Become a MacRumors Supporter for $50/year with no ads, ability to filter front page stories, and private forums.
I do not believe the technology exists for this to ever be possible and accurate. But I would love to be proven wrong.

Normal people monitoring glucose is like drinking high pH water … a complete waste of time given homeostasis. However for those who currently need better glucose control from diabetes this could be amazing. But once someone starts injecting insulin based on this it cannot be ok or close. It has to be accurate every time or people die.
I guessed you never bonked on a long hard bike ride.
 
  • Like
Reactions: wideEyedPupil


Apple has made notable progress on noninvasive blood glucose monitoring technology, according to a new report from Bloomberg's Mark Gurman. Planned as a future Apple Watch feature, Apple wants to use the function to allow diabetics and others to test their blood glucose levels without needing to prick the skin for blood testing.

apple-watch-blood-glucose-feature.jpg

To test glucose levels without blood, Apple is developing a silicon photonics chip that uses optical absorption spectroscopy to shine light from a laser under the skin to determine the concentration of glucose in the body. The technology is in a "proof-of-concept" stage that is viable, but needs to be condensed to a size that can fit into a wearable.

At the current time, the prototype device is sized similarly to an iPhone and can be attached to a person's arm. That is smaller than a prior version that was big enough that it required a tabletop.

TSMC developed the main chip to power the prototype, but Apple previously worked with Rockley Photonics to create sensors and chips for glucose monitoring. Rockley Photonics in 2021 unveiled a digital sensor system that it said could monitor body temperature, blood pressure, glucose trends, hydration, alcohol, lactate, and more. Rockley Photonics made it clear that Apple was its biggest customer in regulatory filings, but Apple ultimately ended the relationship.

Apple has hundreds of engineers in its Exploratory Design Group (XDG) working on the project, but the technology is still years off. According to Bloomberg, the XDG is akin to Google's X research and development project, and it is Apple's most secretive undertaking. Apple has spent hundreds of millions of dollars developing noninvasive glucose monitoring.

Apple initially started work on alternative glucose monitoring after purchasing RareLight in 2010 under the instruction of Steve Jobs. For many years, Apple used a startup called Avolante Health LLC to work quietly on the project in a secret facility before it was transitioned to the XDG.

The under-skin glucose detection technology has been undergoing human trials for the past 10 years, with Apple using a test group of people who have prediabetes and type 2 diabetes, as well as those who have not been diagnosed as diabetic.

Apple wants to be able to warn people if they're prediabetic, enabling lifestyle changes before full-blown diabetes is developed. Apple's regulatory team is holding early discussions about getting government approval for the technology.

Article Link: Apple's Noninvasive Blood Glucose Technology for Future Apple Watch Reaches 'Proof-of Concept' Stage
They should work on a realtime measurement of insulin (resistance and sensitivity), the best marker for potential diabetes and heart disease.
 
The only true blood glucose reading is one via finger stick. Even the Freestyle Libre I use isn’t accurate as it doesn’t measure blood level.

Apple has a huge uphill battle if they want to join in with Dexcom and Freestyle in reading BG levels.
But these measures are already minutes behind the real BG. Could this alternative measure be more immediate?
 
my friend (who is type 1 diabetic so can't just use a wholefoods plant based diet to cure it, though it certainly helps her reduce the Type 1 symptoms) uses a device that is embedded under her skin and she just has to wave a device near it that collects the measurement. You'd think, given that Apple has been on this prior to the 2010 purchase of another company under direction from SJ then they'd have made an accessory for the iPhone or Apple Watch that talks to such glucose or insulin level probes embedded in the body under the skin. Has to be a ready made market there.


To anybody who is type2 or pre-diabetic, it's a completely curable illness, with diet alone. See Dr Neal Bernard or Dr McDougall or Dr Essylstein for a program.
 
