Beware of watches, rings and other connected monitors who claim to perform these medical measures: the results are not reliable, which makes them dangerous according to the health authorities.
Diabetes is a chronic disease that affects millions of people around the world. For these patients, regularly monitoring their blood sugar levels is essential in order to avoid complications that can be very serious. Unfortunately, this surveillance involves pricking your finger several times a day to get a drop of blood to analyze. This process, although necessary, is however binding and painful, which makes diabetes management even more difficult on a daily basis.
Many patients are therefore looking for less invasive alternatives to measure their blood sugar. Also, when some connected watches and rings appear on the market by promising to measure the rate of glucose without bite, by simple contact with the skin, the promise is more than attractive!
But this technological promise arouses strong concerns among the health authorities. The National Medicines Safety Agency (ANSM) and the Directorate General for Competition, Consumption and Fraud Repression (DGCCRF) sounded the alarm concerning these devices. According to these institutions, connected watches and rings pretending to measure blood sugar without bite have a considerable risk for diabetic patients.
Today there are two types of device to measure a person’s blood sugar level: those who take a drop of blood which is then analyzed by a blood sugar player, and those that operate via a flexible filament introduced under the patient’s skin. All the other products that claim to measure blood sugar, whether it are measuring devices at the end of your finger, watches or connected rings, have a considerable risk for patients.
“No device for measuring blood sugar ‘non-invasive’, that is to say that would measure your blood sugar level thanks to simple contact with the skin, has been approved by the health authorities or validated by the scientific community”ensure the two French authorities. As a result, these miraculous devices cannot provide reliable blood sugar values, which can cause insulin dosage errors. Without being able to detect hypoglycemia or hyperglycemia in time, or by recommending doses of inappropriate insulin, these devices can “train hospitalizations (…), even the death“.
Watch out for scales linked to these connected watches and rings therefore, which show the logos of French authorities such as ANSM, the French Federation of Diabetics (FFD), the National Institute of Health and Medical Research (Inserm), or the French -speaking Society of Diabetes (SFD). It is neither more, nor less than fraudulent announcements “intended to deceive the public, suggesting a reassuring official deposit to encourage purchase“, especially since advertising for medical devices is strictly supervised in France.
Health authorities therefore call for vigilance and recommend diabetic patients not to use these non -validated devices. This recall is all the more necessary since the use of blood sugar sensors is currently spreading well beyond diabetics, encouraged by athletes and influencers looking for performance or weight control. However, if this measure is essential for monitoring diabetes, it does not bring any benefit to healthy people, whose body manages the level of blood sugar adequately.