ZOE Science & Nutrition

Are some of your "healthy" foods actually high-risk ultra-processed foods? 

For decades, nutrition advice seemed relatively straightforward. Eat less sugar. Less salt. Less saturated fat. Then it all fell apart.

In today’s episode, we examine the research that has forced us to rethink what makes food harmful in the first place. Two of the world’s leading nutrition scientists, Professor Tim Spector and Professor Sarah Berry, tell their own story of why they’ve changed their minds about it.

We explore why sugar, salt and fat aren’t the whole story, explain why ultra-processed foods are making us sick, and share groundbreaking insight that only a small portion of them are really harmful.

By the end of the episode, you’ll know what to watch out for and what to worry less about when you’re food shopping.

Next time you reach for a "healthy" yogurt or a quick pasta sauce, would you still choose it if you knew exactly how it was made?

🌱 Try our science-backed and tasty wholefood supplement Daily30

🌿Let your gut microbes snack on the ZOE Gut Health Bar

Build healthy habits. Download the ZOE app today and start your trial for just £2.30 for your first week. 👉 Join ZOE

Follow ZOE on Instagram.

Timecodes

00:00 Intro

02:24 The biggest myth about spotting ultra-processed food

07:52 How much of your diet is actually ultra-processed

12:09 Why people ate 500 more calories on ultra-processed food

13:47 The study that changed how scientists see ultra-processed food

17:52 The hidden artificial sweeteners nobody noticed they were eating

20:29 What sweeteners did to mice in this gut bacteria experiment

23:57 What emulsifiers might be doing to your gut lining

28:27 Why food additive combinations are impossible to track

31:30 Can food texture alone change how much you eat?

33:08 Two ultra-processed diets, 369 calories apart

37:10 How the tobacco industry invented food's "bliss point"

39:33 Why hyperpalatable food makes you eat the whole bag

42:17 Does skipping cakes and soda avoid ultra-processed food?

46:38 The "ultra-processed" foods that are actually protective

48:32 How ZOE built its own ultra-processed food risk score

51:01 Why 72 calories a minute is one sign of a risky food

53:48 The 25% of ultra-processed food causing most of the harm

56:11 The one-question test for spotting ultra-processed food

59:32 ZOE says 25% of food is high risk, not NOVA's 60%

01:01:54 Why some "healthy" yogurts are full of hidden sweeteners

01:03:16 Why children's food is designed to make kids overeat

01:05:41 Two pestos, one full of hidden sweeteners

01:10:20 Ultra-processed food uses the same trick as cigarettes

01:11:41 Why you shouldn't fear all processed food

📚Books by our ZOE Scientists

The Food For Life Cookbook

Every Body Should Know This by Dr Federica Amati

The Appetite Reset by Dr Federica Amati

Food For Life by Prof. Tim Spector

Ferment by Prof. Tim Spector

Good Mood Food (preorder) by Prof. Tim Spector

Free resources from ZOE

The Smart Snacking Guide: How to feed your gut, fuel your day, and snack without guilt

The Hormone Harmony Guide: Tuning Your Body’s Internal Orchestra  

Eating for Better Brain Health: Your brain-gut blueprint

How to eat in 2026 - Discover ZOE’s 8 nutrition principles for long-term health

Live Healthier: Top 10 Tips From ZOE Science & Nutrition

Gut Guide - For a Healthier Microbiome in Weeks 

Better Breakfast Guide

Mentioned in today's episode

Ultra-Processed Diets Cause Excess Calorie Intake and Weight Gain, Cell (2019)

Personalized microbiome-driven effects of sweeteners, Cell (2022)

Food Emulsifiers and Metabolic Syndrome: The Role of the Gut Microbiota, Foods (2022)

NutriNet-Santé Study

Eating rate has sustained effects on energy intake from ultraprocessed diets, The American Journal of Clinical Nutrition (2026)

The role of hyper-palatable foods in energy intake, Eating Behaviours (2025)

ZOE’s PREDICT studies: What we’ve learned

Episode transcripts are available here.

Floating through all of our bodies is a complex network of hormones. You can think of it as an internal postal service, delivering vital messages and instructions to different organs and systems.

But what happens if these messages get intercepted, mixed up, or worse, not delivered at all?

