The Association of Previous Day Carbohydrate Consumption With Fasted, Exhaled Carbon Dioxide in Lumen Users: Retrospective Real-World Study.

Abstract

Background: The increasing prevalence of obesity and related metabolic disorders has highlighted the need for innovative tools to monitor and manage metabolic health. The Lumen device offers a novel approach to assess the metabolic state through exhaled carbon dioxide (CO₂) measurements, providing real-time feedback via a mobile app. This app-driven experience allows users to track their metabolic state and receive personalized nutrition and lifestyle recommendations, potentially supporting long-term metabolic health improvements.

Objective: This study aimed to investigate the association between the previous day's carbohydrate consumption with fasted, exhaled CO₂ levels in female and male Lumen users while also examining the influence of fasting duration, BMI, and age.

Methods: We conducted a retrospective, observational study using deidentified data from 48,058 Lumen users, comprising 707,372 fasted sessions. Separate linear mixed models were fitted for female (n=520,269 sessions) and male (n=187,103 sessions) users due to observed sex differences in metabolism. User ID was included as a random effect to account for repeated measures. The models analyzed the relationship between fasted %CO₂ levels and reported carbohydrate intake, fasting duration, BMI, and age.

Results: Higher reported carbohydrate intake from the previous day was significantly associated with increased morning %CO₂ levels in both male and female users (β=.032; P<.001; Cohen d=0.0691 in women and β=.024; P<.001; Cohen d=0.0534 in men), while a longer fasting duration was linked to decreased %CO₂ levels in both sexes (β=-.017; P<.001 for both and Cohen d=-0.0374 in women and Cohen d=-0.0382 in men). A higher BMI was associated with elevated %CO₂ levels in both sexes (β=.018; P<.001; Cohen d=0.0390 in women and β=.017; P<.001; Cohen d=0.0384 in men). Age had a statistically significant but modest effect in women (β=.008; P<.001; Cohen d=0.0180), whereas the effect size was minimal and did not meet the stricter significance threshold in men (β=.001; P=.02; Cohen d=0.0016). Cohen d values indicated that reported carbohydrate intake had the strongest effect size, while fasting duration and BMI had relatively smaller effects in both models.

Conclusions: The Lumen device is able to detect changes in fasted %CO₂ levels based on the previous day's reported carbohydrate intake and fasting duration with sex-specific metabolic responses. These findings highlight the potential of Lumen as a personalized metabolic health monitoring tool, providing insights into the influence of dietary intake and fasting on metabolic state. Future research should investigate the hormonal and physiological mechanisms contributing to the observed sex differences and assess the long-term impact of app-guided metabolic feedback on user behaviors and metabolic health outcomes.