This is a round up of all the newest blood test meter technology new available in the UK. You can also see this article in full in the magazine. Click here.
Bayer Contour USB (right): For those diabetics who are out and about a lot, and frequently logged in to a laptop (or for those who use computers a lot), Bayer’s new Contour USB Blood Glucose Monitor is a groovy little number that takes your blood sugar readings and can be put into a computer’s USB port meaning data can be immediately downloaded, viewed and analyzed. If you’re a king or queen of the spreadsheet, you’re going to love this. The fact that it plugs into a USB port means it also recharges, making the meter the smallest blood tester machine with a rechargeable battery (so long as you can plug it in you need never worry about replacement batteries again). The Contour USB meter contains two flash drives, Glucofacts and Contour USB. The Glucofacts drive is reserved for use by Glucofacts Deluxe, which works with Java software. www.bayercontourusb.co.uk
Accu-Chek Aviva Expert (left): Matching the food we eat to our insulin doses is partly a science, but it’s also an art. This blood testing system has an on-board ‘advisor’ to help you gauge the correct insulin dose based on your carbs, so you do need to know a little about carb-counting to use it. Test your blood glucose with this meter, enter your carbs and the meter will give you advice on your dose (bolus). In this way you can have greater confidence in how to use your blood glucose results to achieve the kind of blood test results you want to see, and avoid hypos in the process. With many other features such as an insulin bolus calculator, the colour screen is helpful in letting you see trends on an easy to access daily basis. www.accu-chek.co.uk
Freestyle Insulinx (right): The InsuLinx name reflects that the meter is about linking blood tests to insulin. Aimed at those who’re on insulin, you can add your own image into the phone as well as add various other personalized settings. It’s PC and Mac-compatible and comes with FreeStyle Auto-Assist software. The touch screen (yessiree, it’s touch-screen!) is icon-driven, so you press the relevant icon to get into that part of the set-up. There’s only one button, which acts as the home button, just like many a mobile phone these days. The meter does a host of other things to help you keep good all-round control, for example it features a bolus calculator. And if you input the insulin that you’ve given yourself, then little figure of a man shows up on the screen if you have any active insulin still in your system, so you don’t over do it with your next dose. http://www.abbottdiabetescare.co.uk
Accu-Chek Mobile (left): Anyone who blood tests is familiar with having to carry not only the meter itself, but a lancing device, lancets and a pot of sensors, but this machine has knocked sensor pots on the head! Aimed at frequent testers, mainly therefore insulin using diabetics, the meter makes testing a much more mobile experience (hence the name). There is no need to insert individual sensors when you need to do a test as the meter uses innovative and unique technology, whereby the blood glucose testing is done on a strip of reactive tape held on a cassette within the meter. Each removable cassette can handle 50 tests. If you test five times a day you could go from using five sensors a day to replacing just one cassette every five days. You can leave the house just carrying the machine – that’s it! www.accu-chek.co.uk
OneTouch Verio Pro (right): The OneTouch VerioPro has a couple of really nifty features, like the fact that the strip port lights up when you put a new strip in. But as well as the simple design improvements such as this, one of the machine’s true qualities is how easy it is to use. Without having to press any buttons, the meter logs all your results but informs you when it discovers a pattern for low readings, giving you the chance to recall your undertakings and adjust either insulin doses or carbs to prevent a repeat. As well as ease of use, the VerioPro can claim ‘unsurpassed accuracy’ when it comes to testing glucose levels in blood, judged by stringent international standards. www.OneTouchMeters.co.uk/DSG
PLEASE NOTE: The Accu-Chek Aviva Expert and the Abbott Freestyle Insulinx ire not available in pharmacies due to the fact that they need to be set up around your own needs – such as your insulin-to-carbohydrate ratios – best done at first with an expert to hand, so if you would like to know more about these blood test systems talk to your healthcare professional.