In this episode, Dr Andrew Jenkinson tells us about a hormone that plays a crucial role in weight regulation and the undesirable consequences when it isn’t functioning properly.

He also shares three simple tips you can do tomorrow to make sure your hormones support your health.

🌱 Try our science-backed and tasty wholefood supplement Daily30

🌿Let your gut microbes snack on the ZOE Gut Health Bar

Get our brand-new app and Gut Health Test designed by world-leading gut health and nutrition scientists to build healthy eating habits 👉 Join ZOE

Follow ZOE on Instagram.

📚Books by our ZOE Scientists

The Food For Life Cookbook

Every Body Should Know This by Dr Federica Amati

The Appetite Reset by Dr Federica Amati

Food For Life by Prof. Tim Spector

Ferment by Prof. Tim Spector

Good Mood Food (preorder) by Prof. Tim Spector

Free resources from ZOE

The Smart Snacking Guide: How to feed your gut, fuel your day, and snack without guilt

The Hormone Harmony Guide: Tuning Your Body’s Internal Orchestra  

Eating for Better Brain Health: Your brain-gut blueprint

How to eat in 2026 - Discover ZOE’s 8 nutrition principles for long-term health

Live Healthier: Top 10 Tips From ZOE Science & Nutrition

Gut Guide - For a Healthier Microbiome in Weeks 

Better Breakfast Guide

Have feedback or a topic you'd like us to cover? Let us know here

Listen to the full episode here

Growing up, many of us were taught to just stay calm and carry on - as if stress was all in the mind, with no real effect on the body. But chronic stress can change your brain, raise your risk of heart disease, and even shorten your life. 

In this episode, we ask: what happens when a stress response built to last minutes never switches off?

Today, Professor Carmine Pariante, one of the world's leading researchers on stress, helps us understand what’s happening in your body during a stressful moment and why chronic stress disrupts sleep, appetite, and energy levels. Carmine also explains how worried you should be about cortisol, and whether "cortisol face" and "cortisol belly" are backed by evidence.

By the end, you’ll understand why stress can be so powerful, when it becomes harmful, and have some evidence-based ways to manage it.

Next time you reach for wine, your phone, or something sweet after a hard day, ask yourself: is this helping you cope, or helping you avoid how you feel?

🌱 Try our science-backed and tasty wholefood supplement Daily30

🌿Let your gut microbes snack on the ZOE Gut Health Bar

Build healthy habits. Download the ZOE app today and start your trial for just £2.30 for your first week. 👉 Join ZOE

Follow ZOE on Instagram.

Timecodes

00:00 Intro

01:10 Should you be aiming for zero stress?

06:13 Inside your fight-or-flight response

11:19 Can stress actually cause a heart attack?

13:15 Why your stress response won't switch off

15:33 Why stress eating isn't a willpower problem

17:15 Why emotional stress feels physical

21:00 The earliest sign of chronic stress

22:05 There's no such thing as "it's all in your head"

25:15 Stress causes the same inflammation as a cold

29:54 The blunt truth about chronic stress

31:07 How stress clogs your arteries

32:55 Why chronic stress can steal your joy

35:10 What a brain scan reveals about chronic stress

37:07 Is "cortisol face" actually real?

38:49 Does the viral cortisol cocktail actually work?

41:20 Why control is the key to coping with stress

42:46 How singing for one hour lowered cortisol

45:15 Why exercise is such powerful stress relief

47:57 Foods with the strongest evidence against stress

49:45 Why alcohol doesn't actually relieve stress

50:58 Is your phone making your stress worse?

54:04 The first thing to do when stress overwhelms you

56:06 Why modern life never switches your stress off

📚Books by our ZOE Scientists

The Food For Life Cookbook

Every Body Should Know This by Dr Federica Amati

The Appetite Reset by Dr Federica Amati

Food For Life by Prof. Tim Spector

Ferment by Prof. Tim Spector

Good Mood Food (preorder) by Prof. Tim Spector

Free resources from ZOE

The Smart Snacking Guide: How to feed your gut, fuel your day, and snack without guilt

The Hormone Harmony Guide: Tuning Your Body’s Internal Orchestra  

Eating for Better Brain Health: Your brain-gut blueprint

How to eat in 2026 - Discover ZOE’s 8 nutrition principles for long-term health

Live Healthier: Top 10 Tips From ZOE Science & Nutrition

Gut Guide - For a Healthier Microbiome in Weeks 

Better Breakfast Guide

Mentioned in today's episode

Effect of anti-inflammatory treatment on depressive symptom severity, The American Journal of Psychiatry (2025)

Implementing a group singing intervention for depression, Frontiers in Medicine (2024)

The Relationship between Diet and the Occurrence of Depressive Symptoms, Nutrients (2023)

Have feedback or a topic you'd like us to cover? Let us know here.

