Welcome to another PULSE by Wareable podcast – where we talk to the key voices in wearables and digital health.
This week, it’s all about biowearables.
We talked to Olivier Ropars, Divisional VP of Lingo Biowearables in London following his appearance at WIRED Health.
We’ve seen plenty of attention in the consumer glucose tracking space recently, with countless services offering non-diabetic consumers a way to track their metabolic health via continuous glucose monitors (CGMs).
Most of those services use the Abbott FreeStyle Libre CGM – but, now, Abbott itself has launched its own metabolic health service.
“We are at the beginning of true consumerisation of health. We are giving people the tools to really understand the body like never before and make the adjustments that will benefit them in the long term,” Ropars told us.
What is Lingo?
The Lingo comes as a single sensor (£89) or as a four-pack (£300), with users able to place it on their arm, pair it with the companion app, and monitor spikes and dips in their blood glucose.
Abbott says Lingo can be used to help wearers develop healthier habits, with the app's customized coaching and personalized insights delving into ways to improve sleep, mood, focus, hunger, and energy.
As with most CGMs, Lingo sits onto the user's arm and is swapped out every two weeks. It's a semi-invasive sensor, that's stuck to the arm using an applicator that painlessly places a flexible needle under the skin to monitor interstitial fluid.
Lingo tracks your blood glucose and challenges users to keep under a target Lingo Count score. The idea is to eat fewer glucose-spiking foods and promote healthy habits, such as walking or exercising after meals.
The newly revamped app also features Challenges, to try and gameify the process and change behaviors.
Key takeaways:
Abbott preparing ketone and lactate biowearables
Sleep is a missing piece of Lingo – and why it’s next on the roadmap
Why CGMs need to be more accurate for healthy people
Why glucose can open up a goldmine of data
