Glucose Monitors Are Finally Available Over the Counter
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has cleared the first continuous glucose monitors (CGMs) for over-the-counter sale—a major win for health freedom and common sense.
“Giving more individuals valuable information about their health, regardless of their access to a doctor or health insurance, is an important step forward in advancing health equity for U.S. patients,” said Jeff Shuren, director of the FDA’s Center for Devices and Radiological Health, in a press release announcing the change.
CGMs are wearable devices that continuously monitor blood sugar levels in real time. They’ve been invaluable for diabetics—but their potential goes much further. For instance, those with chronically elevated blood sugar levels, even if they don’t meet the threshold for diabetes, could use CGMs to manage their health early and avoid a future diagnosis.
Even in metabolically healthy individuals, avoiding blood sugar spikes and crashes can support weight loss, steady energy levels, and overall well-being since elevated blood sugar can cause oxidative stress and inflammation.
Before CGMs, the best way to test blood sugar levels at home was by pricking a finger and using a glucose test strip. I used this method when I was diagnosed with gestational diabetes a few years back. It was unpleasant, inconvenient—requiring lancets, test strips, and a reader—and very limited in insights, since it could only measure blood sugar levels at one discrete point in time. If my blood sugar quickly spiked beyond normal levels but also quickly fell, pricking my finger an hour or two after eating, as recommended, would fail to capture this.
CGMs offer a more convenient way of gleaning information about blood sugar responses, which can vary greatly between people or even within the same person depending on different variables. (While carbohydrates are understood to spike glucose levels higher than proteins and fats do, individual bodies can still react
Article from Reason.com
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