Episode transcripts are available here.

Today we’re talking about gut microbes.

Professor Tim Spector often refers to the microbes in our gut as ‘mini pharmacies’. This is because they provide us with powerful chemicals that help support our health.

But not all gut microbes are on our side. In fact, there’s an ongoing battle in our digestive system between the beneficial bugs and those that wish to do us harm.

I’m joined by Tim Spector and microbiome researcher Nicola Segata join me to explore this microscopic war, and explain how simple changes to your diet could help tip the balance toward the good guys.

🌱 Try our science-backed and tasty wholefood supplement Daily30

Get our brand-new app and Gut Health Test designed by world-leading gut health and nutrition scientists to build healthy eating habits 👉 Join ZOE

Follow ZOE on Instagram.
📚Books by our ZOE Scientists

The Food For Life Cookbook

Every Body Should Know This by Dr Federica Amati

Food For Life by Prof. Tim Spector

Ferment by Prof. Tim Spector

Good Mood Food (preorder) by Prof. Tim Spector

Free resources from ZOE

The Hormone Harmony Guide: Tuning Your Body’s Internal Orchestra

Eating for Better Brain Health: Your brain-gut blueprint

How to eat in 2026 - Discover ZOE’s 8 nutrition principles for long-term health

Live Healthier: Top 10 Tips From ZOE Science & Nutrition

Gut Guide - For a Healthier Microbiome in Weeks 

Better Breakfast Guide

Have feedback or a topic you'd like us to cover? Let us know here.Episode transcripts are available here.

Is fat good or bad for your heart? For decades, we blamed fat and cholesterol for clogged arteries and heart attacks. Now you choose low-fat yogurt to protect your heart, while others cook with beef tallow.

In this episode, Dr. Alice Lichtenstein, a world-leading expert on dietary fat and heart health, helps settle the debate.

Dr. Lichtenstein explains which fats protect your heart and which to cut back on, you'll learn what raises your cholesterol, and why the type of fat you eat matters more than how much of it you eat. You’ll leave the episode with some practical food swaps to protect your heart and live longer.

Have you swapped butter for "low-fat" alternatives loaded with sugar? Could that choice be working against your heart?

🌱 Try our science-backed and tasty wholefood supplement Daily30

🌿Let your gut microbes snack on the ZOE Gut Health Bar

Build healthy habits. Download the ZOE app today and start your trial for just £2.30 for your first week. 👉 Join ZOE

Follow ZOE on Instagram.

Timecodes

00:00 Intro

01:33 The most common myth about fat, busted in one word

03:20 What fat actually is, and why your body needs it to survive

11:29 Why butter and beef tallow turn solid at room temperature

13:12 How saturated fat raises your risk of heart disease

15:36 Heart attack or stroke: which one saturated fat actually raises

17:12 Are all saturated fats equally bad for you?

20:07 The flawed rabbit study that shaped decades of egg advice

21:41 What actually makes your cholesterol go up

24:04 How high cholesterol quietly clogs your arteries

27:04 The 1960s study that proved swapping fat saves lives

30:32 How your liver secretly turns sugar into fat

32:37 The verdict on beef tallow and butter

36:32 Simple food swaps for a heart-healthy diet

38:10 Does eating more fat make you gain weight?

40:35 The truth about grass-fed beef and omega-3

42:53 Is beef tallow really a healthy fat?

44:40 Is fermented dairy actually healthy?