This will be a major breakthrough when it is released. The fact that they moved from the device being the size of a laptop to an iPhone is significant progress. I’m sure they have other feature we’re not aware of in the pipeline as well, and all of this makes sense as to why they will gradually be increasing the size of the Watch — I think it will be required for these features. I think Apple is quietly working to make big moves in healthcare and fintech.
Big moves in fintech — what like? expose it for the biggest wealth syphoning fraud to ever have hit late-capitalist economies? this will make the US shadow banking sector (finance industry basically making credit-money in an unregulated way) which led to the GFC look like a Boy Scout jamboree.
 
Not just game-changing, but life-changing for virtually every human being on the planet. Kudos to the engineers who are working on making this possible.
just change to a whoelfoods plant based diet today. Heart disease, most cancers, pre-diabetes and type 2 diabetes will not bother you at all. Macular degeneration, some neurological "ageing" diseases (most ageing diseases really) will not effect you until a very late stage of your life. So much epidemiological data supports these statements. most of the western world lifestyle disease epidemics were unknown in blue zone countries and SE Asian countries amongst the poorer people who remained physically active into their 90s and unencumbered by 1st work diseases. The China Study is a great place to read about this research written for a general audience.
 
I wonder who's IP Apple is using in this venture because Apple will not have been the only company over the past number of years who has worked on noninvasive methods of taking glucose readings.
 
I haven't been following her case. Friends in high places?
IIRC she had a retired 5 star general, war criminals like Colin Powell and many others on her board. if they don't know how to crime while stay out of jail for the rest of your life then nobody does!

checks wikipedia:
On November 18, 2022, U.S. District Judge Edward Davila sentenced Holmes to 11+1⁄4 years (135 months) in prison, and ordered her to surrender by April 27, 2023. The sentence included a fine of $400, or $100 for each count of fraud, and a three-year supervised release after the prison term.[1] She could get about a 15% reduction on prison time with good behavior, which would put her sentence at 9+1⁄2 years with no possibility for parole. Davila recommended she be incarcerated at Federal Prison Camp, Bryan, in Texas, a minimum security facility with limited or no perimeter fencing. "No one wants to get kicked out because compared to other places in the prison system, this place is heaven. If you have to go it's a good place to go," said a criminal defense lawyer.[89]

[…]

Theranos's board and investors included many influential figures.[95][96] Holmes's first major investor was Tim Draper – Silicon Valley venture capitalist and father of Holmes's childhood friend Jesse Draper – who "cut Holmes a check" for $1 million upon hearing her initial pitch for the firm that would become Theranos.[97][98] Theranos's pool of major investors expanded to include[96] Rupert Murdoch, the Walton family, the DeVos family including Betsy DeVos, the Cox family of Cox Enterprises and Carlos Slim Helú. Each of these investors lost tens to hundreds of millions of dollars when Theranos folded.[96]

One of Holmes's first board members was George Shultz.[99][97] With Shultz's early involvement aiding Holmes's recruitment efforts, the 12-member Theranos board eventually included:[100] Henry Kissinger, a former secretary of state; William Perry, a former secretary of defense; James Mattis, a future secretary of defense; Gary Roughead, a retired U.S. Navy admiral; Bill Frist, a former U.S. senator (R-TN); Sam Nunn, a former U.S. senator (D-GA); and former CEOs Dick Kovacevich of Wells Fargo and Riley Bechtel of Bechtel.[101][102]
 
Last edited:
Even if apple pulls this off I would NOT buy into it. Granted a blood glucose meter could be off but I'd hold more faith in that than some optic sensing under my skin.
 


Apple has made notable progress on noninvasive blood glucose monitoring technology, according to a new report from Bloomberg's Mark Gurman. Planned as a future Apple Watch feature, Apple wants to use the function to allow diabetics and others to test their blood glucose levels without needing to prick the skin for blood testing.

apple-watch-blood-glucose-feature.jpg

To test glucose levels without blood, Apple is developing a silicon photonics chip that uses optical absorption spectroscopy to shine light from a laser under the skin to determine the concentration of glucose in the body. The technology is in a "proof-of-concept" stage that is viable, but needs to be condensed to a size that can fit into a wearable.

