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Continuous glucose monitors overestimated the blood sugar levels of non-diabetic people in a small study, calling into question how useful the buzzy devices are for the average person.
Researchers from the University of Bath, UK, compared the results of one brand of CGM with the gold-standard finger prick test when measuring the blood glucose levels of 15 non-diabetic people.
CGM patches provide data on blood sugar with a delay of up to 20 minutes using a sensor placed under the skin with a small needle. Because of the way they collect blood from users, the researchers hypothesized that they may give different results to finger-prick tests.
They found that the CGMs consistently overestimated blood sugar levels by 30% after the participants consumed fruits in various forms: including whole, blended, and smoothies by a brand available in UK grocery stores. The results were published in The American Journal of Clinical Nutrition on Wednesday.
The authors said the smoothie company Innocent Drinks funded the study but had no other involvement.
CGMs were designed for diabetics. But in recent years they have grown in popularity among health-conscious people interested in how different foods affect their blood sugar levels, in the hope of preventing chronic diseases and maintaining a healthy weight.
Last March, the US Food and Drug Administration changed their approval of CGMs from prescription-only to over-the-counter, meaning anyone could buy one.
Javier Gonzalez, a professor of nutrition and metabolism at the University of Bath and the study's lead researcher, said that CGMs are "fantastic tools" for people with diabetes.
"However, for someone with good glucose control, they can be misleading based on their current performance," Gonzalez said. "For healthy individuals, relying on CGMs could lead to unnecessary food restrictions or poor dietary choices."
The authors acknowledged that the study was limited because they tested one brand of CGM, and the relatively small number of participants meant the results might not be relevant to the wider population.
Tijana Simic
Experts not involved in the study agreed that CGMs may be causing unnecessary worry in non-diabetics.
Nicola Guess, an academic dietitian and researcher at the University of Oxford who specializes in the dietary prevention and management of type 2 diabetes, said the study suggests that CGMs may wrongly lead non-diabetic people to believe they have pre-diabetes.
This is not the first study to flag inaccuracies with CGMs, so non-diabetic people should take the data they provide with a pinch of salt — or not use them at all, Guess said.
Responding to the study, Adam Collins, an associate professor of nutrition at the University of Surrey, UK, referenced his own ongoing research, which found that two CGMs worn on different arms of the same person logged different data.
Guess previously explained to BI why, if you don't have diabetes or pre-diabetes, blood sugar fluctuations are nothing to worry about.
"When we're considering CGMs in healthy people, it is perfectly normal for your blood glucose to go up and down. It shouldn't be flat, so don't aim for flat. And I think that will help a lot of people relax," Guess said.
There's no evidence to suggest that a blood sugar rise is always followed by a stark drop or causes hunger either, she said.
Charles Brenner, a biochemist who chairs the Department of Diabetes and Cancer Metabolism at City of Hope in Los Angeles, told BI that data from CGMs can cause people to be more alarmed than they need to be.
However, CGMs may have some uses for non-diabetics. BI's Gabby Landsverk previously spoke to an endurance athlete who used one, with the help of a sports dietitian, to learn that she had more energy if she ate more food, including complex carbs, and ate earlier in the day.
And a woman who was pre-diabetic told Landsverk tracking blood sugar levels helped her understand the foods that best suited her lifestyle, helping her to lose weight.
Micro LED has become one of the most anticipated display technologies for consumer products in recent years. Using self-emissive LEDs as pixels, the backlight-free displays combine the contrast-rich capabilities of OLED with the brightness and durability potential of LCD-LED displays, and they avoid burn-in issues.
We're often asked about the future of Micro LED and when display enthusiasts can realistically expect to own a TV or monitor with the technology. Here's the latest on the highly anticipated—and still elusive—display technology.
Micro LED is still years away from being suitable for mass production of consumer products, as the industry is struggling to manage obstacles like manufacturing costs and competition from other advanced display tech like OLED. Micro LED TVs are currently available for purchase, but they cost six figures, making them unattainable for the vast majority of people.
