If I have been to consider the Samsung Galaxy Watch 8, I don’t eat sufficient fruit and veggies.
Usually, smartwatches don’t make judgments about your dietary consumption. However this yr, Samsung launched a brand new experimental function known as Antioxidant Index. Utilizing blue, yellow, and infrared LEDs, the watch’s sensor can choose up carotenoid ranges in your pores and skin. (Carotenoids are a sort of antioxidant that give fruits and veg their yellow, orange, or pink hues.) You stick your thumb on the sensor, press, and in 10 seconds, you get an estimate of whether or not you’re assembly the really helpful quantity of 400g of fruits and veggies per day.
I wasn’t anticipating the Galaxy Watch 8 to say I used to be the Queen of Vegetation. I’ve been identified to pooh-pooh a facet salad in favor of fries with my burgers. Nevertheless it was sort of impolite when two weeks in the past at Unpacked, I demoed the function and obtained a dismal rating of 37. This was after I’d simply had a vegetarian July 4th, replete with zucchini, radishes, corn, cabbage, tomatoes, salad, and extra peaches than I knew learn how to digest.
It was even ruder when this morning; it mentioned I had a “very low” antioxidant rating of 48. This, after consuming my customary breakfast that features a serving of fruit, espresso, and a inexperienced juice protein smoothie — all wealthy in antioxidants.
The previous me would’ve tossed the Galaxy Watch 8 with an indignant huff. The brand new, developed me determined to check this sensor on as many brightly coloured issues as I might get my thumbs on.
First was a tangerine peel. As anticipated, it obtained a rating of 100. The identical was true of a peach slice, a tangerine part, and a strawberry from my lunch and breakfast, respectively. I had much less success with a blackberry. Regardless of having the best carotenoid ranges of any berry, the berry scored a dismal 37. At this level, I assumed I used to be on to one thing. All of the pink, yellow, and orange fruits had handed with flying colours, but a carotenoid-rich blackberry failed? Maybe the Galaxy Watch 8 was extra colorist than correct.
I coloured my thumb with a yellow-orange marker. Wouldn’t you already know it? My Antioxidant Index shot as much as 100. Subsequent, I coloured it with a blue marker. My rating dropped to zero. Sadly, my color-based speculation was foiled by a bit of roasted broccoli. It, too, scored 100 and is, in actual fact, wealthy in carotenoids.
Maybe the blackberry had failed as a result of, when pressed in opposition to the sensor, it exploded in a large number of purple juice that was subsequently tough to wash from the watch. Maybe I was poor in my antioxidant consumption. Or so I assumed, till the Cheez-It.
In the event you’ve by no means had a Cheez-It, it’s a delightfully tacky, crispy cracker, and most significantly, it’s orange. The Cheez-It scored a near-perfect 99. Certainly, a CHEESE cracker will not be a paragon of antioxidant content material. A fast Google search humbled me. Cheddar, the predominant cheese in Cheez-Its, truly does include carotenoids. That’s truly why it’s orange. Upon this discovery, I needed to lie down and stare at my ceiling.
I requested Samsung whether or not the sensor detects carotenoids based mostly solely on pigments, or if there’s another issue at play. Jeffrey Kim, senior product supervisor at Samsung Electronics America, tells The Verge that the watch’s sensor measures “absorption ranges within the blue-green spectrum, which enhances the yellow-orange vary to estimate the quantity of pores and skin carotenoids” to find out your antioxidant degree. Make-up or dyes utilized to the pores and skin, Kim says, can disrupt sign measurement and really helpful I wash and dry my arms earlier than readings.
After some relaxation and reflection, the ghost of my widespread sense returned to me. It finally doesn’t matter whether or not I meet Samsung’s measure of “sufficient” fruit and veggies — even whether it is knowledgeable by the World Well being Group’s suggestions. What issues is that I make a concerted effort to incorporate quite a lot of colourful fruits and veggies on my plate most of the time. If I’m poor in a vitamin, it’ll doubtless present up at my subsequent physician’s appointment.
Options like this aren’t meant to make you spiral about whether or not you’re assembly some arbitrary customary. Even when a bunch of science went into creating detection algorithms utilizing high-tech sensors, there’s at all times going to be errors and room for misinterpretation. This appears apparent, nevertheless it’s simple to get sucked into the quantified rat race towards perfection. If monitoring a selected metric makes you are feeling worse about your self, you’re allowed to take a break from it — and even resolve it’s not price listening to. None of that is meant to be taken that critically.
Quite than obsess too exhausting over a brand new metric, the perfect takeaway from my time with the Antioxidant Index has been discovering that I get pleasure from peaches with waffles and tangerines as snacks. That, and Cheez-Its have antioxidants and from this present day forth shall be thought of a healthful a part of my eating regimen.
Pictures by Victoria Track / The Verge
Replace, July twenty ninth, 2025: Added assertion from Samsung.
