Levl device helps dieters gauge how much fat they are burning with breath sample

Levl device helps dieters gauge how much fat they are burning with breath sample

Seattle based Levl is demoing a device at CES: 2016 that is supposed to allow people to see how much fat their body is burning—all they have to do is breathe into a "breath pod," plug the pod into a base and then wait a moment to see a number that is supposed to represent the fat burning rate of their body.

Bio-sensing devices are big at CES this year, not as big as drones, but still they are hot— makers are peddling next-gen bracelets, necklaces, etc. all designed to help people monitor their vital signs, and by extension, their health. One device that has been noticeably lacking, until now though, is one that lets a person know how well their approach to diet and exercise is working. Checking the scale can help, of course, as can using a measuring tape, but both can be impacted by an increase in muscle mass during the same period as , which leaves a person feeling like they have made little progress when looking at the numbers. Into this breach steps Levl, a company started by Brad Root, who also happens to be president of another Seattle based company called GM Namplate.

As he explains to visitors at the Levl booth at the ongoing tradeshow in Las Vegas, the new device he and his company have built lets people check the level of fat burning in their body. It does so by measuring acetone (a type of ketone molecule that is released during fat burning) in their breath. Acetone is well-known to diabetics as it become noticeable in the breath when a sugar/insulin imbalance occurs. For otherwise healthy people, the amount of acetone in the breath can be a measure of how much is going on. Scientists and doctors have used spectrometers to measure such levels in the past, but of course such devices are too expensive for the average consumer. Root and his team have found a way to test for just levels, bringing down both the size and cost of a testing device.

The company has not yet set a price for the device, but expects it to be less than $500 when it finally makes it to market—it has already been approved by the FDA as a class I product, making it legal for the team to sell the device as soon as it is consumer ready. In practice a person would use the device two or three times a day to allow for creating baselines needed for seeing improvements during exercise or diet regimens.

More information: www.levlnow.com/

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