New features are coming to Google wearables, including one that tracks insulin resistance over time. It does not continuously monitor glucose. Nor does it show glucose levels. Instead, it tracks physiological factors that indicate how hard the body is working to break food down into energy. It combines AI with sensors including an accelerometer, barometer and trackers for heart rate and skin temperature.
The Google Health app will alert people if there are indications that their insulin resistance has changed so that they can consider making healthy changes or speaking to a doctor. Over time, insulin resistance can lead to serious blood sugar concerns. But lifestyle changes can often turn things around.
Other new features of the wearables include tracking blood pressure trends and nighttime breathing patterns. Google is gathering all of its health tools into one set now called Health Guardian. It hopes to help user see their physiological trends to take proactive healthy lifestyle steps. Health Guardian will launch with the Pixel Watch 5 and Fitbit Air before being added to other devices. It will work on Pixel Watch 3 and above after the rollout is complete.
Google wants to highlight the invisible stress the body is experiencing, not to diagnose, treat or directly measure blood sugar, according to Francis Ho, Google's lead Pixel Watch product manager. The app doesn’t give minute-to-minute results but instead shows trends. It compares data across multiple weeks to determine patterns. Because of that, it cannot replace a glucose monitor or a CGM. It does not give immediate results, and it never gives blood sugar levels.
Mr. Ho said, “Generally, these shifts in your insulin resistance levels are very subtle. Most adults don't really think to monitor this, but if left untreated, it can evolve into these more serious conditions.” Lifestyle changes can make a big impact on blood sugar health, well-being, and overall health.
The paid version of the Google Health app has an AI coach that can review the results and answer in-depth questions. Mr. Ho said, “We’re always interested in trying to deliver the next frontier of interesting and meaningful experiences for users.”
This tool could be useful for people who want more information about their bodies. However, for people who have struggled with disordered health behaviors, it might not be helpful. This could end up being new data to fixate on and perfect rather than just being helpful information. If you have struggled with disordered behavior in the past, it might be best to steer clear.
