Precision Ketone Meter

Freestyle Optium Neo Blood Glucose And Ketone Monitoring System

Insulin Support Tools At Your Fingertips Introducing the FreeStyle Optium Neo System, with a choice of support tools especially designed for people on insulin. Finally a meter that’s as easy1 or as useful as you want it to be! Key Features Accurate blood glucose & blood ketone^ testing 1,2 Trend indicators highlight when your blood glucose patterns need attention Insulin logging helps you track your insulin doses Clear, sharp screen is icon driven & easy to read1 even in direct sunlight No chip or coding required Fast 5 second test time Small blood sample required 0.6 µl Individually foil-wrapped strips protect from air & moisture, are convenient to store & carry3 Meets current ISO 15197:2013 system accuracy standards1 FreeStyle Auto-Assist Neo compatible – download up to 1000 events & print or email reports Owner’s Manual Instructional How to Use Video Test Strips The FreeStyle Optium Neo meter uses FreeStyle Optium Blood Glucose test strips to check for blood glucose. It can also be used with FreeStyle Optium blood β-Ketone test strips to check blood ketone levels. Continue reading >>

Ketone Testing

Ketones are a chemical produced by your body when, due to a lack of insulin, it is not able to use glucose as its source of energy, and instead start breaking down fat ••••• Ketones are a chemical produced by your body when it is not able to use glucose as its source of energy due to a lack of insulin. When glucose can’t be used as energy, your body will start breaking down fat for energy instead and this is when ketones are produced. This is a short term solution for the body as over time the level of ketones will increase and can become dangerously high. If this happens, diabetic ketoacidosis (DKA) can develop which can be life threatening. Having ketones is more common in Type 1 than Type 2 diabetes. You may have continued high glucose readings because you are finding it difficult to manage your diabetes, have missed a few injections, you are ill, have an infection, or for any other reason. It is important to test your level of ketones if you have Type 1 diabetes and your glucose readings are above 15mmols/L. Checking for ketones may be advised by your healthcare professional as part of your diabetes management program. You can test your level of ketones by using urine sticks or blood test strips with a meter that can test for ketones. Not all meters have the ability to test for ketones and you will need separate test strips for ketones to do this. Blood ketone test results Normal blood ketone levels are slightly different from person to person. This table will help you decide if you need to do anything and what you should do. Remember, it is far better to be careful, so if you are not sure contact your diabetes care team straightaway. Blood ketone level What you should do Below 0.6 mmol/L Readings below 0.6 mmol/L are in the normal range. Follow your hea Continue reading >>

Hyperglycemia And Ketone Testing

Background Hyperglycemia means high blood sugar. For people with type 1 diabetes, hyperglycemia caused by insufficient insulin can lead to diabetic ketoacidosis, a very serious situation that requires emergency medical treatment. Hyperglycemia can also be caused by eating too much food, which requires treatment to lower blood sugar levels but which does not lead to DKA. The only way to determine between the two situations is through ketone testing. Causes of Hyperglycemia Eating too much food relative to the amount of insulin injected Missing an insulin injection Blockage in insulin pump tubing Disconnected insulin pump infusion set Illness or stress Symptoms of Hyperglycemia Frequent urination Frequent thirst Blurry vision Dry mouth Fatigue Testing for Ketones There are two ways to test for ketones: urine testing and blood testing. Just as blood glucose testing proved to be superior to urine glucose testing, so too is blood ketone testing proving to be better than urine ketone testing. Ketones appear first in the blood, then in the urine after being filtered by the kidneys. Thus the body has been producing ketones for a while before you can detect them in the urine. Children with Diabetes Highly Recommends blood ketone testing over urine ketone testing. Since ketones in the blood can be detected well before ketones in the urine, there is the possibility to treat sooner than you would if you waited for urine testing to show a positive result. Blood ketone testing can be easier for parents who have very young children with diabetes who do not always have the ability to urinate on command. Also, being able to test with a finger stick eliminates the need to find a bathroom to test if you're away from home or when kids are at school. Two recent studies (February 2006) demon Continue reading >>

