Olympic athletes use diabetes glucose monitors to hone performance, training

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Olympians including Dutch marathon runner Abdi Nageeye are using a new tool they hope will boost their medal chances this summer: tiny monitors that attach to the skin to track blood glucose levels.

Continuous glucose monitors or CGMs, were developed for use by diabetes patients but their makers, led by Abbott and Dexcom, also spy opportunities in sports and wellness.

The Paris Olympics, which start on July 26, are an opportunity to showcase the technology - even though there is as yet no proof it can boost athletic performance.

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"I do see a day where CGM is certainly going to be used outside of diabetes in a big way," said Dexcom's Chief Operating Officer Jacob Leach.

Diabetes patients remain the CGM specialist's commercial focus, he told Reuters, but Dexcom is also working with researchers on future use to optimize athletic performance. He would not disclose details.

The CGM market is already worth billions of dollars thanks to demand from diabetes patients, who use the coin-sized adhesive skin patches with a Bluetooth link to a smartphone instead of drawing blood through a finger stick. The readings help determine whether they need an insulin dose.

Dutch runner Abdi Nageeye wears a CGM (continuous glucose monitor) on his upper left arm as he competes in the 2022 Rotterdam marathon, in Rotterdam, Netherlands, in April 2022. (NN Running Team/Handout via Reuters/File Photo)

In March, Dexcom's Stelo device, targeting people with early-stage diabetes who are not on insulin, became the