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Oura launches blood test through Health Panels.
The feature tests 50 biomarkers.
Blood testing through wearable tech is the trend du jour.
Tech companies want your blood now. That's the latest trend in the health wearables space, and Oura, an industry frontrunner and smart ring top dog, is falling in line.
Oura unveiled its blood testing feature, Health Panels, on Wednesday, in tandem with the announcement of the Oura Ring 4 Ceramic, a shiny, colorful version of its classic smart ring.
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Oura tests for 50 biomarkers, including those for heart, blood sugar, kidney, and liver health. Oura's AI-enabled Advisor summarizes this health data and provides diet and activity suggestions. Oura's fact sheet displays the Advisor, recommending users consume more leafy greens to support their LDL cholesterol and HBA1C.
If a user doesn't understand what one of these biomarkers means, they can ask the Oura Advisor for further explanation.
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Users schedule blood tests at Quest Diagnostics labs and view their results through the Oura app. By incorporating the medical process of a blood panel into its health tracker membership as an optional add-on, Oura is transforming how and why people take blood tests and what they can do for the average person.
The approach makes health tracking via smartwatches and smart rings feel more objective. The focus is no longer just sleep and activity scores; it's concrete A1C percentages and lipid panels that users can track in the app over time.
"By connecting results from Quest's clinical lab testing with the continuous insights from Oura Ring, we're moving beyond tracking to truly enabling proactive health management," Holly Shelton, chief product officer at Oura, said in a press release.
Oura and its competitors want these blood tests to be taken regularly. Whoop offers a subscription plan for up to four tests a year, while Ultrahuman's $500 annual plan tests 100 biomarkers twice a year. The idea is that they're testing biomarkers, whether it's metabolic, cardiometabolic, or something else, that can be tracked and altered through monitoring the app using a wearable and daily coaching for sleep, activity, or diet.
Oura, for example, already has a partnership with Dexcom, a continuous glucose monitor brand. Users can pair a Stelo CGM to their Oura Ring, log meals on the Oura app, and understand their glucose response to food, exercise, and stress.
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The message behind these blood test products is that you can use your blood data to change your habits (with our device).
The test is available for users between 18 and 65, and excludes users in Arizona, Hawaii, New Jersey, New York, or Rhode Island.