A Google Glass Application to Support Shoppers With Dietary Management of Diabetes

We read with great interest the article titled “New Wearable Computers Move Ahead: Google Glass and Smart Wigs” by Dr David C. Klonoff published in the January 2014 issue of the Journal of Diabetes Science and Technology.1 Wearable computers have enormous potential to assist in diabetes management. Here, we further discuss a Google Glass application with the potential to advise and track dietary choices. Maintaining an appropriate diet is an important part of diabetes care.2 Because purchased food items are likely to be consumed regardless of nutritional value, dietary control begins at the supermarket. On-the-spot decision support tools may help shoppers make smarter food choices. Current approaches include educational materials and smartphone applications designed to inform shoppers of nutritional value. However, the abundance of food options in US supermarkets makes memorizing all of the necessary information cumbersome. It may be possible to employ an application that displays caloric density (calories/oz) and glycemic index as the user shops by scanning the barcodes of products loaded into the cart; it may even be possible to provide healthier alternatives if a poorly scoring food is scanned. The ability to provide real-time information in a hands-free and private manner makes Google Glass an ideal platform on which to build a tool to promote healthy choices in the supermarket. As an example, imagine a shopper with diabetes standing in the produce section trying to decide on a vegetable side dish (see the video available at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UoUx1aFNES8). The shopper picks up the sweet corn, asks Google Glass to determine its glycemic index, and notes a score of 60. Next, the shopper performs the same actions for a bunch of broccoli, with Google Glass indicating a score of 10. The ease of using the Google Glass device to obtain real-time decision support in a simple, private, and hands-free way may increase the willingness or ability of patients with diabetes or members of their household to follow important dietary recommendations. At present, the Google Glass technology is cost prohibitive, but prices are expected to fall as Google opens this technology to the consumer market later this year. Recent announcements regarding establishment of a partnership between Google and the Luxottica Group eyeglass company suggest this will happen in the near future.3 Regardless, the technology must be affordable for the average patient to warrant further development. In addition, older patients need to be considered in designing the user interface. A large number of patients with diabetes are older and may not be comfortable with newer technology. The Google Glass “Diabetes Shopping” application4 built at Marshfield Clinical Research Foundation is in proof-of-concept stages, but has considerable room for growth in the areas of tracking and cataloguing, establishing connections to social media and peer support, providing alerts for calories or food choices, capturing cumulative calorie intake, and health coaching. The Google Glass diabetes application has the potential to improve diabetes management by improving dietary choices while shopping and the potential to do much more.