If you’ve been diagnosed with a metabolic health issue, you might have used a continuous glucose monitor (CGM) at some point to track the impact of your food intake on your blood sugar. However, as of March 2023, only 2.4 million people used a CGM in the U.S., and because of the relatively small adoption rate of this technology, the vast majority of folks with diabetes or who are in danger of metabolic health issues may not have access to real-time insights into what the impact different foods may have on their glucose levels.
January AI aims to change this with its latest innovation: a free app that performs predictive analysis on the impact of various foods on blood sugar. The company, which unveiled its newest tool at CES last week, has developed an AI-powered app that analyzes meal photos and offers users immediate feedback on glucose impacts, macros, and healthier meal alternatives.
January says its app uses generative AI to automatically generate accurate food titles and estimates of ingredients and ingredient quantities within complex meals.
“It uses three kinds of generative AI to tell you your blood sugar response,” said Noosheen Hashemi, CEO of January, speaking at The Spoon’s CES Food Tech Conference last week. “It uses our own generative AI for glucose, and then it uses a vision generative AI to pick what’s in the food, and then it uses that language model to give it a title.”
According to the company, its AI-driven predictions are based on millions of data points, including wearable data, demographic information, and user reports. The company says this approach enables the app to provide personalized glucose level estimates and insights, making metabolic health management more accessible and actionable.
“It’s as simple as scanning a food,” said Hashemi. “You can also scan a barcode. You can also do a search. And we can tell you all the macro, its total calories, how much fiber, protein, fat, and carbs it has. And we can also show your blood sugar.”
According to Hashemi, the company’s platform can be customized and trained for specific users by taking data from a wearable such as a smartwatch, a person’s glucose monitor, or even food logs. With that data, the app can create highly customized predictions around a person’s biomarkers and dietary preferences.
“One out of three people in America has pre-diabetes, and 90% of them don’t know it,” said Hashemi. “And one out of nine people has diabetes, and 20% of those people don’t know it. So blood sugar is something we should all be managing, but we just don’t know that we should.”
Given the increasing popularity of GLP-1 medications, my guess is that more Americans will start to consider how their diet affects their blood sugar in the coming years. And, even if they don’t use a glucose monitor or get a prescription for a medication like Ozempic, increased awareness will push many to use apps like this one to help them better understand how a given food will impact their blood sugar and overall health.
You can hear Hashemi discussing the app and showing a demo in the video below.
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