Want to givev this post more than one like, also the normal feed back loop is, don’t take enough food on ride … bonk, take more food on next ride
A diabetic lives in a constant fear of hypo
4 Likes
As @AJS914 picks up on and what I was trying to get to is that non-diabetic people (I hesitate to use the word healthy as you can still be healthy with diabetes T1) don’t need Supersapiens. @Eddy_Twerckx And diabetic people don’t need any Supersapiens diabetes offering either as existing CGM pumps already provide the data and have the apps needed to keep performance comparable to a person without type 1. I.e. keep your blood sugar above 3.9mmol/l and performance will reflect your fitness and muscular energy availability - not that a blood sugar reading of 7mmol/l is better than a blood sugar reading of 4mmol/l. If you bonk as a healthy person, there is probably no risk to life other than feeling rough. Low blood sugar in a diabetic person risks unconsciousness and death.
1 Like
An absolute bonk, maybe once like you said. But I’ve lost track the times where I either just didn’t have it, felt off or tired. Maybe I go out and I’m just not hitting my numbers or I’m running out of steam early. Not saying this is always the case, but what if those days I look at the app and notice I’m not hypoglycemic but I’m on the low end of the range. Maybe I think I was eating enough prior to the ride but the app says I’m still low. So instead of telling myself I just didn’t have it that day, I just eat more carbs.
I’m not saying every time I feel tired on the bike is because I have low blood sugar. But I couldn’t actually tell you the number because I don’t know. At least this would give you more insight. And I don’t think the extra data would hurt.
Are there any studies that show this or address this question? More out of curiosity. Because what if it did? Say, even on a personal level you track your blood sugar with the app, and find that on days when it’s higher, you’re hitting better numbers. Much like my point above, what if you can hit your targets when your blood sugar is at a certain level, but when you’re on the lower side you’re feeling sluggish. Not even in hypoglycemic ranges, just on the lower side of normal range.
What I’d like to do, is try it for a month or two, but not look at the numbers. Just train and eat like I normally would. But also keep a detailed diary on how I felt as well as capture power and HR numbers. Give interval by interval RPE for any hard sessions, and really capture how I feel. Then go back and compare blood glucose to not only power data, but compare it to RPE. Because even if the power numbers are the same, but the RPE drops, I’d say that it would be worth it to know.
So, I think I heard on a podcast that it is yet to be fully understood the link between energy availability and blood sugar level. When it gets mentioned on podcasts, I get the impression that podcast hosts either don’t quite understand the physiology of diabetes or there are a lack of scientific papers to dig into in depth and have a meaningful conversation.
It’s an n=1 or perhaps n=2 sample size with my son and I. Since I know his blood sugar level, so long as within range, doesn’t improve his ability to perform on a session. And also having checked my own blood sugar (as a non-diabetic) with a finger pricker on admittedly random occasions in and around exercise and eating, it seems to linger in the 4.5 - 5 range. That could be whether I’m exercising hard, have just exercised or have recently eaten something carb heavy like a sandwich. So in my case it feels like I could be trying to ram my blood sugar up high for a session and the body will just increase insulin delivery to keep blood sugar in normal range. Or at the point when I’m exercising and insulin isn’t needed to process sugar, then the body still regulates my blood sugar level. So personally I’d be better focussing on decent fuelling before and during, to current established science of what the body (gut) can uptake (e.g. 60 -120g carbs or whatever they keep pushing the boundaries as) rather than looking to see my blood sugar sky rocket. It really feels like it would be more useful to know what the glycogen levels in the muscles are, and the technology to have this information available in real time is perhaps some way off.
Try the Supersapiens by all means, I’m slightly intrigued too (ever in search of some game changing information 
even though I don’t think it will tell me anything of great benefit. But marketing a diabetic product/off shoot, I just don’t think for a T1 diabetic, that it will tell them anything they don’t already know from their existing technology and management of their condition
5 Likes
I don’t think it was ever meant to. As far as I can tell, this isn’t marketed towards T1 diabetics because, as you said, there already monitors for that.
I think for the non-diabetics it will be interesting to see where it goes. Maybe in a year or two we find that it’s useless doesn’t offer any benefit. Or we find that it’s a gamechanger. Only time will tell.
But the link at the start of this post takes you to “Supersapiens diabetes” so I was seeing this as marketing to diabetics.
