I Tracked My Urine to Discover Out if It is the Subsequent Wellness Tracker

There’ll come some extent once we’ve gone too far with well being monitoring. One might argue we now have already arrived, however typically we actually must overindulge to rein ourselves in. Living proof: we are able to now analyze our urine anytime we wish, from the consolation of our personal bogs.

In November, Withings launched its long-awaited U-Scan: a house monitoring system on your urine. The gadget resembles a man-made seashell that sits inside your bathroom. When prompted, it collects a little bit of urine that flows over it as you pee and analyzes it for numerous components like pH and calcium.

I can’t consider a single one that enjoys offering a urine pattern on the physician’s workplace, myself included. So I used to be fully unenthusiastic about testing the $380 U-Scan, if I’m being trustworthy. For no matter cause, the idea of gathering particulars about my urine is manner much less thrilling than knowing how many hours of sleep I had the evening earlier than, or what number of steps I took, or how excessive my coronary heart price obtained on my run that morning. Regardless of all this dread, although, I in some way shocked myself. Analyzing my urine for just a few weeks turned out to be considerably surprisingly enjoyable. And it’s nothing like peeing in a cup inside a chilly physician’s workplace rest room.

Sure, it sits inside your bathroom

Withings first debuted the U-Scan again at CES in 2023, so it’s taken the corporate just a few years to good.

The hockey puck-sized (or giant seashell) gadget opens as much as reveal a compartment for a detachable cartridge. Proper now, there are two cartridges obtainable. The primary, known as the Nutrio, focuses on parts of your urine that mirror your physique’s total vitamin. It checks your urine pH, its particular gravity, ketones, and your present stage of vitamin C. The second, known as the Calci, additionally tracks your urine’s pH and particular gravity, nevertheless it moreover checks your calcium ranges. This take a look at focuses in your physique’s total kidney functioning.

The U-Scan is available in 4 totally different variations. First, you’ll be able to select both the Proactive Bundle or the Intensive Bundle. Each of them embrace the U-Scan reader, however the Proactive Bundle comes with only one cartridge, whereas the Intensive Bundle comes with two cartridges. Then, you’ll be able to select whether or not you need the Calci or the Nutrio. The Proactive bundle (with both take a look at) will value you $380, whereas the Intensive bundle will attain $450. Every cartridge incorporates 22 urine checks. With the Proactive bundle, your renewal cartridge is delivered each two to 3 months for $100 every renewal cycle. With the Intensive Bundle, you’ll get a renewal supply (of two cartridges) each two to 3 months for $180 every. For my testing functions, I selected the Nutrio cartridge.

Putting in the gadget in your bathroom is equal components simple and troublesome. The primary troublesome half is actually getting the U-Scan open to put in the cartridge. As a result of it’ll actually sit inside your bathroom, the place a number of liquid is spraying all over the place, the scanner have to be sealed shut. Withings does this through the use of a type of twisting methodology the place you must maintain the palms of your fingers on each side of the gadget and twist it open and shut. Until you’re a devoted rock climber with the finger and wrist muscle mass to show it or a chef who twists open troublesome jars regularly, it’s doubtless that you’ll have problem with this step. I finally obtained the U-Scan open, nevertheless it took numerous feeling foolish and confused. Nonetheless, as soon as I discovered the signature twist, I might often reliably get it open anytime I needed (which was actually twice).

As soon as unsealed, the U-Scan has an empty place for the place the cartridge sits, and it clips in pretty simply. Then you must reseal the gadget (equally as exhausting as unsealing it) and clip it to your bathroom. Withings offers three clip sizes; my bathroom turned out to be medium-sized. All in all, the set up course of was pretty routine, albeit a bit bizarre.

Why urine?!

The logical subsequent step is to pee on the U-Scan, which is even less complicated than it sounds. Contained in the Withings app, you click on on the “Launch a measurement” characteristic. You’ll rapidly hear the gadget energy up, after which you’ve a few two-minute window to pee such as you usually would. As that is taking place, the U-Scan has a thermal sensor that detects the presence of urine by way of a temperature meter (urine is far hotter than bathroom water). As soon as it detects urine, the U-Scan has a pumping system that pulls urine inside it by way of a microfluidic channel, which manipulates the move of liquid by pumps whose diameter is commonly smaller than a human hair. The tiny channels transfer the urine alongside to the testing space.

As soon as there, based on Withings, a needle injects the pattern onto a colorimetric take a look at strip, which modifications colours based mostly on numerous chemical reactions. A built-in LED plus a proprietary algorithm analyzes any colour modifications that assist decide issues like pH and vitamin C ranges, amongst different issues. Inside a couple of minutes, your urine evaluation will pop up throughout the Withings app.

Okay, however why? From a medical perspective, urine is definitely stuffed with surprises. Urine testing has one of many longest steady histories in drugs. That’s primarily as a result of it’s simple to gather and displays many physique processes. In actual fact, throughout medieval instances, ancient physicians would literally taste urine, figuring out that sweet-tasting urine usually meant that their affected person had diabetes. Fortunately, this observe ended within the 1700s.

As we speak, although, there are such a lot of issues we are able to test with a easy urine take a look at. The U-Scan focuses on just a few foremost ones, together with the pH of your urine, its particular gravity, the calcium stage, and the presence of ketones.

Once I examined the gadget, I did it about as soon as a day (as really useful by Withings) and tried to do it on the similar time each day as nicely (usually very first thing within the morning). For probably the most half, my readings had been throughout the regular vary, however randomly they’d be a bit off, notably my pH, the extent of vitamin C, or my calculated hydration standing. If I obtained a outcome like that, I’d simply give attention to consuming extra greens over the following couple of days or consuming extra water. Usually, although, my outcomes would return to regular even when I didn’t do any of these issues.

And that’s the place the utility of the U-Scan will get a bit wonky for me. Until you’ve a identified situation, like diabetes or kidney illness, that you’re monitoring (hopefully with the assistance of a health care provider!), it’s unclear how nicely the U-Scan will enhance your well being. I can see a particularly wholesome particular person overly obsessing over each single pH or vitamin C studying with out these one-off readings having any actionable impact on their well being.

How does it keep clear?

The U-Scan comes with a cleansing and charging station (it expenses by way of a USB-C port). Based on Withings, the battery life can last as long as three months on a full cost, however may very well be considerably much less (solely a few month) in the event you use it continuously. Withings claims that with each bathroom flush, the U-Scan ought to keep clear. Nonetheless, it additionally comes with a deep cleansing detergent that you need to use contained in the station (you’ll must take away the cartridge first).

Will it develop into a everlasting characteristic on my bathroom?

The U-Scan appears designed—or no less than at the moment marketed—for health-obsessed but overtly wholesome folks. As an illustration, anytime that my urine studying advised me that my hydration stage was low, I’d make some extent to drink water all through my day, and the following day the studying could be again to regular. It made me really feel superior, sure, however do I would like a $400 gadget that measures my urine each morning to keep in mind that hydrating on the common is sweet for my well being? Most likely not.

Alternatively, I can see the U-Scan having a ton of potential for folks with circumstances like diabetes or kidney illness, the place urine readings for ketones or protein are extremely vital for monitoring their situation. And whereas there are different units on the market that may take a look at your urine, most of them make the most of bodily take a look at strips. There doesn’t but appear to be one other gadget just like the U-Scan that attaches on to the bathroom and incorporates the testing expertise contained in the gadget itself. I don’t need to total dismiss the idea of an at-home urine analyzer, nonetheless, even for wholesome folks. However I believe it wants extra work on what you might be testing and why, and easy methods to use the info it spits out to you.