45:19 The checklist to delay premature aging

47:52 The pantry check that could improve your heart health

49:56 The 1990s mistake we made with low-fat yogurt

51:47 Why knowing your cholesterol numbers matters most

📚Books by our ZOE Scientists

The Food For Life Cookbook

Every Body Should Know This by Dr Federica Amati

The Appetite Reset by Dr Federica Amati

Food For Life by Prof. Tim Spector

Ferment by Prof. Tim Spector

Good Mood Food (preorder) by Prof. Tim Spector

Free resources from ZOE

The Smart Snacking Guide: How to feed your gut, fuel your day, and snack without guilt

The Hormone Harmony Guide: Tuning Your Body’s Internal Orchestra  

Eating for Better Brain Health: Your brain-gut blueprint

How to eat in 2026 - Discover ZOE’s 8 nutrition principles for long-term health

Live Healthier: Top 10 Tips From ZOE Science & Nutrition

Gut Guide - For a Healthier Microbiome in Weeks 

Better Breakfast Guide

Mentioned in today's episode

Dietary trans fatty acids and cardiovascular disease risk, Current Atherosclerosis Reports (2014)

Unsaturated fats, high-quality carbs lower risk of heart disease, American College of Cardiology (2015)

Effect of Low-Carbohydrate and Low-Fat Diets on Coronary Heart Disease, JACC (2026)

Rabbit models for the study of human atherosclerosis, Pharmacology & Therapeutics (2014)

Have feedback or a topic you'd like us to cover? Let us know here.

Episode transcripts are available here.

Today we’re talking about the immune system.

It’s one of the most important systems in our body, yet it’s also one of the hardest to understand. You can’t see it, you can’t feel it working, and there’s no simple way to measure whether it’s strong or weak.

But when it fails, we certainly notice.

Everywhere we look, supplements and superfoods promise to ‘boost’ our immune system. But how many of these claims are actually supported by science?

Professor Daniel Davis joins me to explain how our immune system truly works, and what the evidence says is the best ways to support it.

🌱 Try our science-backed and tasty wholefood supplement Daily30

Get our brand-new app and Gut Health Test designed by world-leading gut health and nutrition scientists to build healthy eating habits 👉 Join ZOE

Follow ZOE on Instagram.

📚Books by our ZOE Scientists

The Food For Life Cookbook

Every Body Should Know This by Dr Federica Amati

Food For Life by Prof. Tim Spector

Ferment by Prof. Tim Spector

Good Mood Food (preorder) by Prof. Tim Spector

Free resources from ZOE

The Hormone Harmony Guide: Tuning Your Body’s Internal Orchestra

Eating for Better Brain Health: Your brain-gut blueprint

How to eat in 2026 - Discover ZOE’s 8 nutrition principles for long-term health

Live Healthier: Top 10 Tips From ZOE Science & Nutrition

Gut Guide - For a Healthier Microbiome in Weeks 

Better Breakfast Guide

Have feedback or a topic you'd like us to cover? Let us know here.

Episode transcripts are available here.

1 in 4 people have insulin resistance, which quietly raises your risk of heart disease and cancer, often without any change in your blood sugar.

And most of those who have it have no idea. It can remain completely hidden for years, with no obvious symptoms and no warning signs… But it can be reversed.

Today, Professor Rob Semple, a world-leading expert on insulin resistance, explains what insulin does in your body, why you need it to live, and what happens when it stops working properly.

By the end of this episode, you will understand how to spot the warning signs and have practical steps you can take to protect yourself.

If your last blood test came back "normal," how confident are you that it tells the whole story? Are you overlooking one of the biggest drivers of chronic disease?

🌱 Try our science-backed and tasty wholefood supplement Daily30

🌿Let your gut microbes snack on the ZOE Gut Health Bar

Build healthy habits. Download the ZOE app today and start your trial for just £2.30 for your first week. 👉 Join ZOE

Follow ZOE on Instagram.

Timecodes

00:00 Intro

00:46 Why insulin might be the most important hormone in your body

01:53 What happens if your body stops making insulin

05:20 Why not having insulin used to be a death sentence

11:19 What happens to your brain when blood sugar drops too low

14:01 Why "just lower your insulin" advice can backfire

17:12 The shaky, sweaty feeling an hour after eating, explained

18:42 The exact moment insulin resistance turns into diabetes

21:47 Why high insulin can affect your ovaries

24:15 A visible skin sign that insulin levels are too high

25:40 The organs most at risk when blood sugar spirals

27:17 How common insulin resistance really is in the US and UK

30:23 Why your ovaries can be an early sign of insulin resistance

32:49 Debunking the online "signs" of insulin resistance

35:37 Is insulin resistance actually reversible?

