Dr. Robert Gabbai from the American Diabetes Association warned that using unapproved smartwatches and ring devices could lead to inaccurate blood sugar measurements, with potentially “devastating” consequences. This could result in patients taking incorrect doses of medication, leading to dangerous blood sugar levels, confusion, coma, or even death.
Dr. David Klonoff from the Sutter Health Mills-Peninsula Medical Center in San Mateo, California, who has been researching diabetes technology for 25 years, stated that many companies are working on developing non-invasive devices to measure blood sugar levels, but none have created a sufficiently accurate and safe product to obtain approval from the Food and Drug Administration (FDA).
Klonoff explained that the technology allowing smartwatches and rings to measure metrics like heart rate and blood oxygen levels is not accurate enough to measure blood sugar levels. Additionally, efforts to measure blood sugar levels in bodily fluids such as tears, sweat, and saliva are not yet ready for implementation.
“It’s a tough one, and I think at some point there will be at least one scientist or engineer to solve the problem,” Klonoff said.
The law requires companies developing similar technologies to obtain approval from the FDA before introducing them into their devices and making them widely available to consumers.
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