By Ludwig Berger
(Reuters) – Olympians including Dutch marathon runner Abdi Nageai They’re using a new tool – tiny monitors that stick to the skin and track blood sugar levels – to improve their chances of winning a medal this summer.
Continuous glucose monitors (CGMs) were developed for people with diabetes, but manufacturers, led by Abbott and Dexcom, are also exploring business opportunities in the sports and health sectors.
The Paris Olympics, which begin on July 26, will be an opportunity to showcase the technology, although there is no evidence yet that it improves athletic performance.
“We believe the day will come when CGM will be widely used outside of diabetes,” said Jacob Leach, Dexcom’s chief operating officer.
He told Reuters that while diabetics remain the CGM specialist’s business focus, Dexcom is also working with researchers to explore how CGM could one day be used to optimize athletic performance. He declined to provide details.
The CGM market is already worth billions of dollars, driven by demand from diabetics, who use a coin-sized adhesive skin patch that connects to a smartphone via Bluetooth instead of pricking their finger to draw blood. The readings help determine whether insulin is needed.
In March, Dexcom’s Stelo device, aimed at people with early-stage diabetes who aren’t using insulin, became the first CGM approved for purchase without a prescription in the U.S. It is scheduled to be released this summer.
Abbott introduced CGM products for non-diabetic amateur and elite sports users in Europe as early as 2020, and is sponsoring Kenyan marathon great Eliud Kipchoge and his team from 2021. Top athletes and their support staff use CGMs to optimize calorie intake and training intensity in preparation for sporting events.
Abbott said it is targeting consumer markets beyond diabetics. The company aims to launch its health and well-being Apple device and smartphone app in the U.S. and in Britain from January for 120 to 150 pounds ($152 to $190) per month.
Sales of Abbott’s Freestyle Libre series, the most commonly used CGM, are expected to rise 23% to $5.3 billion in 2023, driven by demand from diabetics who value ease of use and monitoring accuracy. Dexcom’s revenue is expected to rise 24% to $3.6 billion in 2023.
Research firm GlobalData predicts the lifestyle CGM market could grow nearly 15% annually to reach $9.9 billion by 2031, driven in part by users of weight-loss drugs such as Wegovy who want medical technology devices to help them lose weight.
Other market research firms have projected that the overall CGM market, which includes products for diabetes patients from suppliers such as Medtronic, will grow 9 to 10 percent annually over the next five years.
Getting ready for Paris
Dutch marathon runner Nageai, who won silver at the Tokyo Olympics, said he and his coaches were monitoring their blood sugar levels as an indicator of the body’s available energy as part of their goal of an “easy run”.
Using a CGM has helped Nagyai, who qualified for the Paris Games, improve her sleep and eating patterns to minimise energy expenditure during training.
“It’s your energy, it’s your fuel, really, and we need to monitor it,” said Naguier, whose team has been sponsored by Abbott since April 2021.
Chelsea Hodges, the Australian swimmer who won a gold medal in the relay at the Tokyo Olympics, said that CGM helped her adjust her calorie intake and training times to reduce the extreme fatigue and dizziness she experienced during endurance training.
She spoke to Reuters as she prepared for the Paris Games, where hip problems recently ended her swimming career.
While companies see growth potential in these devices, sports nutritionists see it as a promising area of research.
“For endurance athletes, the big question is always whether they are training enough or too hard. With CGM it seems we can understand this better,” said Associate Professor Philip Larsen from the Swedish School of Sport and Health Sciences.
Larsen, who is also chief scientific officer at sports performance consultancy Svexa, said his company analyzes CGM data collected from multiple athletes and teams. He said Svexa is not sponsored by any CGM manufacturers.
But Larsen cautioned that there is still little scientifically-validated research on how to use CGM to optimize an athlete’s routine.
“Most researchers can’t give us a precise answer. In five years, we’ll know 10 times as much as we do now.”
But there is a lot of testing and experimentation going on in this area, including research into contact lenses that measure blood glucose levels.
Greg Cox, an associate professor and sports nutritionist at Bond University in Australia, has worked with swimmers, rowers, triathletes and track and field athletes, including Hodges.
He said results from his team’s trials to test how not consuming enough calories to maintain exercise intensity affects blood sugar levels in endurance athletes are currently inconclusive, and more research into CGMs is needed.
Both Cox and Larsen expressed skepticism that non-diabetic consumers would use the technology for health and fitness purposes without seeking expert advice.
“What you see on social media is that normal, healthy people eat a banana, their blood sugar goes really high for an hour and they get scared – this is a completely expected and normal reaction,” Larsen said.
Market leader Abbott told Reuters that understanding fluctuations in blood sugar levels is key to managing metabolism for a healthier life.
“While some blood sugar spikes are normal for healthy people, fewer frequent and significant spikes and drops in blood sugar have been shown to improve energy, mood, focus and sleep, and reduce cravings,” the spokesperson said.
(1 dollar = 0.7863 pounds)
(Additional reporting by Sriparna Roy in Bengaluru and Patricia Weiss in Frankfurt; Editing by Josephine Mason and Catherine Evans)