Precision Xtra

SIMPLE BLOOD GLUCOSE & KETONE TESTING IN THE SAME METER The Precision Xtra system offers intuitive setup and simple icon-driven menus that help simplify blood glucose monitoring. The Precision Xtra system tests both blood glucose and blood ketone all with the same meter using the Precision Xtra blood glucose test strips and Precision Xtra blood ketone test strips. EASY, EVERYDAY TESTING Simple 2-Step Testing Insert strip, add adequate blood sample, and test begins Smart Icon-Driven Menu Intuitive setup and easy navigation Easy-to-Use Buttons Easy to review results—with ability to scroll back and forth PRECISION XTRA BLOOD GLUCOSE TEST STRIPS No coding means one less step Accurate results in 5 seconds Small sample size – only 0.6 µL Individually wrapped for easy testing on-the-go PRECISION XTRA BLOOD KETONE TEST STRIP No coding means one less step Accurate results in 10 seconds Sample size - only 1.5 µL Individually wrapped for easy testing on-the-go QUICK LINKS The Virtual Product Manual Owner’s Guide: English | Español Log Book Precision Xtra Glucose Test Strips - Instructions for use Precision Xtra Ketone Test Strips - Instructions for use Data Management Software Continue reading >>

A*STAR and SingHealth to collaborate on big data for precision medicine and smart technologies for tackling diabetes

Abbott Precision Xtra Blood Glucose Meter Review

One of the biggest benefits of the Precision Xtra Blood Glucose Meter is the versatility that if offers those with diabetes. It is one of a select few meters that give you the ability to test both your blood sugar level and your blood ketone levels. This type of meter is extremely helpful especially for parents who have younger children with type 1 diabetes. Let’s take a look more in detail on the pros and cons of the Precision Xtra and what I really think about it overall. Pros Testing Blood Ketones: This is the one meter we always keep close to test for blood ketones. This comes in handy when the kids are sick or experiencing a high blood sugar in the middle of the night. It can be rather difficult to get a kiddo with a high blood sugar to get up and want to go test ketones by urinating on the ketodiastix. Instead you can easily test their ketones with one poke while testing their blood sugar levels. While urine strips still work great for the mornings or other times you experience high blood sugar levels, if you want to get a more accurate picture on if ketones are present, the blood ketones are the way to go. I suggest reading these articles: If you are not familiar with using a blood ketone meter, you may be confused when you first see your results, as they are different than blood sugar readings. When using the Precision Xtra Meter you can expect the following: Results Below 0.6 This is considered to be a normal range for blood ketone levels. I’ve found however, that when they hit 0.3 this is when you should pay close attention to ketones developing. 6 to 1.5 When you see numbers in this range, ketones are currently present. This is when you should make sure you are properly treating for ketones so that they do not develop into a problem later on. Contacting a Continue reading >>

Validation Of A Portable Hand-held Whole-blood Ketone Meter For Use In Cats.

Abstract BACKGROUND: Urinary dipsticks are the most frequent method used for screening of ketones in animals, but this method has many drawbacks. In human medicine, portable meters that measure ketones in whole blood have largely replaced urinary dipsticks. OBJECTIVE: The aim of this prospective study was to validate a portable whole-blood ketone meter for use in cats. METHODS: Sixty-two cats (11 clinically healthy, 51 with diabetes mellitus) were included in the study. The concentration of β-hydroxybuyrate (β-HB) was measured in venous and capillary blood with a hand-held ketone meter (Precision Xceed; assay range 0-8 mmol/L) and compared with a spectrophotometric method. Precision, accuracy, and the effects of hematocrit and anticoagulants were evaluated. RESULTS: Between-run precision using low- and high-concentration control solutions was 8.1% and 2.6%, respectively; within-run coefficient of variation determined using 12 feline blood samples was 2.8%. In the 62 cats, β-HB concentrations measured with the portable ketone meter ranged from 0-7.4 mmol/L (median 0.9 mmol/L). When β-HB concentrations measured by the portable meter were < 4.0 mmol/L there was good agreement with the reference method, but concentrations > 4.0 mmol/L were lower than those obtained by the reference method in 20 of 24 cats (83%). There was good correlation between capillary and venous measurements. Results were not affected by hematocrits from 0.17 to 0.50 L/L, but EDTA was not a suitable anticoagulant. CONCLUSION: Measurement of β-HB concentration in peripheral or capillary blood by an easy-to-use portable ketone meter was suitable for detecting ketonemia in cats. Underestimation of β-HB concentration was observed at higher values, but results were sufficiently high to aid in diagnosi Continue reading >>

