Abbott has officially launched its Lingo biowearable in the US, bringing its glucose coaching service to a huge new market.
Despite being a US company, Abbott launched Lingo in the UK first – where other services such as Zoe have also gained traction. You can read our full in-depth interview with Olivier Ropas, general manager of Lingo, in PULSE by Wareable.
The idea of Lingo is to offer people without diabetes or insulin needs an insight into their blood glucose. That could mean discovering pre-diabetes or unlocking the benefits of more stable blood glucose – which Lingo claims includes increased daily energy and even longevity.
It requires wearing an Abbott continuous glucose monitor, which tracks your daily glucose on a graph within the app. But unlike those with glucose needs, the app condenses your spikes into a daily score – with the idea of lowering your score by eating food that doesn’t spike your blood sugar.
You can log foods within the app, and Lingo will add context by revealing the foods that spike your glucose the most. In theory, that can help you choose between different types of carbs or avoid certain choices. We’ve used Lingo extensively (review coming soon) and it’s certainly eye-opening, even if the food-logging is really tedious.
The Lingo app also adds a bunch of challenges, to help you lower your Lingo count.
Abbott has released some attractive pricing.
You can get a single sensor for $49, which is part of its Learn tier. That gives you two-weeks of insight, which is enough to get a flavor of what’s going on under the hood.
A month worth (two) of sensors is $89 and a 12 week block is $249. That would give you enough time to really make changes and train your body, and honestly, is enough for most healthy people.
