Healthy influencers are promoting glucose sensors to lose weight and gauge their sugar intake at the risk of trivializing diabetes.
- In France, in 2020, more than 3.5 million people were treated with medication for diabetes, i.e. 5.3% of the population.
- Each year, diabetes kills 10 times more people than road accidents.
Glucose sensors presented as a simple slimming and well-being gadget by influencers, this is what angers Internet users and diabetes experts.
A “nonsense”
Indeed, on certain videos that have confirmed the trend for a few weeks, we see French influencers extolling the advantages of the glucose sensor, an essential medical device intended for people with diabetes. As reported BFM TV, one of them even posted several screenshots of the evolution of his blood sugar over the day. A way to limit the “post-meal crashes“, them “mood swings” and the “lack of concentration“, but also of “losing weight“, according to her.
“Having a blood sugar spike after eating a slice of jam is completely normal, it’s part of the metabolism“, recalls Jean-François Thébau, vice-president in charge of advocacy for the French Federation of Diabetics (FFD). “Wanting to erase these glycemic peaks, when you are not sick, is nonsense.“
This phenomenon is all the more irritating since some diabetics do not have access to this device, which must be changed every two weeks, because it is expensive (between 40 and 50 euros per unit) and is reimbursed only for certain types of diabetes. and often out of stock. Patients fear not only additional supply difficulties, but also the discrediting of their fight against the disease on a daily basis.
Monitor your blood sugar constantly
A person with diabetes no longer secretes or does not secrete enough insulin to regulate his blood sugar level, which must be constantly monitored in order to be able to inject insulin if his sugar level is too high. The risks are real: developing serious complications that can lead to death, or falling into a coma.
The glucose sensor is a small, portable device, about the size of a two-euro coin, that sticks to the back of the arm, or abdomen. It has the advantage of avoiding repeated finger pricks, and allows patients to better control their disease. “If it was a matter of pricking each other’s fingertips six times a day, would they have done it?“, wonders on Twitter this woman with diabetes.
