CES 2026 was awash in bodily fluids

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At CES 2026 this week, group kept asking maine what wellness tech I was seeing connected the show floor. My only reply was this: bodily fluids. As successful urine, blood, sweat, and saliva.

With astir people, my consequence typically sewage a fistful of groans and raised eyebrows. Among insiders, I amazed nary one.

CES is crushed zero of the wellness chaotic west. At Eureka Park and the Venetian Expo, you’ll find dozens of integer wellness startups hawking everything from smartwatches and smart rings to smart pillows. This isn’t new, per se. Urine tech successful peculiar has ever been a staple astatine the show, but what’s notable this twelvemonth isn’t simply the beingness of this tech — it’s the thought that mining these fluids tin thief you unrecorded longer and healthier.

Here’s immoderate of what I saw: at-home hormone testing kits utilizing urine and saliva; smart menstrual pads and panty liners; an in-toilet hydration tracker; a reflector that analyzes your facial humor flow to estimate really good you’re aging; a sperm microscope; and a smart scale that analyzes metabolic wellness done ft sweat.

It’s not conscionable mini startups, either. Bigger names successful the abstraction are besides opening their platforms to accommodate information sources beyond bosom rate. At the show, Withings announced it was partnering pinch Abbott to merge the latter’s continuous glucose monitors (CGMs). Oura has a akin business pinch Dexcom that was announced successful 2025. Whoop besides added the expertise to get blood sheet information integrated into its app past year, followed soon by Oura, and now Ultrahuman is doing the same.

At the core, this fixation connected bodily fluids is grounds that the full manufacture is doubling down connected metabolic wellness arsenic the adjacent frontier. Where integer wellness started pinch cardiovascular health, the adjacent shape hinges connected your metabolism. So aft logging tens of thousands of steps connected the show floor, I sat down pinch Oura CEO Tom Hale and Dexcom CEO Jake Leach to talk astir wherever metabolic tech is going, the challenges ahead, and what we’re apt to spot arsenic consumers.

Both said the existent balancing enactment is betwixt uncovering useful information from further metrics and the imaginable to overwhelm group pinch wellness anxiety. While group whitethorn beryllium good pinch measurement and bosom complaint data, getting into deeper metabolic insights comes pinch overmuch much delicate data. Introducing much precocious discovery features — like, say, precocious humor unit aliases glucose alerts — raises the stakes.

“Actually, we don’t request much sensors. We request much sense,” says Hale, who views metabolic insights derived from humor aliases urine testing arsenic much apt to beryllium episodic than continuous. For Hale, the constituent is to harvester occasional, use-case-driven information pinch longer-term baseline data.

“You’re trying to lick a definite problem. Maybe you’re going done a ace stressful time, and you’re trying to negociate your accent because you’re hypertensive. Okay, possibly a cortisol sweat trial is really useful, but erstwhile you fig that out, are you going to continually measurement your cortisol? Probably not.”

“Bringing the information together successful 1 spot is really helpful. Having it successful disparate places connected disparate devices is problematic, but you’ve sewage to person exertion and package aboveground existent insights and not just, ‘Here’s each these humor markers and here’s wherever they should be,’” says Leach.

This is simply a communicative arsenic aged arsenic wellness tech — and 1 galore companies are trying to lick pinch AI. Hence why you’re starting to spot truthful galore companies adding AI-powered nutrition tracking, chatbots, and insights into their apps. Dexcom added AI insights for its Stelo CGM. Oura has besides done it. Meanwhile, astatine CES 2026, Garmin announced it was besides adding AI nutrition logging to its app for subscribers.

On paper, it’s a inclination that makes a ton of sense. The reality is that the AI conscionable isn’t location yet. When I push Leach connected that, he agrees.

“We’ve sewage to push past that, and that is wherever things are benignant of stuck. A exertion for illustration CGMs that has specified evident outcomes is simply a awesome exertion to beryllium pioneering that,” Leach says, noting that location are nonstop correlations betwixt the manner changes a personification makes and really they’re reflected successful their glucose readings.

The different problem, however, is information privacy. Getting humor tests is invasive, and galore group presently unrecorded successful a authorities of heightened anxiety. It’s a reliable clip for wellness tech to inquire for more information from its users.

Case successful point, Oura — and by extension, Hale — received backlash earlier this summertime erstwhile Oura was revealed to person a business pinch Palantir and the Defense Department. Users accused the institution of trading and sharing personification data, forcing Hale to travel connected societal media to refute the accusation. In public statements connected societal media, Hale stated that Oura ne'er sells aliases shares personification data; the Palantir business successful mobility referred to a abstracted endeavor program. When I property the issue, Hale reiterates this point, adding that users’ menstrual information successful peculiar is off-limits.

Months later, Hale says “Palantir-gate” didn’t wounded the institution overmuch overall, but was a compelling experience. “We weren’t trading anybody’s data, but we learned conscionable really acrophobic group are astir that and really overmuch of a 3rd obstruction that is.”

Otherwise, some Leach and Hale pointed to nutrition, humor pressure, and wearable gadget ecosystems arsenic apt trends successful the space. Dexcom plans to adhd macro search and a redesigned app later this year. Meanwhile, Hale noted that we mightiness soon commencement seeing greater integration betwixt smart glasses and nutrient tracking. For example, taking a photograph of your meal, getting calorie estimates, and past cross-referencing each that information pinch your fixed locator of choice. Hale besides identified chronic information guidance arsenic different imaginable avenue wearables and wellness tech are starting to explore.

“The wearable abstraction successful wide is experiencing rather the roar correct now, and I deliberation it’s driven by the existent desire of group to unrecorded healthier and for healthcare systems to amended their outcomes,” agrees Leach. “Wearable exertion is the measurement we do this astatine scale, because not each expert tin spot each diligent each of the time.”

Taking each this in, I don’t deliberation the mean Joe is abruptly going to beryllium installing pee collectors successful their toilet, going for monthly humor draws, aliases stepping connected $600 scales that show you really agelong you’re going to unrecorded based connected your ft sweat. That would genuinely beryllium a dystopian 2026. But based connected what I saw, and what I heard from Hale and Leach, I do think you’re going to commencement seeing a larger displacement distant from basal fittingness and much toward this thought of promoting longevity done preventive measures. It’s going to beryllium little astir closing your rings each time and much astir doing mini manner experiments complete a fewer months and search immoderate changes. Optimistically, those changes whitethorn thief forestall aliases amended communal ailments that build up complete time, for illustration diabetes, hypertension, aliases precocious cholesterol. Maybe those experiments will impact bodily fluids, possibly not. But clearly, the manufacture seems to deliberation metabolism is the cardinal to unlocking a healthier you.

Unfortunately, I deliberation that intends much bodily fluids.