Thousands of people use GoCoCo to scan their food, cut down on ultra-processed products, and take control of their blood sugar. We hear the stories all the time, people who've changed how they eat, how they feel, and how they manage their diabetes. But stories aren't enough.

Because many of our members log their A1C & weight in the app over time (although it's somewhat buried in the app), we decided to look at the data and ask a simple question: do those stories show up in objective health markers?

This was not a clinical trial, and there was no control group; the results are real-world and observational. However, they are striking, especially among the people who needed improvement the most.

Among users with type 2 diabetes who tracked both their A1C and weight over time (n=177), 84% improved their A1C or lost weight, and 60% improved both simultaneously.

Among all users who logged their A1C and qualified for the analysis (2 or more readings, at least 60 days apart, n=251), we observed an overall mean reduction of 0.91 percentage points. Furthermore, for those who started with 'poorly controlled' diabetes (A1C ≥8.0%), we recorded an even greater average reduction of 2.25 percentage points.

What is A1C, and why does it matter?

Your A1C shows your average blood sugar over time, typically covering a 3-month window. Unlike a fasting glucose reading, which only captures a single snapshot, A1C gives you the bigger picture through glycation, the process where glucose bonds to the hemoglobin in your red blood cells.

Your A1C level determines your diagnosis:

• 6.5% or higher: diagnoses Type 2 diabetes, a condition that can cause heart disease, stroke, kidney failure, amputation, and blindness.
• 5.7% to 6.4%: signals prediabetes, putting you on the fast track to developing diabetes within a few years.

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Fortunately, lowering these numbers directly reverses your risk. This study (UKPDS 88) found that dropping your A1C by just one point right from diagnosis is associated with a substantially lower risk of heart attacks and diabetes-related death over the following decade.

What our members achieved

We looked at every GoCoCo user who logged at least two A1C readings, taken at least 60 days apart, starting from a level above the prediabetes threshold (5.7%). That's 251 members.

Here's what we found:

• 64% improved their A1C
• The average drop was 0.91 percentage points
• 45% lowered their A1C by 0.6 points or more — a clinically meaningful change

And the sicker the starting point, the bigger the improvement:

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The people who needed change the most saw the most change. Members starting above 8.0% (the group at highest risk of complications, n=88) dropped from an average of 10.02% to 7.77%: 65% dropped their A1C by at least 1 pp, and 56% by at least 2 pp.

Why does this work?

GoCoCo is built around one core idea: most of the damage to your metabolic health stems from high consumption of ultra-processed foods and a lack of real food like vegetables, legumes, and whole grains. Unfortunately, most people have no easy way to see the impact of what they're actually eating. Our Scanner and Meal Tracker make the invisible visible, empowering you to reclaim your health with real food.

Refined carbohydrates break down quickly into glucose, spiking your blood sugar. Replacing refined carbs and added sugars with complex carbohydrates (like whole grains or legumes), paired with fresh vegetables and fruits, a variety of protein sources, and healthy fats (like olive oil, avocado, or nuts), attacks the problem at its root.

Awareness creates accountability. You can't change what you don't measure. Members who scan their food and track their meals consistently see the clearest results, the act of tracking itself helps maintain the habit. In our data, the members who engaged most with the app saw the largest A1C reductions.

The numbers back this up. Among our most engaged users living with poorly controlled diabetes,  those logging consistently (at least 5 active days per month and a meal a day), the average A1C reduction reached 2.7 percentage points (n=66), moving them from an average of 10.1% down to 7.4%, with 83% improving. Engagement isn't just correlated with results; it appears to be the mechanism.

It's not just A1C, weight moves too

The same pattern shows up on the scale. Among the 557 members who logged their weight over time, the average loss was 7 lbs (−2.3%), and 73% lost weight. 

The effect scales with how much someone has to lose: members starting in the highest weight bracket (over 265 lbs) lost an average of 21 lbs,  more than 6% of their body weight. A1C and weight improvements move together, which is exactly what you'd expect when the underlying driver is real, sustained dietary change.

The honest caveats

It's observational. There's no control group, so we can't fully separate GoCoCo's effect from other things happening in our members' lives, medication changes, exercise, or simply the motivation that led them to download a health app in the first place. The A1C values are self-reported. And members who log their A1C twice are, by definition, more engaged than average.

While we are planning a controlled study to rigorously measure GoCoCo's full impact, the current signal is clear, consistent, and strong: we are helping people living with type 2 diabetes measurably improve their health.

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Observational real-world data, June 8, 2026. Cohort: 233 GoCoCo members with baseline A1C >=5.7% and at least two readings 60+ days apart. Not a substitute for medical advice. Always work with your healthcare provider on diabetes management.

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