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Comment by xlm1717 | Hacker News Reader

Buying a blood glucose meter is not an expensive investment (provided you don't really need it, ie. don't have diabetes) and it will pay dividends in terms of health. With a meter and about 200 strips and lancets, you can determine a big list of foods that raise your blood glucose and foods that don't.

I've been customizing my meals based on what my glucose meter tells me raises my blood glucose the least and I am losing weight. The weight loss is gradual, but the most important thing is I am doing it eating foods I will eat, setting up a diet I can stick to long term, and I know that this will be good for me because the numbers back it up. Like you, I've always liked meats and testing myself with the glucose meter shows that eating more meats and less carbs is good for me personally. I should note I am not diagnosed with diabetes, I just bought the glucose meter to guide me in what I eat.

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This is the first time I have heard glucose meters being used specifically for weight loss, very interesting. If this is a safe and effective way to encourage weight loss, this could be a huge business opportunity.

> If this is a safe and effective way to encourage weight loss

It is, presuming that your macros and micros are still in line. It's easy to eat the same meal for lunch and dinner every day and lose weight but be very unhealthy while doing so.

Could you elaborate? What are macros and micros, and how can i measure them? Assume i'm hypothetically interested in trying the (C)GM method of diet modification.

I assume pc86 means macro and micro nutrients. The point being that regardless of what your blood glucose monitor tells you, you still need the right balance of protein, carbohydrates, vitamins, etc.

I had actually read about it last year. In the study, they used continuous glucose monitoring rather than glucose meter to track the blood sugar response to different foods precisely. They found that different people had different blood glucose response to different foods. The study only tracked participants for 1-2 weeks, but they do speculate on using personalized interventions devised from glucose measurements to treat and prevent such conditions as obesity and prediabetes. I decided to try it for myself.

Link: http://www.cell.com/cell/fulltext/S0092-8674%2815%2901481-6

Great, thanks for the follow up and link. Personalised approaches to health/medicine is an exciting area.

Continuous glucose monitoring (CGM) could be extremely effective for weight loss.

Dexcom has a CGM system that hooks up to your phone/watch, but is only available with prescription (and is extremely expensive without coverage), so this is effectively only available if you already have severe health problems.

Some former Dexcom employees founded a startup some time ago to do CGM for preventative healthcare, but I haven't heard anything of where it went. http://mobihealthnews.com/32601/dexcom-alums-develop-blood-s...

There are probably others.

To me these sorts of subcutaneous CGM systems seem more convenient for users than other initiatives (e.g, the contact lens projects). The sensor stays embedded for a week at a time, you can sleep with it in, and you get measurements every 5 minutes or so.

Sadly, Glucovation's latest update on their site was from 2014. I did some research recently, and it looks like Nemaura has a device aimed at launching at the end of 2016. Echo Therapeutics and Sano appear to be actively building/testing devices, but there are no firm dates.

"Dexcom has a CGM system that hooks up to your phone/watch, but is only available with prescription (and is extremely expensive without coverage)"

Can you elaborate ? What do you mean by extremely expensive ?

Prescription is required: http://www.dexcom.com/faq/do-i-need-prescription-obtain-dexc...

My "extremely expensive" was unfair. Some quick searching suggests ~$650 for the transmitter ~$100/week for sensors. "Not cheap" would be more accurate.

No, $5000+/year is definitely "extremely expensive," and out of reach for the majority of Americans. (Particularly as it seems very unlikely that there's any actual technical need for replacing the sensor weekly.)

Don't let the fact that lifesaving treatments are often even more unaffordable shift your frame of reference.

Its the golden goose for wearables - the problem is there's no technology to continuously and reliably measure blood sugar without taking samples of blood (pricking).

If everyone had an apple watch, fitbit, etc that told you your blood sugar levels, with an immediate effect you could usher in a hugely effective treatment and prevention of diabetes and obesity. Assuming you can get people to wear it and you don't have to prick their fingers.

Do you have a particular suggestion? prices seem to vary a lot in amazon and other sites..

In my area, Kroger, CVS, and Target all have a house brand meter that has very inexpensive strips and seems to be accurate. The meter is silver/white and the strips are black. While it seems identical at the different stores, I found out that the strips have different notches on the end, so a Kroger meter won't take CVS strips.

Either way, the meter is about $10 and 25 strips is around $7, 50 is $12, 100, is $20. Very afforadable.

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