Methodology

Every number GlucIQ shows, and where it came from.

People with diabetes have been telling us the same thing for years: the hard part is not the arithmetic, it is not knowing which arithmetic ran. This page lays out every formula we use.

The three rules behind every number

The parameters are yours. Ratios, correction factors and targets are set with your clinician and entered by you. GlucIQ does not set them, change them, or adjust them.

The formula is always visible. When a number appears, the formula that produced it appears with it, on the screen where the number lives.

Nothing is a measurement. GlucIQ does not measure your glucose. It records what you type or what a connected sensor reports, and it computes arithmetic on that.

Where the AI stops and you start

Photographing a meal gives you a starting estimate of carbohydrate, protein, fat and calories. That estimate is always editable before it is saved, and the saved record is yours, not the model's. Adjusting the portion recalculates everything downstream immediately.

Treat any estimate as a starting point. If the number matters for a decision, weigh it, or use the nutrition label. GlucIQ is informational and advisory only: it does not diagnose, treat, prescribe, or make dosing decisions, and it does not replace the care plan agreed with your clinician.

Portion: by weight, by unit, or by share

Portion error is the biggest source of real-world carbohydrate error, so portion is the first thing you adjust, not the last. Three ways to correct it, all recalculating live:

By weight in grams, including subtracting what you did not finish from a logged entry.
By household unit where that is how you actually think: a cup, a tablespoon, a slice, a piece, a plate.
By share of a serving for a split meal, or a second helping from the same entry.

Foods are stored against a per-100 g basis, so any serving can be derived from the label rather than guessed at.

Formulas

The calculations, stated plainly.

Carbohydrate bolus

The standard carbohydrate-counting approach: meal carbohydrate divided by the user's insulin-to-carb ratio.

What you see: Meal carbohydrate (g), your ratio (g per unit), the result, and the ratio you used.

What it assumes: That your ratio is correct for you. It does not adjust for insulin already active.

Correction, with insulin on board

A glucose correction using your correction factor, optionally reduced by insulin still active from earlier doses.

What you see: Current glucose, target, your correction factor, estimated insulin on board, and the net correction shown separately.

What it assumes: That your correction factor holds and that insulin on board is modelled from your logged doses.

Fat and protein handling

Fat and protein are digested more slowly than carbohydrate. The common convention treats roughly 100 calories from fat and protein as about one additional unit of insulin, spread over several hours.

What you see: Fat and protein calories, the resulting Fat-Protein Unit figure, and the time window it applies over.

What it assumes: A community and expert convention rather than a strongly evidenced rule. Treat it as a planning aid, not a prescription.

Estimated A1c from glucose readings

Relates mean glucose to estimated glycated haemoglobin.

What you see: The readings it used, how many it needed, and what was missing when it cannot calculate.

What it assumes: A relationship calibrated for a general population. It is an estimate, not a lab result.

Time in range and glucose management indicator

Percentage of readings inside a target glucose range, and a companion estimate expressed on the A1c scale.

What you see: The target range used, the readings included, and the coverage of your data.

What it assumes: That the target range reflects your clinician's goal for you.

Where more than one approach exists, the choice is yours and GlucIQ says which one it used. If your care team works in a particular method, set that as your default.

Sources

The published work these are based on.

Clinical Targets for Continuous Glucose Monitoring Data Interpretation: Recommendations From the International Consensus on Time in Range

Battelino T, et al. Diabetes Care, 2019. Basis for the target range and Time in Range presentation.

Glucose Management Indicator (GMI): A New Term for Estimating A1C From Continuous Glucose Monitoring

Bergenstal RM, et al. Diabetes Care, 2018. Basis for the glucose management indicator.

Nutrition Therapy for Adults With Diabetes or Prediabetes: A Consensus Report

Evert AB, et al. Diabetes Care, 2019. Background for carbohydrate counting and nutrition therapy in diabetes.

Standards of Care in Diabetes

American Diabetes Association, annual publication. Current clinical guidance. Cite the current year's chapter on glycaemic management and on nutrition therapy.

References are listed so you can check the reasoning rather than take our word for it. If a formula GlucIQ shows is not the one your care team uses, your clinician's method wins. Where evidence is thin or contested, the formula page says so rather than implying a certainty that does not exist.

Regulatory position

GlucIQ is an informational and advisory tool. It holds no regulatory clearance in any market, does not diagnose or treat, and makes no dosing decision. In jurisdictions where an insulin-calculation feature is regulated as a software medical device, GlucIQ's position is to document that classification rather than assume it. We make no diagnostic or therapeutic claim.

Why GlucIQ Safety boundaries