabetes in modern society. In the United States, 10 percent of the population have diabetes and 33 percent have symptoms of pre-diabetes, according to latest findings by CDC. At the next Unpacked event, Samsung will release three new wearables and all of them can analyse blood glucose levels.
