CES 2026 was awash in bodily fluids

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At CES 2026 this week, individuals stored asking me what well being tech I used to be seeing on the present ground. My solely reply was this: bodily fluids. As in urine, blood, sweat, and saliva.

With most individuals, my response usually obtained a handful of groans and raised eyebrows. Amongst insiders, I shocked nobody.

CES is floor zero of the wellness Wild West. At Eureka Park and the Venetian Expo, you’ll discover dozens of digital well being startups hawking every thing from smartwatches and sensible rings to sensible pillows. This isn’t new, per se. Urine tech particularly has at all times been a staple on the present, however what’s notable this 12 months isn’t merely the presence of this tech — it’s the concept mining these fluids may also help you reside longer and more healthy.

Right here’s a few of what I noticed: at-home hormone testing kits utilizing urine and saliva; sensible menstrual pads and panty liners; an in-toilet hydration tracker; a mirror that analyzes your facial blood movement to estimate how effectively you’re getting old; a sperm microscope; and a sensible scale that analyzes metabolic well being by foot sweat.

It’s not simply tiny startups, both. Larger names within the house are additionally opening their platforms to accommodate information sources past coronary heart charge. On the present, Withings introduced it was partnering with Abbott to combine the latter’s steady glucose displays (CGMs). Oura has the same partnership with Dexcom that was introduced in 2025. Whoop additionally added the power to get blood panel information built-in into its app final 12 months, adopted quickly by Oura, and now Ultrahuman is doing the identical.

On the core, this fixation on bodily fluids is proof that all the business is doubling down on metabolic well being as the subsequent frontier. The place digital well being began with cardiovascular well being, the subsequent section hinges in your metabolism. So after logging tens of 1000’s of steps on the present ground, I sat down with Oura CEO Tom Hale and Dexcom CEO Jake Leach to speak about the place metabolic tech goes, the challenges forward, and what we’re more likely to see as shoppers.

Each stated the actual balancing act is between discovering helpful information from extra metrics and the potential to overwhelm individuals with well being nervousness. Whereas individuals could also be nice with step and coronary heart charge information, entering into deeper metabolic insights comes with rather more delicate information. Introducing extra superior detection options — like, say, hypertension or glucose alerts — raises the stakes.

“Truly, we don’t want extra sensors. We want extra sense,” says Hale, who views metabolic insights derived from blood or urine testing as extra more likely to be episodic than steady. For Hale, the purpose is to mix occasional, use-case-driven information with longer-term baseline information.

“You’re attempting to unravel a sure downside. Perhaps you’re going by a brilliant hectic time, and also you’re attempting to handle your stress since you’re hypertensive. Okay, perhaps a cortisol sweat check is basically helpful, however once you determine that out, are you going to repeatedly measure your cortisol? In all probability not.”

“Bringing the info collectively in a single place is basically useful. Having it in disparate locations on disparate units is problematic, however you’ve obtained to have expertise and software program floor precise insights and never simply, ‘Right here’s all these blood markers and right here’s the place they need to be,’” says Leach.

It is a story as previous as well being tech — and one many firms try to unravel with AI. Therefore why you’re beginning to see so many firms including AI-powered vitamin monitoring, chatbots, and insights into their apps. Dexcom added AI insights for its Stelo CGM. Oura has additionally finished it. In the meantime, at CES 2026, Garmin introduced it was additionally including AI vitamin logging to its app for subscribers.

On paper, it’s a development that makes a ton of sense. The fact is that the AI simply isn’t there but. After I push Leach on that, he agrees.

“We’ve obtained to push previous that, and that is the place issues are type of caught. A expertise like CGMs that has such apparent outcomes is a superb expertise to be pioneering that,” Leach says, noting that there are direct correlations between the life-style modifications an individual makes and the way they’re mirrored of their glucose readings.

The opposite downside, nonetheless, is information privateness. Getting blood checks is invasive, and many individuals at the moment dwell in a state of heightened nervousness. It’s a troublesome time for well being tech to ask for extra information from its customers.

Living proof, Oura — and by extension, Hale — obtained backlash earlier this summer time when Oura was revealed to have a partnership with Palantir and the Protection Division. Customers accused the corporate of promoting and sharing consumer information, forcing Hale to return on social media to refute the accusation. In public statements on social media, Hale acknowledged that Oura by no means sells or shares consumer information; the Palantir partnership in query referred to a separate enterprise program. After I press the problem, Hale reiterates this level, including that customers’ menstrual information particularly is off-limits.

Months later, Hale says “Palantir-gate” didn’t damage the corporate a lot general, however was a compelling expertise. “We weren’t promoting anyone’s information, however we discovered simply how afraid persons are about that and the way a lot of a 3rd rail that’s.”

In any other case, each Leach and Hale pointed to vitamin, blood strain, and wearable gadget ecosystems as doubtless traits within the house. Dexcom plans so as to add macro monitoring and a redesigned app later this 12 months. In the meantime, Hale famous that we would quickly begin seeing better integration between sensible glasses and meals monitoring. For instance, taking a photograph of your meal, getting calorie estimates, after which cross-referencing all that information along with your given tracker of selection. Hale additionally recognized continual situation administration as one other potential avenue wearables and well being tech are beginning to discover.

“The wearable house on the whole is experiencing fairly the growth proper now, and I feel it’s pushed by the precise need of individuals to dwell more healthy and for healthcare techniques to enhance their outcomes,” agrees Leach. “Wearable expertise is the best way we do that at scale, as a result of not each physician can see each affected person all the time.”

Taking all this in, I don’t assume the common Joe is all of a sudden going to be putting in pee collectors of their rest room, going for month-to-month blood attracts, or stepping on $600 scales that let you know how lengthy you’re going to dwell based mostly in your foot sweat. That would really be a dystopian 2026. However based mostly on what I noticed, and what I heard from Hale and Leach, I do assume you’re going to start out seeing a bigger shift away from fundamental health and extra towards this concept of selling longevity by preventive measures. It’s going to be much less about closing your rings every single day and extra about doing small way of life experiments over just a few months and monitoring any modifications. Optimistically, these modifications might assist stop or enhance frequent illnesses that construct up over time, like diabetes, hypertension, or excessive ldl cholesterol. Perhaps these experiments will contain bodily fluids, perhaps not. However clearly, the business appears to assume metabolism is the important thing to unlocking a more healthy you.

Sadly, I feel which means extra bodily fluids.