36:47 Why your weight matters more than your BMI number

38:53 The DEXA scan that revealed hidden visceral fat

41:14 Why white bread might not be so different from a can of Coke

43:56 Why one type of exercise burns blood sugar best

45:17 Do you really need two hours in the gym to see results?

46:38 How stress directly changes your blood sugar

48:32 Why irregular sleep might be hurting your blood sugar

49:38 The one piece of advice for anyone worried about insulin resistance

55:00 Why insulin resistance may have once been a survival advantage

📚Books by our ZOE Scientists

The Food For Life Cookbook

Every Body Should Know This by Dr Federica Amati

The Appetite Reset by Dr Federica Amati

Food For Life by Prof. Tim Spector

Ferment by Prof. Tim Spector

Good Mood Food (preorder) by Prof. Tim Spector

Free resources from ZOE

The Smart Snacking Guide: How to feed your gut, fuel your day, and snack without guilt

The Hormone Harmony Guide: Tuning Your Body’s Internal Orchestra  

Eating for Better Brain Health: Your brain-gut blueprint

How to eat in 2026 - Discover ZOE’s 8 nutrition principles for long-term health

Live Healthier: Top 10 Tips From ZOE Science & Nutrition

Gut Guide - For a Healthier Microbiome in Weeks 

Better Breakfast Guide

Mentioned in today's episode

Insulin resistance is a risk factor for 12 types of cancer, Nature (2026)

Association of insulin resistance with cancer, American Journal of Cancer Research (2016) 

Global prevalence of insulin resistance, Frontiers in Endocrinology (2025)

Risk Reclassification Beyond BMI, (JACC) (2026)

Have feedback or a topic you'd like us to cover? Let us know here.

Episode transcripts are available here.

Today we’re talking about food additives.

Take a look at the back of some ultra-processed packaged food and you’ll see a long list of unfamiliar ingredients. Complex, sciencey sounding names that most of us can barely pronounce.

These are called additives. But what exactly are they? How are they tested? And, most importantly, are they truly safe for us to eat?

Food policy expert Professor Marion Nestle joins me to explore how additives became so deeply embedded in modern food production — and why, now more than ever, it’s essential for you to understand the things that are hiding in your food.

🌱 Try our science-backed and tasty wholefood supplement Daily30

Get our brand-new app and Gut Health Test designed by world-leading gut health and nutrition scientists to build healthy eating habits 👉 Join ZOE

Follow ZOE on Instagram.

📚Books by our ZOE Scientists

The Food For Life Cookbook

Every Body Should Know This by Dr Federica Amati

Food For Life by Prof. Tim Spector

Ferment by Prof. Tim Spector

Good Mood Food (preorder) by Prof. Tim Spector

Free resources from ZOE

The Hormone Harmony Guide: Tuning Your Body’s Internal Orchestra

Eating for Better Brain Health: Your brain-gut blueprint

How to eat in 2026 - Discover ZOE’s 8 nutrition principles for long-term health

Live Healthier: Top 10 Tips From ZOE Science & Nutrition

Gut Guide - For a Healthier Microbiome in Weeks 

Better Breakfast Guide

Have feedback or a topic you'd like us to cover? Let us know here.

Episode transcripts are available here.

There's a hidden fat that matters more for your health than your weight.  This is visceral fat: it wraps around your organs, raises your risk of heart disease and cancer, and builds up even in people who look slim and healthy. 

In today’s episode, Professor Jimmy Bell, a world-leading expert in measuring visceral fat, explains how we can shrink this dangerous belly fat in just 12 weeks.

Jimmy explores why two people can weigh exactly the same and carry completely different amounts of this hidden fat, what it is, where it hides and why it matters.

By the end, you'll have a completely new understanding of body fat, and what it really means for your long-term health.

If your weight has stayed exactly the same for years, what do you think is happening underneath it?

🌱 Try our science-backed and tasty wholefood supplement Daily30

🌿Let your gut microbes snack on the ZOE Gut Health Bar

Build healthy habits. Download the ZOE app today and start your trial for just £2.30 for your first week. 👉 Join ZOE

Follow ZOE on Instagram.

