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The Cutting-Edge Advantage: How Diabetes Tech is Powering Athletes to Peak Performance and Medal Success

For this summer's Olympic Games, some athletes are turning to an innovative performance-enhancing tool: wearable skin patches that continuously monitor their blood glucose levels. These tiny monitors offer a novel way to optimize energy and recovery, with the hope of gaining a competitive edge and boosting medal prospects.

Administrator

16 June, 2024

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The market for continuous glucose monitors (CGMs) is already a multi-billion dollar industry, with a primary focus on helping diabetes patients manage their insulin intake. However, there is growing interest in utilizing CGMs in the sport and wellness sector to enhance athletic performance and overall wellbeing.

CGMs are small, coin-sized skin patches that wirelessly connect to a smartphone. They use a tiny sensor filament, inserted into the upper arm with an applicator needle, to measure glucose levels between cells just beneath the skin. These sensors are held in place by an adhesive patch and can provide continuous glucose readings for up to two weeks.

Recent advancements have made CGMs smaller, more precise, and more user-friendly, eliminating the need for separate receiver hardware. This has caught the attention of athletes and their support staff, who are now exploring the potential benefits of CGMs in sports performance and recovery.

The Use of CGMs in Sports

Some top athletes are turning to CGMs to optimize their calorie intake and workout intensity. While the benefits during shorter races may be limited, CGMs have proven valuable for endurance athletes in managing their energy levels over extended periods. For example, retired Australian swimmer and Olympic gold medalist Chelsea Hodges used CGMs to address bouts of extreme exhaustion during long training sessions. The minute-by-minute monitoring revealed that she was susceptible to low blood glucose levels, which could then be addressed through targeted nutrition strategies.

Dutch marathoner and Tokyo Olympic silver medalist Abdi Nageeye is also an advocate for CGMs. He uses the technology to optimize his sleeping and eating patterns, aiming for an “effortless run” by expending minimal energy during training. Similarly, Swedish steeplechaser Emil Blomberg, another Tokyo Olympian, relied on CGMs to prevent overtraining and ensure adequate nutrition during his lengthy training sessions.

Ethical Considerations and Performance Enhancements

The use of CGMs in sports has sparked debates about fairness. In 2021, cycling’s governing body, UCI, banned the non-medical use of CGMs during races to uphold the “spirit of competition and fairness.” However, other major sports have not implemented similar bans, and the discussion remains open. The cost of CGMs can also be a barrier, with devices like Abbott’s Libre Sense Glucose Sport Biosensor costing up to £150 per month, making them inaccessible to some athletes without sponsorship.

While sports nutrition researchers acknowledge the potential benefits, they also emphasize that the advantages are currently based on anecdotal evidence. Understanding how glucose tracking can inform an athlete’s calorie intake and training schedule is a developing area of research, and more studies are needed to establish the direct performance-enhancing effects of CGMs.

The Future of CGMs in Sports

Companies like Levels, Nutrisense, and Signos are at the forefront of this revolution, offering apps and programs specifically designed for non-diabetics to use in conjunction with diabetes devices from manufacturers like Dexcom and Abbott. Abbott, in particular, has made strides in this area, launching the CGM Libre Sense Glucose Sport Biosensor for athletes without diabetes in several European countries. However, their exclusive collaboration with app developer Supersapiens ended in February 2023, following financial challenges.

Abbott continues to innovate in this space, introducing the Lingo CGM with a coaching app in Britain in January 2023. With a focus on “overall health and wellbeing,” Abbott is now looking to bring this technology to the US market, further expanding the reach and potential of CGMs beyond diabetes care and into the world of sports performance and wellness.