Posted by Alumni from The Atlantic
June 20, 2025
To hear some of them tell it, the companies selling continuous glucose monitors have stumbled upon a heretofore unknown quirk of human biology. Seemingly healthy people, many of these companies argue, have 'glucose imbalances' that need to be monitored and, with dietary vigilance, eradicated. Millions of people are going through life eating bananas, not knowing that their blood sugar is rising with every bite. This must be stopped. To this end, the companies market the continuous glucose monitor, or CGM, a quarter-size sensor that takes a near-constant measure of the glucose in the fluid between a person's cells. Once inserted into an arm, the sensor allows the wearer to monitor their blood-sugar levels on a phone app for $80 to $184 a month. Doing so allows you to 'see the impact of what you eat' (according to the start-up Lingo), to 'motivate behavior change and encourage healthier choices' (according to another called Levels), and to 'personalize your approach' to weight loss,... learn more