This week’s Smart Health roundup features how smart toilets will play a crucial role in monitoring our health, an e-cigarette that’s connected to the Internet, and a smart thermometer.

Smart toilets to play an important role in health tracking

According to researchers at the  Future of Medicine summit in West Palm Beach, toilets with sensors that are able to test for health markers are in our future. Such commodes would be able to predict one’s predisposition to certain types of diseases such as cancer or diabetes.

“In my world, there would be  a toilet sensor,” said Michael Snyder, director of the Stanford Center for Genomics and Personalized Medicine. “You laugh, but I predict there will be one.”

A toilet that can read a person’s genetic code can provide vital information such as the likelihood of certain diseases to be displayed even if the person looks healthy, eats well and exercises on a regular basis. Knowing you’re at risk for certain conditions by just peeing in a smart toilet could very well encourage people to become more proactive with their health, but it could also scare off some users, especially those with hypochondriac tendencies.

Connected e-cigarettes

Philip Morris International Inc., maker of the well-known Marlboro cigarettes, introduced a new kind of e-cigarette back in June called the Marlboro HeatStick. The HeatStick looks like a pen, charges using a USB cable, and heats the cigarette stick to provide the genuine taste of tobacco and nicotine, unlike the usual e-cigarettes that use liquid flavoring and nicotine.

The HeatStick is slated to be released in Italy and Japan later this year, but even before it hits the shelves in these markets, Philip Morris plans to introduce a way for users of the HeatStick to be able to connect to the Internet and mobile app to track their usage, and even “automatically pre-order additional smoking articles” based on usage patterns. By connecting to the Internet or a mobile app, a person can track how much he or she smokes a day, which can help when the person is contemplating on quitting the habit, or can even provide data to be used in clinical trials.

E-cigarettes have been advertised as a healthier alternative to smoking traditional paper cigarettes, but the debate is still on as to whether this claim is true or not.

Swaive Thermometer

Forget about old school mercury thermometers and other digital thermometers that you stick in your armpit, under the tongue or even in your behind. Swiave Corp. aims to take temperature monitoring to a whole new level.

The Swaive Thermometer is a digital ear thermometer that can be used on its own, but it connects with Apple Inc.’s Health App via Bluetooth so all readings are recorded on the app. This is a great for when you need to monitor someone’s temperature for a period of time without manual data-tracking. It also helps you manage temperature readings for multiple people, with an option for alerts if there’s any change in temperature.