Medical disclaimer

1. What the app actually does

You photograph a meal. An artificial intelligence model tries to recognise the foods present, estimate their weight, then derive a carb quantity as a range (for example “45 to 70 g”). You can correct every value, then save the meal to your history.

That is where the app stops. It calculates no insulin dose and suggests none. You can log the dose you decided on with your doctor: it is a logbook, not a calculator. At no point does a healthcare professional review or validate the carb estimate.

2. Why the result is not 100% reliable

A photo holds only part of the information needed. The main sources of error are known and acknowledged:

• •Hidden foods: sauce, oil, added sugar, cooking fat, a filling under another layer.
• •Volumes: the depth of a plate, the density of a dish or the true scale of the photo cannot be reliably inferred from a two-dimensional image.
• •Recipes: two visually identical dishes can have very different carb contents depending on how they were prepared.
• •Recognition itself: the model can confuse two similar foods, or miss one entirely.

That is why the app shows a confidence level per food and a range rather than a single figure, and lets you correct each weight, each carb quantity and the share you actually ate before saving. Use those corrections: you know your plate better than the model does.

3. Why the app does not calculate your dose

Working out an insulin dose is not a matter of dividing carbs by a ratio. A correct dose depends on your glucose at that moment and which way it is heading, the insulin still active in your body, your recent and upcoming physical activity, the fat and protein in the meal which delay absorption, your own sensitivity — varying with the hour, stress, an infection, the hormonal cycle, pregnancy — and the instructions your doctor has set for you.

A photo of a meal contains none of that. The generic rules often found online, known as the rule of 500 and the rule of 1800, are population averages: they can be plainly unsuited to your case. This is why GlucoTracked has chosen to offer no dose calculation at all. Your ratio and your doses are a matter for your doctor or diabetes specialist, who knows you.

4. What a carb estimate does not tell you

Even when well estimated, a carb quantity is not enough to decide on treatment:

• •it ignores which way your glucose is trending at mealtime;
• •it ignores the insulin still active in your body;
• •it ignores your basal insulin and your overall treatment plan;
• •it ignores your recent or planned physical activity;
• •it ignores the effect of fat and protein, which delay and spread absorption;
• •it ignores your insulin sensitivity and how it varies;
• •it ignores your other treatments and your doctor's own instructions.

5. Uses to avoid

• •Deciding on an injection from the carb estimate alone, without checking it against your glucose and your doctor's instructions.
• •Changing your insulin-to-carb ratio, your basal insulin or any other treatment setting by yourself, based on what you see in the app.
• •Using GlucoTracked in an emergency — severe hypoglycaemia, ketosis, collapse. Call 999 or 112.
• •Letting a child or a vulnerable person use it alone to decide on an injection: supervision by a responsible adult and by the treating clinician is essential.
• •Treating the PDF report as a medical document: it is a self-reported record of your own entries, meant to feed the conversation with your care team.

6. Regulatory status

GlucoTracked is a tool for nutritional tracking, logbook keeping and education. It estimates the carbs in a meal and stores what you note down. It provides no therapeutic decision support: no dose is calculated, suggested, or even offered for guidance.

It is therefore not intended for the diagnosis, prevention, monitoring, treatment or alleviation of disease within the meaning of Regulation (EU) 2017/745 on medical devices, and accordingly carries no medical CE marking. No claim is made as to clinical performance, therapeutic benefit or improvement of any biological marker (HbA1c or otherwise).

7. If in doubt

Speak to your GP, your diabetes specialist, your dietitian or your nurse. In an emergency, call 999 or 112.

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