I’ll wait until they prove it’s usefulness for non-diabetics and then I’ll be all over it like the sucker I am 
1 Like
I just noticed that. I wonder if that’s how they can start selling it in the US. The global site looks way different and doesn’t look like it’s marketing towards diabetics at all. It’s leaning heavily into athletes. So I’m wondering if there is some legal stuff in the US that they have to market it towards diabetics. Might be why it’s taken so long to hit the US when Europe has had it for a while.
1 Like
This is a common misconception, and I can certainly understand why - having more sugar in your blood means you have more energy right? It does seem logical, but unfortunately this is not the case.
If your blood sugar is running high (hyperglycemia) that means the sugar is not getting into your cells efficiently for use. In the case of a Type 1 Diabetic, insulin is the “key” to unlocking the muscle cell door to allow sugar into the muscle cell and enable its use for energy. High blood sugar simply means the sugar is concentrated in your blood – but not necessarily your muscle cells. If your blood sugar is too high for too long, your blood will begin to become acidic (a deadly complication for Type 1’s).
I can understand the interest in CGMs for athletes; monitoring your response to different foods before/during/after exercise could potentially help you refine your fueling strategy. However, users of any CGM should keep in mind that the blood sugar is actually being measured via interstitial fluid, and not blood (unless your are pricking your finger, like one of the previous posters mentioned). It takes about 15-20 minutes for a CGM to register changes in interstitial fluid, and only 5-ish for blood. So if you are monitoring your blood sugar during exercise and suck down a gel, keep in mind that there is an inherent difference in timeliness when measuring via interstitial fluid (CGMs) and blood (finger pricks).
Anyone interested in really dialing in their fueling might also consider looking at the glycemic index of foods they are consuming. There are big differences in how your body responds to some of the most common foods.
Team Novo Nordisk (where all of the riders have Type 1) released a documentary not too long ago about how they manage their blood sugar during training and races: https://youtu.be/9M6SSY2GDjc?si=ETxLwghwKmBqUlYP
2 Likes
It wasn’t really a misconception because i never said higher blood sugar always means better performance. I hypothesized that maybe on the higher range might help compared to on the low end. But I don’t know. Hence why I asked if there were any studies because it would be cool to look into. And it might be different for every person, which is where these CGM could be cool. And I don’t mean hyperglycemia ranges. Normal blood sugar is a range. And the amount your body uses depends on a lot of different factors, not least of which is the level of exercising muscle. I’m curious if there have been any studies looking at blood glucose levels and performance. Or how different carb intake rates could affect this. If I eat 60g per hour and have the same result as 100g per hour, why waste the gels when 60g is all I need.
And this isn’t entirely true. In a resting state, yes. But exercising muscle bypasses the insulin requirement. Which is why type 1 diabetics need to pay closer attention to their blood sugar during exercise.
I’m not too familiar with how these work. Makes sense about the time lag.
Again, I’m not saying CGMs are going to be the next power meter. They could end up being worthless. But who knows? Like I said, I don’t see any downsides besides cost.
I’ll have to watch that video later. Probably some cool insight into their lives as endurance athletes.
My concern with this, is that with no proven sporting performance benefit, people start wearing them without the knowledge / training to make sense of the data, wake up 7 times, eat the same amount every time, and you will end up with 7 different measurements, with different graphs and directions, and start altering diets and stop fueling correcly, thinking that going out of range is bad when it’s just how the body works, and people who under fuel are likely to get obsessional about it as pointed out in the video from 35:13 - 38:00
1 Like
True. But you could argue that for just about any training metric, diet pill, supplement, medication, etc. Granted, they might not get the advertising this has been. Think about caffeine. It gets talked about a lot as a performing enhancing supplement. If you have somebody new to using it, or doesn’t have the tolerance, you could get a person that goes out and buys caffeine pills and pops a handful and gets an arrhythmia. Like any training metric, you’re not going to get much out of it unless you understand it. Or at least what to do with the numbers. Which in this case, I actually do agree with you that we don’t know what to do with the numbers. You can wear a CGM all day through training, but at the end of the day, what are those numbers going to tell you. Like you said, maybe one person looks and them and negatively changes their fueling. Which is why I’d love to see more testing on these in controlled environments. Or at least some more data on what to do with the numbers. My thought though is still that at least having them available hopefully we’ll get some more info out there.
