Google has added insulin resistance and blood pressure trends to the Fitbit Air and Fitbit Edge, expanding the devices from basic fitness and sleep monitoring into deeper health insights. The features are part of Google's Health Guardian suite of proactive safety tools for the Pixel Watch and Fitbit, and they are available only to Google Health Premium subscribers. That subscription costs $100 a year and also includes Google's AI health coach, advanced sleep tracking, and a broader selection of health-tracking features.
The insulin resistance feature does not measure insulin or glucose directly. Instead, an algorithm analyzes heart rate, activity level, sleep, and other metrics to show changes in metabolic health. The Fitbit also tracks blood pressure patterns without a cuff and monitors pulse whether the user is asleep or awake, then provides insights at the end of the month. Eligible Fitbit Air and Fitbit Edge users who have worn their device for five days or more will see the insight in the Health tab of the app.
Insulin resistance is a precursor to type 2 diabetes, so the feature may give users a less invasive way to follow changes in their insulin levels, though it points more toward overall trends than a direct diagnosis. Unlike a continuous glucose monitor, which penetrates the skin and uses blood to gather metabolic data, the insulin resistance feature assesses biometric and metabolic patterns through a multimodal model. Google trained that model on data gathered by other wearables as well as compiled demographic data, according to its paper in Nature.
When the feature detects elevated insulin resistance patterns, it notifies the user to take additional action. Fitbit users can also connect their Abbott CGM to the Google Health app for additional glucose monitoring. By offering these Health Guardian features beyond its flagship Pixel Watches, Google is giving more users, specifically budget-conscious buyers of the $100 Fitbit Air or the $180 Fitbit Edge, the ability to track and stay ahead of some common and serious health conditions.
The insulin resistance feature is nowhere near the capabilities of a non-invasive CGM, but Google's development of a multimodal model for tracking biometric responses to insulin activity suggests the company is moving closer to that non-invasive reality. Non-invasive glucose monitoring has been a long-running goal across the wearable industry, and Apple has reportedly worked on the problem for years. Google's rollout of insulin resistance trends to additional Fitbit devices is one way it is advancing toward a CGM that uses algorithmic AI instead of needles and blood.
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