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When Jonathan Wolf co-founded the nutrition company ZOE eight years ago, his diet was "not great." He was eating lots of ultra-processed food and tons of sugar, he told Business Insider.
But he began making incremental changes to his diet in 2017, after he met ZOE co-founder Tim Spector, an epidemiologist who studies nutrition and gut health at Kings College London.
Wolf was previously the chief product officer at an advertising tech company. Spector made him aware of how he could improve his diet, including by caring for his gut microbiome, or the microorganisms that live in the gastrointestinal tract. Evidence suggests that a diverse gut microbiome, partly achieved by eating fibrous and fermented foods, is linked to better physical and mental health.
Here are the positive steps Wolf took.
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In the last 18 months, Wolf has become more aware of and reluctant to eat ultra-processed foods, he said. UPFs are made using industrial processes, and can contain additives such as preservatives and emulsifiers. They were linked to 32 health problems in a recent study, but the authors said further research is needed to confirm there is a link between UPFs and poor health.
Wolf tries to eat fewer UPFs, including by avoiding artificial sweeteners or foods at restaurants that are likely to be ultra-processed.
"We're eating these foods that are made with ingredients that have never been available in the kitchen, that our bodies have never been exposed to before. Whereas our grandparents were eating zero ultra-processed foods," he said. "I suspect it's going to turn out to be a huge part of the health crisis that we're having."
It can be hard to cut out UPFs entirely because they are ubiquitous, particularly in Western countries. Nichola Ludlam-Raine, a dietitian, previously told BI how they can be incorporated into a healthy diet.
Wolf had stopped eating foods that he was led to believe weren't healthy, such as gluten.
But research on the gut microbiome published in 2021, which ZOE was involved with, showed that a more diverse gut microbiome was associated with better markers of health, including lower blood pressure and a lower chance of having a fatty liver.
Participants who ate a variety of healthy, plant-based foods had more diverse gut microbiomes, the study found.
Wolf realized he needed to eat more whole foods to increase the diversity of his diet and, therefore, his gut microbiome.
Spector was part of a 2018 American Gut Project study into how many types of dietary fiber, found in plants, are needed for a diverse microbiome. Fruits and vegetables were factored in, as well as other plant-based items such as spices.
It concluded that 30 plants a week appeared to provide enough, which Wolf tries to aim for.
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"I did not get there in one step. In fact, it took me years to increase to 30. But I did it steadily, and I think the biggest thing that helped was the realization that tinned food and frozen food can actually be really healthy," he said.
He tries to keep nutritious foods on hand, such as frozen spinach, canned beans, and nuts, so he can easily throw together a meal that contains at least a few plants.
Wolf was pleased to discover that he could still eat chocolate every day as part of a healthy diet.
"If you're eating a really high-quality dark chocolate, there's a lot of science that says that's actually good for you," he said, partly because it counts as one of your 30 plants a week, contains fiber, and is fermented.
He slowly transitioned from eating milk chocolate, to 50% cocoa, to 60%, and all the way up to 90%. Dark chocolate contains antioxidants, fiber, and polyphenols.
Wolf cut down on foods that spiked his blood sugar particularly high, specifically white bread and tea with lots of sugar.
Blood sugar spikes are a safe and necessary part of digesting food. But having consistently high or low blood sugar can lead to a higher risk of chronic diseases, Sarah Berry, professor of nutritional sciences at King's College London, previously told BI.
Wolf replaced white bread with rye bread because it didn't spike his blood sugar as high, and gradually reduced the amount of sugar in his tea.
ZOE sells continuous glucose monitors, which were originally developed for people with diabetes to track their blood sugar levels. However, experts are split on whether they are useful for non-diabetics, and fear they may lead to people avoiding certain foods unnecessarily.