The Best Ketone Meters To Monitor Ketosis – Christmas 2017

The goal of a high-fat, low-carb diet is to get into a state called Ketosis where the body burns fat as fuel rather than using glucose as its source of energy. Types of Ketone Meters There are several types of ketone meters available that monitor ketosis in vastly different ways, some more accurate than others and some more convenient others. We’ll discuss 3 types of Ketone Meters available starting with the best on the market today in 2017. Ketonix Breath Ketone Analyzer The Ketonix breath analyser doesn’t use any blood glucose test or test strip, it works by analysing acetone on your breath that your body produces when you’re in a state of ketosis. The Ketonix is slightly less accurate as blood ketone and glucose meters are per test. But they are more convenient With the Ketonix, you can test yourself an unlimited amount of times, hourly if you like. Which is ideal if you want to see how various foods effect ketosis after you’ve eaten them or even the effects exercise has. The Ketonix is affordable when you take into account the price of test strips for blood monitors. (Many companies give away cheap versions of blood monitors but make their money on testing strips). The Ketonix has no test strips and requires no further outlay. Ketonix also comes with software that will keep a log and also calibrates the device to the optimal settings for your goals. If you’re trying to monitor ketones under conditions such as athletic performance, weight loss, diabetes, alzheimer’s or epilepsy. The Ketonix adjusts its settings to test whether you’re in the ideal range for that condition. The Ketonix Breath Ketone Analyzer is a one-off payment you can read more & check them out here. Blood Ketone Meter One of the best & most precise ways of monitoring ketosis is with a Continue reading >>

5 Ways To Measure Your Ketones

5 Ways to Measure Your Ketones A ketogenic diet is a very low carbohydrate, moderate protein and high fat based nutrition plan. A ketogenic diet trains the individual’s metabolism to run off of fatty acids or ketone bodies. This is called fat adapted, when the body has adapted to run off of fatty acids/ketones at rest. Research has demonstrated that this nutrition plan improves insulin sensitivity and reduces inflammation throughout the body. This leads to greater fat metabolism and muscle development as well as a reduced risk of chronic disease. (1, 2). I get asked all the time how to measure the state of ketosis. There are several major ways and we will discuss those in this article. Measuring Your Ketones There are three types of ketone bodies: Acetone, Acetoacetate and Beta-Hydroxybutryate (BHB). Each of these three can be tested as acetone is a ketone released through the breath, acetoacetate is a ketone released through urine and BHB is (although not technically a ketone it acts like a ketone) in the blood stream and used by the cells for energy. 1. Blood Ketone Meter This measures BHB and is considered to be the most accurate way to measure ketone bodies. These have the ability to determine the ketone level in your blood precisely but they are also pricey and invasive. Personally, I freak out every time I have to prick my finger!! The Precision Xtra blood glucose and ketone meter is a good buy at $28-$30. The expensive part is the ketone test strips here which can cost $4 each. If you are looking at testing yourself every day it is going to cost you $120 a month and the $30 meter. Here is a starter kit you can get on Amazon Most people will enter into a light nutritional ketosis (between 0.5-1.0 mmol/L on the meter) within two or three days. It typically takes Continue reading >>

The Virtues Of The Blood Ketone Meter (and How To Get One For Free!)

Summary: The blood ketone meter is maybe one of the best kept secrets in managing type 1 diabetes in children. It’s as simple as a blood sugar check, can be done while they are sleeping, and doesn’t require urine like ketostix do. The results are real-time and don’t lag by two hours like urine tests do. I can extol the virtues of the blood ketone meter for use with younger children at home and especially at school. If there is one tool that I wish we had been told about at diagnosis, but didn’t find out about until much later, it’s the blood ketone meter. Seriously. Can’t imagine diabetes care without it now! For one thing, ketones in urine are about two hours behind. What does that mean? If you check for ketones with urine at 2:00 pm, it is really telling you what the ketone levels were at 12:00 pm. You have to wait two hours to see what ketones are right now. A blood ketone meter gives real time results. In other words, it tells you what ketone levels are right now. No waiting. This comes in handy when your child is vomiting! Like when Q vomited right after her bedtime snack and I couldn’t keep her blood sugar up, yet she was developing ketones. Remember that 2:00 am trip to the ER? Here’s the issue we ran into when Q was in kindergarten: Per her 504 plan, she needs to have her ketones checked with any blood sugar over 300 mg/dL and we are to be called. With the urine strips I had to leave work to come to school to try to help her pee on the stick for two reasons. First, the assistant principal who did much of her diabetes care was a male and he wasn’t going to help her pee in a cup. Second, the school nurse was only there for about 20 minutes at lunch time and I would rather Q spend the time right after lunch running around the playground bringing d Continue reading >>

