A Handheld Metabolic Device (Lumen) to Measure Fuel Utilization in Healthy Young Adults: Device Validation Study

Metabolic carts measure the carbon dioxide (CO₂) produced and oxygen consumed by an individual when breathing to assess metabolic fuel usage (carbohydrates versus fats). However, these systems are expensive, time-consuming, and only available in health care laboratory settings. A small handheld device capable of determining metabolic fuel usage via CO₂ from exhaled air has been developed.

The aim of this study is to evaluate the validity of a novel handheld device (Lumen) for measuring metabolic fuel utilization in healthy young adults.

Metabolic fuel usage was assessed in healthy participants (n=33; mean age 23.1 years, SD 3.9 years) via respiratory exchange ratio (RER) values obtained from a metabolic cart as well as % CO₂ from the Lumen device. Measurements were performed at rest in two conditions: fasting, and after consuming 150 grams of glucose, in order to determine changes in metabolic fuel usage. Reduced major axis regression and simple linear regression were performed to test for agreement between RER and Lumen % CO₂.

Both RER and Lumen % CO₂ significantly increased after glucose intake (P<.001 for both) compared with fasting conditions, by 0.089 and 0.28, respectively. Regression analyses revealed an agreement between the two measurements (F_1,63=18.54; P<.001).

This study shows the validity of Lumen for detecting changes in metabolic fuel utilization in a comparable manner with a laboratory standard metabolic cart, providing the ability for real-time metabolic information for users under any circumstances.