Stick a biosensor patch on your arm and see real-time info on how your body is responding to exercise and nutrition. Supersapiens believes its tech will revolutionize how athletes fuel for optimal performance.
Abbott’s Libre Sense Sport Biosensor — based on its FreeStyle Libre glucose monitor — is the world’s first glucose monitoring device designed for athletes without diabetes. In other words, the technology is moving beyond simple health monitoring, into the performance fitness market.
Along with the biosensor, Supersapiens, a Bluetooth-compatible, real-time data app, developed what it hopes is the latest breakthrough in sports continuous glucose monitoring (CGM). In fact, the sports tech company this week announced it had secured $13.5 million in venture capital funding to develop product.
Could CGM biosensors be the next trend in fitness wearables? We already measure our caloric intake, heart rate, rate of oxygen consumption, calories burned before, during, and after exercise — so why not glucose, too?
“Using the Abbott Libre Sense Biosensor and the compatible Supersapiens app, you’re able to understand the fuel your body responds best to, so you can determine your personalized glucose response and fueling strategy,” Supersapiens states.
Supersapiens is currently the only app on market to directly integrate with a Bluetooth-enabled CGM for sports.
Supersapiens Continuous Glucose Monitoring: How It Works
The Supersapiens “energy management ecosystem” consists of an app and online data profile. This pairs with Abbott’s wearable Libre Sense Glucose Sport Biosensor, a patch placed on the back of the arm that extends “a thin, flexible filament” just under the skin.
Together, the app and biosensor deliver real-time glucose level data, suggested target and performance glucose levels, activity-specific analytics, recovery recommendations, and more.
Essentially, this tells the athlete and coach how their body is responding to various inputs, potentially helping them dial in the best nutrition possible for training, recovery, and race day.
“Once athletes have minute-by-minute fuel data right during a workout, they can quickly identify the correlation between their glucose levels and performance — translating more fueled training minutes into bigger performance gains,” Todd Furneaux, Supersapiens co-founder and president, said in a press release.
Maybe the best part, it explains what to do with all this snazzy data in the “How Can I Use These Metrics?” tab in the app. Plus, the brand said it is developing a wearable wristband — the Supersapiens Reader Version Zero — that will allow athletes to see live-streaming fuel data with a quick glance.
Supersapiens is currently available on Apple and Google devices in Austria, France, Germany, Ireland, Italy, Luxembourg, Switzerland, and the United Kingdom. North American athletes can sign up for the American waitlist here.