Plenty of computer monitors made debuts at the Consumer Electronics Show (CES) in Las Vegas this year, but many of the updates at this year's event were pretty minor. Many could have easily been a part of 2024's show.
But some brought new and interesting features to the table for 2025—in this article, we'll tell you all about them.
Pixel addicts are always right at home at CES, and the most interesting high-resolution computer monitor to come out of this year's show is the LG UltraFine 6K Monitor (model 32U990A).
Samsung is starting 2025 with a fresh attempt at popularizing 3D displays. Announced today, Samsung’s Odyssey 3D is the follow-up to prototypes that Samsung demoed at last year's CES technology trade show. This year, Samsung is showing off a final product, which is supposed to make 2D content look 3D.
Those who have dealt with 3D glasses may be relieved to hear that the Odyssey 3D doesn't require them. According to the South Korean company’s announcement, the monitor's use of a lenticular lens that is “attached to the front of the panel and its front stereo camera" means that you don't have to wear glasses to access the monitor's “customizable 3D experience.” Lenticular lenses direct different images to each eye to make images look three-dimensional. This is a notable advancement from the first 3D monitor that Samsung released in 2009. That display used Nvidia software and Nvidia shutter glasses to allow users to toggle between a 2D view and a 3D view through a few button presses and supported content.
Another advancement is the Odyssey 3D's claimed ability to use artificial intelligence “to analyze and convert 2D video into 3D.” We’ve recently seen similar technology from brands like Acer, which announced portable monitors in 2022 and then announced laptops that could convert 2D content into stereoscopic 3D in 2023. Those displays also relied on AI, as well as a specialized optical lens and a pair of eye-tracking cameras, to create the effect. But unlike Acer's portable monitors, Samsung claims that its monitor can make 2D content look like 3D even if that content doesn’t officially support 3D.
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The good news when it comes to buying monitors is that there has never been more choice, with numerous options for every type of use ranging from productivity to content creation to gaming. The problem is that all that choice can make it challenging to decide which one is best for your particular needs and budget.
In this guide we can help you make that decision and show you which factors are most important, whether they be color accuracy, size, ergonomics or refresh rates. We used that information to gather the top picks, including options from our own monitor reviews, to help you find the one that best fits your needs.
The cheapest monitors are still TN (twisted nematic), which are strictly for gamers or office use. VA (vertical alignment) monitors are also relatively cheap, while offering good brightness and a high contrast ratio. However, content creators will find that LCD, IPS monitors (in-plane switching) deliver better color accuracy, pixel density, picture quality and viewing angles.
If maximum brightness is important, a quantum dot LCD display is the way to go — those are typically found in larger displays. OLED monitors are now available and offer the best blacks and color reproduction, but they lack the brightness of LED or quantum dot displays. Plus, they’re expensive. The latest type of OLED monitor, called QD-OLED from Samsung, is now common among gaming monitors. The most notable advantage is that it can get a lot brighter, with recent models hitting up to 1,000 nits+ of peak brightness.
MiniLEDs are now widely used in high-end displays. They’re similar to quantum dot tech, but as the name suggests, it uses smaller LED diodes that are just 0.2mm in diameter. As such, manufacturers can pack in up to three times more LEDs with more local dimming zones, delivering deeper blacks and better contrast.
Where 24-inch displays used to be more or less standard (and can still be useful for basic computing), 27-, 32-, 34- and even 42-inch displays have become popular for entertainment, content creation and even gaming these days.
Nearly every monitor used to be 16:9, but it’s now possible to find 16:10 and other more exotic display shapes. On the gaming and entertainment side, we’re also seeing curved and ultrawide monitors with aspect ratios like 21:9. If you do decide to buy an ultrawide display, however, keep in mind that a 30-inch 21:9 model is the same height as a 24-inch monitor, so you might end up with a smaller display than you expected.