A New Toy Measuring Blood Ketones

I just got a new toy: a device for measuring blood ketones. This is a far more exact and reliable measurement than testing for urine ketones using cheap dipsticks. Ketosis is of course the state the body is in when eating very low carb. Ketones, made from fat, will then fuel the brain instead of glucose. So who needs one of these gadgets? Perhaps nobody. Obviously it’s easy to eat LCHF without it. This is for curious nerds (like me) and for those who want definite proof that they are eating so little carbs that insulin levels are low and fat burning is maximized. A ketone level somewhere between 1.5 – 3 is said to be an optimal level for maximizing weight loss. It means that insulin levels are very low. As you can see my first measurement was 0.2, after a caesar sallad dinner. I’m not surprised as I’ve probably eaten at least 50 grams of carbs a day lately. I will try it out fasting in the mornings during the coming days. Perhaps I’ll try being really strict with the carbs for a while to see what happens. Have you tried one of these or are you interested in doing it? Continue reading >>

Cheaper Alternatives To Blood Ketone Testing

I’ve had a couple readers reach out to me asking if there were any cheaper alternatives to blood ketone testing. My most recent check on Amazon.com shows the Precision Xtra Blood Ketone strips going for a whopping $4-$5 per strip, although as you see from the picture above, some places exorbitantly charge up to $9.99 per strip! This post is my attempt to go through some of the cheaper options that are available if you’ve decided that tracking ketones is important to your goals but you can’t afford the cost of these strips. The current gold standard for measuring how deeply in ketosis you are at home is still the Precision Xtra Blood Ketone monitoring system, and you already know how pricey this is. Unfortunately if accuracy on a moment to moment basis is important to you, there’s no way around it: this is your only option. To lessen the cost burden, you can do some online searches to see if you can find a better deal, although your mileage may vary depending on the legitimacy of the site. Some reputable options I’ve come across are: Ebay – You can sometimes get them for as cheap as $3 – 3.50 per strip, although it’s important to pay attention to the expiration date. Sometimes these go for cheaper because they’re expired or near expiration. If you’re ok with that, then have at it. Universal Drug Store – This Canadian pharmacy is where I typically pick mine up. They used to sell it for around $1.99 per strip, but have since raised the price to $2.30 per strip. Depending on how comfortable you are with ordering from across the border, this could be a good option. If your order is over $100, shipping is free. A drawback is that they don’t accept Visa or Mastercard, so make sure you have your American Express handy. Canada Drugs – Another Canadian p Continue reading >>

Abbott’s Precision Xtra Monitor Now Being Sold As Relion Ultima At Walmart

I was walking through my local Walmart in Spartanburg, South Carolina recently where I ended up browsing around the pharmacy department. I’m always interested in seeing what new health gizmos and gadgets come out and then show up on store shelves for consumers to purchase. When I got close to the glucometers, I noticed their ReliOn brand of blood glucose meters had expanded into several different versions now. One in particular caught my attention because it looked very familiar–the ReliOn Ultima. To confirm my suspicions that this ReliOn Ultima was the same meter as the Precision Xtra, I bought one for $15 at Walmart along with some of their blood glucose testing strips and compared them when I got home. IT’S EXACTLY THE SAME! I took it one step further to confirm that it was the identical meter by putting one of my Precision Xtra blood ketone strips into it and it registered my results exactly the same as the Precision Xtra meter. THIS…IS…AWESOME! If you’ve read my latest book Keto Clarity, then you know measuring blood glucose and blood ketones are the most accurate way of knowing how well you are doing in your pursuit of nutritional ketosis. While this ReliOn Ultima meter available at Walmart currently only measures for blood glucose, it’s MUCH cheaper than the cost you would pay for the Precision Xtra meter and blood glucose strips online. In fact, this meter has been next to impossible to purchase in stores before now, so this is true progress in making the blood monitoring much more accessible to those who want it. Now if Walmart can get Abbott to create the ReliOn Ultima blood glucose device to sell in their stores at a cheaper price, how hard would it be for them to make the blood KETONE strips available for this monitor? And the cost of the strip Continue reading >>

