Wearable Wellness Tech Is Taking Off, From AI Apps to Smart Underwear

In early January, the FDA said that it will limit its regulation of wearable devices and software that’s designed to support healthy lifestyles and issued new guidance clarifying its regulatory approach, as Reuters reported. The guidance builds on existing policy classifying low-risk wellness tools like fitness apps and activity trackers as non-medical devices that are exempt from stringent regulation – as long as they avoid making claims tied to disease diagnosis or treatment. “The only stipulation is if they make claims of something being medical grade … like blood pressure measurement. We don’t want people changing their medicines based on something that’s just a screening tool or an estimate of a physiologic parameter.” said FDA Commissioner Marty Makary. Although some devices are excluded, the regulatory change has opened the door for further innovation in wearable health and fitness technology. Let’s take a look at some of the most intriguing recent developments happening in the space. Wearable Tech Innovations When most people think about wearable tech, they think of fitness watches or blood pressure cuffs. However, Dr. Brantley Hall and the team at the University of Maryland recently developed Smart Underwear, the first wearable device designed to measure human flatulence. By tracking hydrogen in flatus, the device helps scientists revisit long-standing assumptions about how often people actually “fart” and opens a new window for measuring gut microbial metabolism ...