By Bill Alpert
I survived 68 years without knowing my blood sugar levels. Ignorance is sweet.
When DexCom offered the first glucose monitor available without prescription last month, I ordered one.
I am not among the Type 2 diabetes patients who are the product's main market. I'm a weekend rock climber who watches his weight and is always looking for the next gadget to help me regain athletic mediocrity.
Wearing DexCom's patch-sized Stelo device for two weeks, I learned startling things about my seemingly healthy diet. Fruit cranked my blood sugar as high as candy. "No sugar added" on packages didn't mean low sugar. Every diabetic knows this. I had a few things to learn.
At about $45 for each two-week tracker, I don't think I'm ready to wear the Stelo forever. Still, we'll see if a few weeks of glucose spike alerts will change my eating enough to get me past the overhangs in my rock-climbing gym.
DexCom was once a hot medical technology stock, rising tenfold in the five years through 2021. More recently, DexCom and other diabetes-associated stocks got tossed aside, as weight-loss drugs from Eli Lilly and Novo Nordisk showed they could prevent Type 2 diabetes. In July, DexCom reduced its guidance for sales growth. Analysts like Baird's Jeff Johnson want to see if Stelo will help revitalize DexCom's growth and prompt him to restore his Buy rating.
You order Stelo directly from DexCom's website. The box has two of the sensors, each good for 15 days of continuous monitoring. A pair costs $99 as a one-time purchase, or $89 as a monthly subscription. After Stelo's debut, DexCom rival Abbott Laboratories launched its own over-the-counter monitor called Lingo, priced at $49 for one and $89 for a pair.
Insurers don't yet cover continuous glucose monitoring for Type 2 patients who don't yet need insulin, or for "prediabetic" people whose glucose levels are rising. DexCom hopes data from Stelo's early users will persuade insurers to cover the glucose tracker.
When my sensors arrived, I downloaded the Stelo app -- which runs on an Apple iPhone, Android smartphone or Apple Watch -- and it showed me how to put the sensor on the back of my arm.
Each coin-sized sensor comes in an applicator that resembles a plastic shot glass. I barely felt the prick as I cupped it on my arm and it slipped a tiny sensing thread under my skin. CGMs don't draw blood; they track glucose by sampling the fluid between skin cells.
In a continuous chart, the CGM app shows how meals and exercise move your glucose levels, and how much of the day they remain in the target range. Those with diabetes try to spend 70% of their time in-range, while non-diabetics like me should spend 96% of their time in-range.
I couldn't wait to mess with my numbers.
To be sure, glucose control is no laughing matter for the millions with diabetes. As a metabolic novice, however, I hoped Stelo would help me cut calories. Climbing is a strength-to-weight sport and, sadly, my natural set-point is closer to a halfback than a gymnast.
I reached into the freezer. Costco's Five Cheese Tortellini, with Parmigiano-Reggiano. Perfect. I made myself seven servings and wolfed them down. Suggested serving sizes are always wrong, in my experience, which must date back to a cruise ship.
The carbohydrate onslaught triggered my first glucose spike, shooting it to 175 milligrams per dekaliter and well above my target range of 70 to 140. The sensor worked.
The tortellini didn't surprise me. What did were the spikes in glucose after my standard breakfast: no-sugar-added muesli cereal, wetted with diet root beer. I thought the diet soda canceled out the dried fruit in the muesli. Apparently I needed to add more soda.
DexCom's app offered constructive suggestions. It doesn't scold you, like my iPhone fitness apps. Stelo's tips for lowering glucose spikes include favoring protein and fiber.
Eat more slowly, the Stelo app counseled. It was right. I eat faster than competitive eater Joey Chestnut on the Fourth of July. I'd be starting my dessert when my brother had just picked up his fork.
Worst-offending of the foods I thought healthy were grapes. The app's trace-line went nearly vertical each time I ate a bunch. Other fruits and melons didn't amp my glucose as much.
After a week with Stelo, I learned that I could do better. My glucose had only stayed in range 93% of the time, instead of the 96% it should have. The app's chart showed that my worst days were the days that I came to the office.
My employer rewards us for coming to the office by keeping a table stocked with granola bars, fruit snacks and whole-grain chips. Even I know that granola bars are loaded with sugar. I can ignore the snacks for most of the day. But when I was an hour behind deadline and avoiding my editors' sightlines, I start stress-eating. My time in range those days for glucose levels was just 82%.
To reduce stress, the Stelo app suggested meditation, yoga, or five slow, deep breaths. Stelo doesn't know a newsroom.
The moment-by-moment feedback available in Stelo's app helped me resist snacks and curb carbs, if only because I am a sucker for challenges. With an eye on my glucose readout, I stopped rewarding myself with visits to the snack food aisle, after gym workouts.
Beyond its appeal to my competitive instincts, the CGM's feedback made me reflect on my diet. No more grapes. I ate salads as more of my meals and stopped stealing croutons from my wife's serving.
Here's how I'm better. Even on the most stressful days, I now pass the work snack bar without stopping. OK, I'll stop if there are almond packets. But I no longer board the bus home with a family-size bag of chips.
What I can't yet control is how fast I eat. I still clean my plate like a starving refugee. But my calorie-burning has edged ahead of my calorie-gobbling. Seven pounds lighter, I am climbing routes that are a grade more difficult than before.
But I do miss the grapes.
Write to Bill Alpert at william.alpert@barrons.com
This content was created by Barron's, which is operated by Dow Jones & Co. Barron's is published independently from Dow Jones Newswires and The Wall Street Journal.
(END) Dow Jones Newswires
September 22, 2024 06:00 ET (10:00 GMT)
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