Lumen: could this possibly work?

[FinallyHere]

My Facebook feed has recently been full of adverts for the indiegogo crowdfunding page for a device called Lumen, which claims to measure and analyse the gasses in your breath, because the concentration of Co2 shows whether you are burning fat or carbs. Its Indiegogo rather than an actual product. Anyone have any idea whether this might be possible? Any comments? Anyone betatesting?

https://www.indiegogo.com/projects/lumen-hack-your-metabolism-lose-weight-apps-food#/

How does Lumen measure my metabolism through my breath?
When you breathe into the Lumen device, it measures and analyzes the various gases in your breath (especially Co2) through different sensors in the device.
The concentration of various gases in your breath tells Lumen what your cells are burning for energy - carbs or fats.



No idea, but it sounds fascinating. I love a gadget!

No idea either but it's really expensive. I think you can get some sort of breathalizer device for ascertaining whether or not you're in ketosis. But whenever I've wanted to know that, I pee on the wee sticks. It's less accurate, i think, but I only do it for my own interest so that's ok with me.

What's the objective of knowing this?

I low carb to control my type 2 diabetes and use a blood glucose tester. It's really useful because if I try a new food or meal combination I can test my pre-eating blood, and then again 2 hours and 4 hours after eating to see what effect the food has and decide whether or not to have it again. So it could be helpful, but only if you can relate your breath analysis to specific actions so that you know what you can change or improve.

Good point, @BlackAmericanoNoSugar

I would love to have independent confirmation of tbe impact of eating different types of food on my metabolism. I tried blood sugar monitoring but found that pricking several times a day, my fingers quickly became quite sore. Without a prescription for test strips, it was also not exactly cheap, especially over a longer period of time.

I love the idea of a device to analyse my breath, but wonder whether it could really be relied upon, to be as accurate as the blood sugar monitoring device.

The cost of the strips is quite high, it's true, but I don't always have to use them. For meals that I've already tested a few times and had consistent results, I know that I don't need to bother anymore. For instance, I know that three scrambled eggs on one piece of wholemeal toast gives a perfectly acceptable blood result, so there is no need to test after that. I rarely go low, and I get clear symptoms if I do, so I don't need to do precautionary checking for that. After extensive checking I now have whole days in a row that I don't need to check because I haven't had anything new. So it's cheaper now.

Your lancet thingy ought to have an adjustable depth. Start on the lowest depth and see if you get enough blood from that, if not go up one and try again. Usually soreness and bruising is because the sharp bit is going too deep, either because the depth is set too high or because the lancet has come a little bit loose from the socket.

That's helpful, thank you @BlackAmericanoNoSugar , thats good to know.

To be absolutely honest, like @Gammeldragz , i am a bit of a gadget geek so would love a go at something new. Having never heard about this type of device, though, I am a bit afraid that it might not actually live up to its promises. So difficult to know whether it will be the next miracle, or something that disappears without trace.

Would love to hear from anyone who might have more of an idea a out the science behind it