Precision Xtra Glucose+ketone Meter

There are a remarkable number of blood glucose monitors available on the market and the options seem to increase almost daily. I’ve listed a two options here but if you want to poke around some places like Reddit you can get a good sense of what the newest gizmos are and how they stack up to one another. If you get a glucose meter might as well get one that can also check ketones. The meters themselves are generally not that expensive, but they do get you on the purchase of the test strips, particularly the ketone strips. If you look around you can find glucose and ketone strips for a tiny fraction of what you pay at a pharmacy. Amazon also has some decent options, like this one. Dexcom Continuous Glucose monitor A very cool option, particularly for the Seven Day Carb Test, is a continuous glucose monitor (CGM) like the Dexcom model. CGM’s are typically worn on the arm for a few weeks at a time and take a blood glucose level once every minute. You can get a remarkable amount of data from these platforms and you will not need to stick your finger with each meal like you do with something like the Precision Xtra described above. I wore a CGM for two weeks during the writing of this book and it was easy and incredibly insightful. Now, for the downsides: You will find it problematic to get a CGM from your doctor UNLESS you are diabetic or pre-diabetic. Without some kind of diagnosis you may find it hard to get your doctor to write a prescription for a CGM at all, and it will NOT be covered by insurance. Due to the complete lack of market signaling (to say nothing of Moral Hazard) in a 3-party payer medical system, CGMs should cost about $50 but instead can bill for upwards of $1,000-$2,000. So, as cool as these are, you may find it tough to get one, but if you are persi Continue reading >>

How To Get A Free Blood Ketone Meter When Ketostix Fail

When I initially started a ketogenic diet, I would use the urine test strips to monitor for ketones, which would tell me if I was in ketosis or not. I wish someone had told me about this free Blood Ketone Meter! However, I later found that my readings started to show nothing even though I had been eating a high fat, low carb diet. I wondered… what on earth was wrong? Why do Ketostix Stop Working? After doing some research, I found that once my body started to become accustom to a high fat diet and began to utilise the ketones for energy, the free ketones in my urine either did not exist or where not as strong. Ketostix work mainly off the concentration of ketones in your urine. This makes the long-term use of Ketostix useless, as they will eventually start to read blank. Ketostix start at a yellow colour (which means you are not in Ketosis) all the way up to a dark purple (which means you’re in fairly heavy ketosis). Click on the Image Below to get Ketostix in Australia The solution? Blood Ketone Meter! My girlfriend Adele loves to source out bargains at different chemists. As I came along to a few of these bargain hunting trips, I began to notice that I could use a device that is usually suitable for Diabetics called a Glucose Meter to monitor my ketones. Diabetics need to monitor their ketone levels as to avoid Ketone Acidosis (which can be very harmful). They need to be very precise due to the nature of health risks that ketosis can pose to diabetics. I wondered up to the counter to check the price of the device that also could check for Ketones. BAM! $70. I was not going to buy one from a chemist. You would have to be crazy! Later that night I started researching these devices on eBay. Low and behold, I stumbled across this device for $29. What I did not notice Continue reading >>

Precision Xtra Vs. Novamax Plus: Ketone Meter Evaluation

With the rise in interest in the n=1 experiment I’ve been blogging about since May 2012 (read my latest updates about it here, here, here and here), so many of you have begun testing your own blood ketones to see how well you are doing in pursuit of reaching that glorious state of “nutritional ketosis.” Attaining blood ketone levels of 0.5-3.0 millimolar is the optimal level for producing an appropriate level of beta-hydroxybutyrate to commence fat-burning and to serve as an excellent alternative fuel source for your brain and body for optimal performance according to what Dr. Stephen Phinney and Dr. Jeff Volek outline so beautifully in their outstanding MUST-HAVE 2012 book The Art & Science Of Low Carbohydrate Performance. If you haven’t already picked up your own copy of this book, then I cannot recommend it highly enough to you as an invaluable resource in your pursuit of living an optimally healthy low-carb lifestyle. As people have been shopping around for their own blood ketone meter, I’ve been getting a lot of e-mails from readers who have asked me for my recommendation between which of the two major ketone meters they should get to test their blood levels. Is there any difference between the Precision Xtra and NovaMax Plus blood ketone meters? I’ve personally tried both of these meters and have been using the Precision Xtra results to document my n=1 experiment. Let’s take a closer look at the PROS and CONS of each: **Precision Xtra Blood Ketone Meter** PROS: – Accurate and clear blood ketone measuring – Sturdy and strong test strips – More precise than urine ketone testing CONS: – Requires more blood than glucose testing – Test strips can be quite expensive – Not available for purchase in stores **NovaMax Plus Blood Ketone Meter** PROS Continue reading >>