Concept: US-based medical device company Abbott Laboratories has developed consumer bio wearables called Lingo that can track key body signals to help users better understand their overall health and take steps to enhance it. It could enable biohackers to use a continuous stream of data instead of intermittent finger-prick tests, urine samples, and breath readings.

Nature of Disruption: Body signals like glucose, ketones, and lactate can be tracked using Lingo’s sensor technology, which might potentially be used to detect alcohol levels in the future. The ketone wearable can continuously track ketones, see how soon the wearer enters ketosis, and understand what maintains them, thereby offering dieting and weight loss insights. The company is also developing a lactate biowearable to detect continuous lactate buildup during exercise, which can be utilized as a performance indicator. With a small sensor on the back of the upper arm, Lingo allows patients to continuously monitor their glucose levels. Abbott capitalized on the technology with the Libre Sense Glucose Sport Biowearable, an athlete-centric platform developer. It intends to make glucose monitoring available to those who want to lose weight, sleep better, and have more energy.

Outlook: Ketosis is a metabolic state in which the body burns fat and ketones for energy rather than glucose. Ketosis can help people lose weight, feel less hungry, and preserve muscle mass, all of which are key factors in aging well and living a long life. Ketosis causes a high level of ketones in the blood, which can be detected and tracked. Lingo aims to assist users to manage their health, diet, and sports performance proactively. The Lingo ketone monitor would allow you to keep track of the ketones in real-time. This could help people without diabetes recognize when they are in ketosis. The ketone monitor is first being developed for people without diabetes, to detect states of ketosis and provide information about nutrition and exercise. However, the technology has the potential to become a continuous ketone monitor that can warn diabetics when they are approaching DKA (Diabetic ketoacidosis). Lingo consumer biowearable for athletes was introduced by Abbott at CES 2022.

This article was originally published in Verdict.co.uk