Edit: Here’s a positive. Maybe they are a negative and your competition will use them and underperform. Make them easier for you to beat.
1 Like
Wasn’t really directing that at you - I’ve heard this a bunch of times before from many different people. Thus, from my shoes it’s a misconception I hear frequently. I hope that makes sense, and certainly didn’t mean to jump to any conclusions about your intent. I don’t have any studies to point to, but I get your question. Wouldn’t be surprised if some good research has been done, however!
My son is Type 1 and has been for years. The literature I’ve read describes exercise as making the body more sensitive to insulin - but not bypassing it. Your body needs insulin to survive…bad things happen without it. I’ve certainly seen this in my son when he’s had an insulin pump site failure (i.e., no insulin going in) and he’s tried to bring his BG down with exercise alone. Never works…just continues to go up until the insulin kicks in. Keep in mind that your body always has some amount of insulin flowing through it, 24/7 (providing you have a properly functioning pancreas, that is!). You just get an extra shot of it when you eat food that contains carbs.
You get used to it, and for a T1 you just learn to finger-prick if you’re out of range to get a more accurate number when needed. The FDA considers CGMs accurate within a certain range, so it’s not terribly uncommon for a CGM to be off by some percentage and still be considered “accurate” (especially if it is going up or down quickly). Not usually a big deal unless you are hypo/hyper.
Agree!
We found it to be really insightful. Having watched a bunch of docs about other teams, it’s a fascinating comparison of what TNN does to perform at the level they do. It definitely helped our son feel like he wasn’t alone, which was also nice.
Please understand I’m not trying to pick a fight with you or argue about any points. Just offering my insight as a parent of a T1 and years of dealing with carbs, blood sugar and CGMs. Happy to share anything that might be of interest to you.
Best.
1 Like
It’s been a while since I was in a biochem class, but I believe there is actually a complete bypass from strenuous exercise that doesn’t rely on insulin at all. But it’s been a long while so I could be remembering wrong.
100%
Oh yea, it wouldn’t bring it down that much I don’t think.
No worries. I’m looking at this completely as an athlete. I was actually surprised that they even mention diabetes on the SS website. Again, maybe a legal thing for them to get access to the US market. Again, I think these are still in the baby years of being useful (if at all) for athletes. I just like new tech that may or may not have a use. I’m more curious than anything to see if these things could be useful.
It’s interesting you mention team novo nordisk. The founder of supersapiens is a type 1 who also happens to be the founder and ceo of novo nordisk.
1 Like
I hear ya. I’ll admit I’ve been tempted to try one of my son’s CGMs, but the darn things are so expensive and insurance is an absolute pain about them.
Appreciate the conversation!
1 Like
Yup, Phil Southerland started Team Type 1 a while back, and Novo Nordisk started sponsoring them a few years ago. TNN is loosely associated with Team Type 1 on Zwift, and from time to time a couple of their pros will host a ride for us mortals on Zwift.
1 Like
Yeap, but this thread s about Supersapiends, you said you saw no downsides, I raised mine and you dismissed it, with whataboutism, cool
I hope I never think like that, as a T1 diabetic, my battles are my own, and I hope that anybody I beat, I beat them fairly, and their heath is good
2 Likes
I give you that. We’ll just have to say we have different opinions about it. I don’t see that as a downside because you can say that about almost everything. Is it the product that’s the issue or people being obsessed about it? Is MyFitnessPal a bad app because you track calories and some people might obsess about it and create a negative relationship towards food? It comes down to the people who are using the info. So again, I don’t see it as a downside but I can understand if somebody does. So that’s fair.
1 Like
Why are you talking about MyFitnessPal now, the rest of this thread is about Supersapiens
My opinion on Supersapiens is that the only thing worse than no data, is bad data, and there is no evidence that for the normal person in the street this is good data (to many vairables to understand, overload with a miss understand of how the human body work) and will lead to
… extended, without understanding what those graphs, how the human body works, it’s as good as miss information
Like i said earlier
And then you started talking about myfitnesspal
So where is the study that this is good data ? The only thing worse than no data is making decisions based on bad data
Apparently you don’t understand analogies. 
If you actually read my post, I asked the same thing. I’m interested to see studies on this to see whether it is actually useful or just another fad tech item.
1 Like