A 4K monitor is nearly a must for content creators, and some folks are even going for 5K or all the way up to 8K. Keep in mind, though, that you’ll need a pretty powerful computer with a decent graphics card to drive all those sharp pixels. And 4K resolution should be paired with a screen size of 27 inches and up, or you won’t notice much difference between 1440p. At the same time, I wouldn’t get a model larger than 27 inches unless it’s 4K, as you’ll start to see pixelation if you’re working up close to the display.
One new category to consider is portable monitors designed to be carried and used with laptops. Those typically come in 1080p resolutions and sizes from 13-15 inches. They usually have a lightweight kickstand-type support that folds up to keep things compact.
HDR adds vibrancy to entertainment and gaming – but be careful before jumping in. Some monitors that claim HDR on their marketing materials don’t even conform to a base standard. To be sure that a display at least meets minimum HDR specs, you’ll want to choose one with a DisplayHDR rating with each tier representing maximum brightness in nits.
However, the lowest DisplayHDR 400 and 500 tiers may disappoint you with a lack of brightness, washed out blacks and mediocre color reproduction. If you can afford it, the best monitor to choose is a model with DisplayHDR 600, 1000 or True Black 400, True Black 500 and True Black 600.
Where televisions typically offer HDR10 and Dolby Vision or HDR10+, most PC monitors only support the HDR10 standard, other than a few (very expensive) models. That doesn’t matter much for content creation or gaming, but HDR streaming on Netflix, Amazon Prime Video and other services won’t look quite as punchy. In addition, the best gaming monitors are usually the ones supporting HDR600 (and up), rather than content creation monitors – with a few exceptions.
Refresh rate is a key feature, particularly on gaming monitors. A bare minimum nowadays is 60Hz, and 80Hz and higher refresh rates are much easier on the eyes. However, most 4K displays top out at 60Hz with some rare exceptions and the HDMI 2.0 spec only supports 4K at 60Hz, so you’d need at least DisplayPort 1.4 (4K at 120Hz) or HDMI 2.1. The latter is now available on a number of monitors, particularly gaming displays. However, it’s only supported by the latest NVIDIA RTX 3000- and 4000-series, AMD RX 6000-series GPUs.
There are essentially three types of modern display inputs: Thunderbolt, DisplayPort and HDMI. Most monitors built for PCs come with the latter two, while a select few (typically built for Macs) will use Thunderbolt. To add to the confusion, USB-C ports may be Thunderbolt 3, and by extension, DisplayPort compatible, so you may need a USB-C to Thunderbolt or DisplayPort cable adapter depending on your display.
Serious content creators should consider a more costly 10-bit monitor that can display billions of colors. If budget is an issue, you can go for an 8-bit panel that can fake billions of colors via dithering (often spec’d as “8-bit + FRC”). For entertainment or business purposes, a regular 8-bit monitor that can display millions of colors will be fine.
The other aspect of color is the gamut. That expresses the range of colors that can be reproduced and not just the number of colors. Most good monitors these days can cover the sRGB and Rec.709 gamuts (designed for photos and video respectively). For more demanding work, though, you’ll want one that can reproduce more demanding modern gamuts like AdobeRGB, DCI-P3 and Rec.2020 gamuts, which encompass a wider range of colors. The latter two are often used for film projection and HDR, respectively.
This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/computing/accessories/best-monitor-130006843.html?src=rss
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After a couple of years without much happening, smart displays are in the news again. Aside from smart TVs, consumer screens that connect to the Internet have never reached a mainstream audience. However, there seems to be a resurgence in efforts to make smart displays more popular. The approaches that some companies are taking are better than those of others, revealing the good, the bad, and the ugly behind the push.
Of note here, smart TVs are not smart displays. Unlike the majority of smart displays, smart TVs are mainstream tech. So, we will mostly focus on devices like the Google Nest Hub Max or Amazon Echo Show (as pictured above).
When it comes to emerging technology, a great indication of innovation is the degree to which a product addresses a real user problem. Products seeking a problem to solve or that are glorified vehicles for ads and tracking don't qualify.
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