No more tracking calories

Disclaimer: didn't read the article. Just thinking out loud from what you said..

This sounds painful...only way I know to measure glucose is with blood..is it constantly prodding you??-sounds like a great infection source-and if it's not via blood then how accurate are the readings? Also what if you eat something like chicken which doesn't really increase your glucose levels greatly but does have calories. Sounds like its a good idea in theory, I don't know how practical it would really be though.

Color me a skeptic.

Just went to the website. It says it measures calories by magic: "100% automatic calorie management with FLOW Technology, the patented innovation that combines information from three sensors with an advanced algorithm." An impedance sensor measures fluid level in tissues. "Know exactly how many calories you’re consuming by using GoBe to read the glucose in your cells—through your skin, with no manual logging, no estimates, and no error-prone guesswork."

Will be interesting to see how accurate it can be.

Let's say that - somehow (although I highly doubt it) - this thing works. By the time your body processes the food you've eaten into glucose, you've likely already eaten xxx more Calories. Thus, this thing is completely useless.


edit: Ninja'd by tibby

I read the article and it won't work with my windows phone and I couldn't find any technical information about the algorithms it uses to measure the data which makes me skeptical. Even though the name is trade marked I should be able to find technical descriptions even if they are only applying for a patent and I can't. I would have to see it in action and actual studies comparing it to know accurate measurements before I would invest but it definitely looks cool.

Agreed, I had a look and saw no data, or studies.

though in the comments they reply
" yes, we can distinguish carbs and fat at intake calories and what is the source (“food” or “body”) for spent calories, but we only evaluate amount of protein.

For people, who using high protein and low carbs diet, accuracy will be lower: from 88-90% for usual structure of meal down to 80% for high protein diet.

We’ll solve this issue at second generation of device, but not right now"

From the information I read, it will be more accurate over a few days (2-3 days of readings) rather than say, after one meal.

They plan on selling it for $299 when it is launched

Im a skeptic

After some more research I've managed to scrape some more information from a russian article released in November 2013, when they were still putting plans together. Basically the development team consists of seven full-time developers and eight doctors. The prototyping started in Moscow and Saint Petersburg.

Not much information on research or mechanics were released, but it mentioned that it measures electronic resistances caused by changes in blood glucose which supposedly give unique markers to certain macronutrients or something (My Russian is shaky on technical terms). In the future models they are planning to use a real time RTOS. Battery life is 3 days and full charging time is 1 hour. Currently they only provide API for heart-related functions but plan to expand the range in the future.

In addition to the functions listed on their website, I found a curious little detail in the article, that this tracker would be able to estimate body weight changes through the caloric date it collects reducing how often a person would have to weigh themselves. Planned price is $299 in the US, 299 Euro in Europe and about 10,500 Rubel in Russia.

A few private investor were interested in the project back then, but no names were mentioned. They (the investors) currently own 32% of the shares. Their indiegogo campaign was originally planned for November/December 2013 to attract additional funding to finalize the prototype and to advertise the product - since the article is old, I don't know why it was delayed.

There is also a small chart comparing this tracker with rival trackers on the market by price and functions. They also talk about their plans for future growth (in numbers) and their plans for other functions.

Investors are interested and long term plans are in place, which makes me a hopeful skeptic. I will not jump in and buy right away but I'm optimistic that this could be a worthy health investment in the future, especially when I reach the maintenance phase.