Nutrino announces benefit of FoodPrint mobile app in people with Type 1 diabetes

Jun 12 2017

Today at the 77th Scientific Sessions of the American Diabetes Association, Nutrino, Inc. (www.nutrino.co) announced its initial findings from its data partnership with Medtronic. Key findings include a reduction in the frequency of hypoglycemic events upon the use of the FoodPrint mobile application.

People living with Type 1 diabetes must keep track of an overwhelming amount of data in order to keep blood glucose levels in check. Diabetes is a complex endocrinological condition that is affected by various factors including eating regimen, insulin dosing, exercise, sleep, stress, illness, and others. It is well understood and documented that out of range blood glucose readings and excursions makes the condition more challenging, as well as puts a patient at risk for developing complications. The FoodPrint app by Nutrino helps people living with diabetes not only keep track of this information, but also learn from patterns and insights how to improve their diabetes management.

At the 2016 American Diabetes Association, Nutrino for Diabetes launched its product: a nutrition-oriented decision support system, for patients with continuous glucose monitors (CGM) and insulin pumps, that allowed them to track their glucose responses. The benefit of the FoodPrint mobile app is that it gives a comprehensive picture of the meal and its components, as well as a history of the person's individual response to that food. The application lets users showcase which foods sent them out of glucose range and which foods kept them in range. Users were able to track much more than carbohydrate intake in the application, which is often considered the singular metric for diabetes management decisions. In actuality, carbohydrate alone is not enough information to make educated diabetes choices. This enables people with diabetes to have a better understanding of their individual response to the carbohydrate and other macronutrient content of the food they eat which enables them to better match insulin as a result. Although this does not directly change overall glucose control, it can help prevent hypoglycemia, which is primarily due to overestimating the insulin dose required to cover food intake. Hypoglycemia is a condition characterized by severely low blood glucose, which in extreme cases can lead to unconsciousness or death. These consequences make it a crucial consideration for people with diabetes, as well as for researchers studying the treatment of diabetes.

A six month pilot of the FoodPrint mobile application, which lets users see how specific foods affect their glucose, showed notable improvements in diabetes management, namely a reduction in the occurrence of hypoglycemia. Nutrino evaluated sensor glucose readings in patients with Type 1 diabetes two weeks prior to the use of the app and four weeks while using it. Average blood glucose values for the two weeks before using the app and for the four weeks while using the app were comparable. The rate of hypoglycemia, in this case defined as rate of events lasting twenty minutes or more below 55 mg/dL (four consecutive sensor glucose readings), for users who experienced at least one such hypoglycemic events before using the Nutrino app and who used the app daily was reduced by 18%. Patients who did not use the app daily had no significant change in the rate of hypoglycemia. These preliminary results suggest that use of the Nutrino app significantly reduces rates of hypoglycemia.

"Being able to see how insulin and food affect my sugar was key. As a diabetic I have always injected insulin, or had it dosed through my pump, but I can't really see how it's working. With the Nutrino app, I can see my glucose and my insulin. Being able to see the FoodPrint and how insulin and sugar affect my body gives me an overall picture of what my diabetes is doing. And that everything I do affects it," said Brenda Ramey, a patient who participated in the beta program of FoodPrint.

"This finding represents an important step forward in the management of Type 1 diabetes and addressing the value of considering more than just carbs," said Ram Weiss, Pediatric endocrinologist at Hadassah Medical Center and senior lecturer in the Nutrition department at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem.

Additional learnings from this study included data that showed people ate the same foods 78% of the time.​