Timecodes

00:00 Intro

02:47 The DEXA scan result that didn't match how thin he looked

09:46 Why your body composition can get worse even while your weight stays the same

11:47 What does it actually mean to be "skinny fat"?

14:06 The real reason some people end up "skinny fat"

15:58 Why people carrying more fat might actually be happier

18:10 How visceral fat sends inflammatory signals through your body

21:50 Why having almost no body fat can also make you unhealthy

25:19 Could a supermodel have more visceral fat than a sumo wrestler?

26:44 Why your body stores visceral fat around your organs on purpose

28:08 Why visceral fat is the first fat to disappear when you diet

29:22 How your diet directly reshapes the fat in your body

33:25 How long it actually takes to change your body fat

35:47 Does Ozempic actually get rid of visceral fat?

37:05 Why dieting alone can quietly cost you muscle

38:55 What does yo-yo dieting actually do to your body?

41:20 The pattern he sees again and again in long-term dieters

42:39 Why being thin is no guarantee you don't have visceral fat

44:07 Why diet alone won't get rid of visceral fat

45:24 The exact mechanism that makes exercise target visceral fat first

49:03 Why inflammation and visceral fat together wreck your metabolism

49:50 Why any amount of alcohol is bad news for visceral fat

51:32 How fast visceral fat can actually shrink (as little as 12 weeks)

54:14 Why menopause redistributes fat to your belly

57:20 Resistance training: the single best thing for visceral fat

📚Books by our ZOE Scientists

The Food For Life Cookbook

Every Body Should Know This by Dr Federica Amati

The Appetite Reset by Dr Federica Amati

Food For Life by Prof. Tim Spector

Ferment by Prof. Tim Spector

Good Mood Food (preorder) by Prof. Tim Spector

Free resources from ZOE

The Smart Snacking Guide: How to feed your gut, fuel your day, and snack without guilt

The Hormone Harmony Guide: Tuning Your Body’s Internal Orchestra  

Eating for Better Brain Health: Your brain-gut blueprint

How to eat in 2026 - Discover ZOE’s 8 nutrition principles for long-term health

Live Healthier: Top 10 Tips From ZOE Science & Nutrition

Gut Guide - For a Healthier Microbiome in Weeks 

Better Breakfast Guide

Mentioned in today's episode

Fat cell turnover in humans, Nature (2008)

New study investigates ‘optimal’ diets for healthy aging

Study of visceral, subcutaneous, liver and pancreas fat changes after 12 weeks, Diabetes Research and Clinical Practice (2023)

MRI assessment of adipose tissue fatty acid composition, Obesity (2024)

Phenotyping, Body Composition, and Precision Nutrition (2024)

Have feedback or a topic you'd like us to cover? Let us know here.

Episode transcripts are available here.

Today we’re talking about sleep.

The more scientists study sleep, the clearer it becomes that it’s not just about resting our bodies - it’s much more than that. In fact, sleep is the foundation upon which a healthy diet, exercise, and overall wellbeing are all built upon.

So what happens when that foundation is shaky?

Recent research suggests that poor sleep quality may significantly increase your risk of heart disease and even heart attacks.

Dr. Nour Makarem joins me to explore the powerful connection between sleep and heart health - and why both too little and too much sleep is a cause for concern.

🌱 Try our science-backed and tasty wholefood supplement Daily30

Get our brand-new app and Gut Health Test designed by world-leading gut health and nutrition scientists to build healthy eating habits 👉 Join ZOE

Follow ZOE on Instagram.

📚Books by our ZOE Scientists

The Food For Life Cookbook

Every Body Should Know This by Dr Federica Amati

Food For Life by Prof. Tim Spector

Ferment by Prof. Tim Spector

Good Mood Food (preorder) by Prof. Tim Spector

Free resources from ZOE

The Hormone Harmony Guide: Tuning Your Body’s Internal Orchestra

Eating for Better Brain Health: Your brain-gut blueprint

How to eat in 2026 - Discover ZOE’s 8 nutrition principles for long-term health

Live Healthier: Top 10 Tips From ZOE Science & Nutrition

Gut Guide - For a Healthier Microbiome in Weeks 

Better Breakfast Guide

Have feedback or a topic you'd like us to cover? Let us know here.

