This Is the Blood Glucose Monitor We’ve Been Waiting For

The wearables industry has solved the relatively easy stuff: step counting, sleep tracking, fitness coaching. It has also solved more complex things like detecting atrial fibrillation and sleep apnea. While all of these biometrics are useful, the continuous tracking of blood sugar in a way that’s noninvasive (meaning it doesn’t involve needles) has eluded the makers of fitness tracking devices.Diabetics need to monitor their blood sugar constantly to make sure it doesn’t go too high and damage their organs. This is especially hard for elderly people and small children, since monitoring blood sugar usually requires a pinprick blood test or a continuous glucose monitor (CGM), which also reaches under the skin.CGMs have also become hugely popular among non-diabetics as the popularity of GLP-1s has skyrocketed. Eating like a diabetic—lots of protein and fiber, minimal sugar and carbs—is a great way to lose weight. Apple, among other companies, has spent years, and millions of dollars, trying to introduce a no-prick blood glucose monitor to the Apple Watch, but the feature hasn’t arrived yet.All this is to explain why I could scarcely believe that the PreEvnt Isaac was real when I saw it here at CES 2026 in Las Vegas. The Isaac is a small device, about the size of a quarter. Instead of tracking blood glucose optically through the skin, it measures volatile organic compounds in your breath to detect biomarkers like acetone that can be correlated with rising blood glucose levels.You might not be able to wear it in a smart ring or watch, but a small device that you can wear around your neck or keep in your bag without having to retreat to the bathroom to prick your skin is a huge step up in quality of life for many, many people.Upcoming FDA AuthorizationPhotograph: Adrienne SoThe Isaac is named after the inventor’s grandson, who was diagnosed with type 1 diabetes at 2 years old. A 2-year-old doesn’t want to get pricked constantly. Bud Wilcox realized that “acetone breath”—that sweet, fruity breath that is a common diabetic symptom—could be used to check for blood sugar events.PreEvnt and Wilcox showcased the concept at CES 2025 (it didn’t seem real then, either). Later that year, the device entered active human clinical trials at Indiana University. The study is comparing Isaac’s performance with monitoring blood sugar levels as compared to traditional blood sugar monitoring, starting with adolescents with type 1 diabetes and then expanding to adults with type 2 diabetes.The trials are being conducted with an eye toward regulatory review by the US Food and Drug Administration in the upcoming year.“This is a de novo application, so we’re educating the FDA as we’re working with them,” says Fredrick Brooks, PreEvnt’s director of health technologies, referring to the FDA’s pathway to getting a device to market while it’s still being assessed. “They’ve been very interested and understanding.”Testing, One, Two, ThreePhotograph: Adrienne SoI got to try out the Isaac at CES. It’s a small disc, with a loop at the top so that you can wear it around your neck (a key feature if your market includes small children). When you breathe onto it, the device computes your blood sugar and logs it into the companion smartphone app.The app is still in the final stages of development, but as it currently stands, you can reach out to your emergency contacts for help if you need it. (Diabetics can often become incapacitated when they’re hypoglycemic.) When PreEvnt demoed it for me, the app included a log so users can note what they’re eating on a timeline.Metabolic tracking has become such a craze that I have begun to be mildly concerned that companies are trying to give us all food anxiety. Garmin recently introduced the AI-powered Nutrition feature in its Connect+ subscription plan; Oura’s smart ring platform lets you take pictures of your meals and analyze them with its Meals feature; Amazfit’s prototype V1tal camera not only records your food but also how long it takes you to eat it and how much you left on your plate.Photograph: Adrienne SoIn a sea of companies monitoring your food intake and blood sugar for peak performance or weight loss, the Isaac is a nice reminder that these technologies were initially developed to help make a difference in someone’s quality of life. I’m an adult and can barely stand to prick myself; there are a lot of diabetic kids whose lives are going to get much easier.It might not be in a premium device that you already own quite yet, like an Apple Watch or a Garmin, but at least noninvasive blood sugar tracking is on the way.