At the current time, the prototype device is sized similarly to an iPhone and can be attached to a person's arm. That is smaller than a prior version that was big enough that it required a tabletop.

TSMC developed the main chip to power the prototype, but Apple previously worked with Rockley Photonics to create sensors and chips for glucose monitoring. Rockley Photonics in 2021 unveiled a digital sensor system that it said could monitor body temperature, blood pressure, glucose trends, hydration, alcohol, lactate, and more. Rockley Photonics made it clear that Apple was its biggest customer in regulatory filings, but Apple ultimately ended the relationship.

Apple has hundreds of engineers in its Exploratory Design Group (XDG) working on the project, but the technology is still years off. According to Bloomberg, the XDG is akin to Google's X research and development project, and it is Apple's most secretive undertaking. Apple has spent hundreds of millions of dollars developing noninvasive glucose monitoring.

Apple initially started work on alternative glucose monitoring after purchasing RareLight in 2010 under the instruction of Steve Jobs. For many years, Apple used a startup called Avolante Health LLC to work quietly on the project in a secret facility before it was transitioned to the XDG.

The under-skin glucose detection technology has been undergoing human trials for the past 10 years, with Apple using a test group of people who have prediabetes and type 2 diabetes, as well as those who have not been diagnosed as diabetic.

Apple wants to be able to warn people if they're prediabetic, enabling lifestyle changes before full-blown diabetes is developed. Apple's regulatory team is holding early discussions about getting government approval for the technology.

Article Link: Apple's Noninvasive Blood Glucose Technology for Future Apple Watch Reaches 'Proof-of Concept' Stage
This will be a great help for all of us who rely on finger prick tests on a daily basis. Good luck with the development.
 
I use the Freestyle Libre 2 and they are really expensive, $97CAD for each sensor which lasts 14 days. A years worth of them is over $2500CAD. Insurance only covers the cost if you are an insulin user, so mine aren't covered. A glucose sensor on an Apple Watch would be really amazing, a lot more convenient for sure and would save people hundreds of dollars a year.
 
I use the Freestyle Libre 2 and they are really expensive, $97CAD for each sensor which lasts 14 days. A years worth of them is over $2500CAD. Insurance only covers the cost if you are an insulin user, so mine aren't covered. A glucose sensor on an Apple Watch would be really amazing, a lot more convenient for sure and would save people hundreds of dollars a year.
I'd go out and buy an Apple watch the day they released such a feature, but as you know the Libre works via a filament inserted through the skin. It's going to be a big technological leap to get a reliable signal noninvasively.
 
Holy Thread Bump Batman.

I just got diagnosed with Type 2 DB so would buy any new watch that was accurate at reading blood sugar. I guess it's possible, but probably not going to be good enough for a few more years and they narrow down the errors.
 
  • Like
Reactions: polyphenol
Holy Thread Bump Batman.

I just got diagnosed with Type 2 DB so would buy any new watch that was accurate at reading blood sugar. I guess it's possible, but probably not going to be good enough for a few more years and they narrow down the errors.
SBT.. check out the new DTC Decom Stelo units, it’s only $80 a month for a 30 day sub, and alerts your phone and watch directly. Might be worth checking out. Would help to understand what causes blood sugar spikes in your diet, day, activities.
 
SBT.. check out the new DTC Decom Stelo units, it’s only $80 a month for a 30 day sub, and alerts your phone and watch directly. Might be worth checking out. Would help to understand what causes blood sugar spikes in your diet, day, activities.
I just set up a subscription today for the Dexcom Stelo.
 
I use the G7 dexcom and mynetdiary to count carbs. The Stelo is not for diabetics, but enjoy
I greatly prefer the Libre 3 to the Dexcom G7. No overpatch needed. Less obtrusive, stays in place. Better overall, even though my insurance makes me pay more out of pocket for it.
 
I wish either cgm company would improve their app to be a combination of the data recording as it is, but to add the calorie ,protein,and fat food item, that is to combines something like Mynetdiary with the cgm. then you would have something.
 
Register on MacRumors! This sidebar will go away, and you'll see fewer ads.