Lumen is a gadget that can track your metabolism by analysing your breath

UPDATE: After reaching out to us, Lumen has confirmed that customers can purchase the device and have it shipped to South Africa for free for a limited time. Check out their website to place an order at no extra cost.

The market for fitness apps is constantly shifting and growing. While snazzy devices like FitBits and a whole bucketload of other smart watches offer features like calorie counting and kilojoules burned, none have quite cracked the metabolic system. That’s Lumen’s gap in the market as the device and app that can “hack” your metabolism has just released overseas . The tech behind it… is pretty cool.

Your metabolism is a key component in the seemingly never-ending battle to lose weight, gain muscle and not slip down that slippery slope to flabby abs. Your metabolic system switches between sources of bodily energy, so a high metabolism means that food is burned as energy faster, meaning more food is required to replace that energy source. Slower metabolisms retain food for a slower release of energy. The Lumen device claims to be able to detect which one you’re currently experiencing by simply analysing your breath.

Like vaping, but healthier

Blowing into the weirdly vape-like hardware prompts the device to measure how much carbon dioxide you’re exhaling, which it can then extrapolate out to determine whether you’re burning fat, carbs or a mixture of the two. The accompanying app then takes that information and plans specialised meal plans to make the best of whatever mode your metabolism is currently locked into.

It’s quite a process to set up, requiring users to take a full day to calibrate the device, conducting the first test 15 minutes after waking up and then several more times throughout the day. Oh, and a carb-heavy meal is required for that day, which makes sense given it’s used to figure out that benchmark. After that, the Lumen is ready to use whenever you need it. Its charge is supposed to last two weeks and it even comes with a snazzy carry case.

Of course, here in South Africa, we can only dream of such a small and personal mode of metabolic analysis because the Lumen is not available locally. No word on whether or not it will eventually reach our shores but if it did, it would probably cost around R5,500, at least at the time of writing. You could always have it imported from overseas and pay the $299 for it but who needs all those extra shipping fees?

(Source: TNW)