New Continuous Ketone Monitoring Promises Better Diabetes and Safety Tracking

Continuous ketone monitoring is no longer being framed as a novelty for low-carb trackers. The American Diabetes Association devoted a 26:21 special episode to it on April 7, 2026, saying the technology was under expedited FDA review and could open a new path to better diabetes care, with Abbott backing the sponsored edition.

The episode was hosted by Neil Skolnik, professor of family and community medicine at Sidney Kimmel Medical College of Thomas Jefferson University and associate director of the Family Medicine Residency Program at Abington Jefferson Health. His guest, Guillermo Umpierrez, professor of medicine at Emory University School of Medicine, clinical director of the Diabetes and Metabolism Center, and director of the Diabetes and Endocrinology Section and Clinical Research Unit at Grady Memorial Hospital in Atlanta, made the practical case for why ketone data matters. Umpierrez said continuous ketone monitoring could give real-time tracking of glucose and ketones and help detect diabetic ketoacidosis risk early before it turns severe.

That safety lens is the real shift. In the 2024 ADA, EASD, JBDS, AACE, and DTS consensus report on hyperglycemic crises, diabetic ketoacidosis and hyperosmolar hyperglycemic state were described as the two most serious, acute, and life-threatening hyperglycemic emergencies in type 1 and type 2 diabetes. The same report noted a 55% increase in DKA hospitalizations, especially among adults younger than 45. That backdrop explains why ketone monitoring is being discussed alongside emergency prevention rather than as another wearable data stream for curious biohackers.

Umpierrez said the technology may be especially useful for people with type 1 diabetes, people with poor control, pregnant people with type 1 diabetes, and patients taking SGLT2 inhibitors, a group that already needs sharper awareness of ketosis risk. For the keto crowd, that distinction matters. Continuous ketone monitoring could help some people understand trends, spot dangerous shifts sooner, and support clinical decisions when ketosis is therapeutic but risk is rising. It does not mean every person eating keto needs a medical-grade sensor taped to an arm.

The hardware story is advancing too. Abbott said in June 2022 that it was developing a first-of-its-kind dual monitoring system that could measure glucose and ketones in one sensor and had already received FDA breakthrough device designation. A 2022 review mapped possible uses from pre-hospital care to the emergency department, inpatient management, and post-discharge follow-up. More recent studies have explored microneedle-patch tracking of beta-hydroxybutyrate, while also flagging sensor drift and the need for more validation. The direction is clear: ketones are moving from a niche marker into mainstream diabetes safety, and the next wave may pair glucose and ketone feedback in one device.