Episode transcripts are available here.

Why can’t you lose weight, and why do modern diets fail?

Today, Harvard professor Daniel Lieberman explains how evolution shapes hunger, body fat, food cravings, and modern food mistakes. You will learn why eating well can feel so hard in today’s food world.

Using themes from Daniel’s new book, Fed Up: What Evolution Reveals about Food, Diet and Eating Well, we explore how our modern food environment explains weight gain, failed diets, and confusion about what to eat. We discuss calorie counting, ultra-processed food, hunger, and why there may be no single “best” diet for everyone.

By the end of the episode, you’ll have some simple ways to make better food choices and will know how to make healthy choices easier.

If your body evolved for a world where food was scarce, what does that mean for how you eat today?

🌱 Try our science-backed and tasty wholefood supplement Daily30

🌿Let your gut microbes snack on the ZOE Gut Health Bar

Build healthy habits. Download the ZOE app today and start your trial for just £2.30 for your first week. 👉 Join ZOE

Follow ZOE on Instagram.

Timecodes

00:00 Intro

03:34 The 3 reasons evolution changes what you eat

07:28 Why supermarkets make healthy eating harder

10:51 Why sugar and fat are so hard to resist

12:12 Are humans really fatter than hippos?

13:20 Why your brain burns so much energy

14:25 Why humans evolved to hold onto fat

16:06 The 3 hidden costs behind body fat

18:23 How cooking changed the human body

19:15 Why raw food may not be natural for humans

22:08 Did farming make humans less healthy?

24:49 How processed food transformed what we eat

28:22 Why modern food triggers ancient cravings

29:48 What the paleo diet gets wrong

31:08 Why there is no real paleo diet

31:55 Why calorie counting can mislead you

33:05 Why hunger beats willpower

34:20 Why weight loss often comes back

35:56 What you need to know before buying food

36:53 Why no diet is truly optimal

38:24 What the healthiest diets have in common

40:08 Are your genes really making you gain weight?

41:40 The simple shopping trick Daniel uses

43:46 Why the 8-hour sleep rule is wrong

45:25 Why stress makes you crave comfort food

51:30 Why simple diet rules fail

📚Books by our ZOE Scientists

The Food For Life Cookbook

Every Body Should Know This by Dr Federica Amati

The Appetite Reset by Dr Federica Amati

Food For Life by Prof. Tim Spector

Ferment by Prof. Tim Spector

Good Mood Food (preorder) by Prof. Tim Spector

Free resources from ZOE

The Smart Snacking Guide: How to feed your gut, fuel your day, and snack without guilt

The Hormone Harmony Guide: Tuning Your Body’s Internal Orchestra  

Eating for Better Brain Health: Your brain-gut blueprint

How to eat in 2026 - Discover ZOE’s 8 nutrition principles for long-term health

Live Healthier: Top 10 Tips From ZOE Science & Nutrition

Gut Guide - For a Healthier Microbiome in Weeks 

Better Breakfast Guide

Mentioned in today's episode

Fed Up: What Evolution Reveals about Food, Diet and Eating Well by Daniel Lieberman

Comparing dietary variation between tropical hunter-gatherer groups to the Paleo Diet, The American Journal of Clinical Nutrition (2023)

The carbohydrate-insulin model: a physiological perspective on the obesity pandemic, The American Journal of Clinical Nutrition (2021)

Have feedback or a topic you'd like us to cover? Let us know here.

Episode transcripts are available here.

Today we’re talking about vitamins.

Walk into any pharmacy or supermarket and you’ll find a shelf stacked with brightly coloured jars promising better immunity, stronger bones and sharper minds. Of course, I’m talking about vitamin supplements.

But despite looking like medical products, supplements aren’t held to the same rigorous testing standards as medicines. So how much of what they promise is actually backed by science?

I’m joined by Dr. David Seres to help cut through the confusion and uncover what the science really says about vitamin C, vitamin D, and even the mysterious multivitamins.

🌱 Try our science-backed and tasty wholefood supplement Daily30

Get our brand-new app and Gut Health Test designed by world-leading gut health and nutrition scientists to build healthy eating habits 👉 Join ZOE

Follow ZOE on Instagram.

📚Books by our ZOE Scientists

The Food For Life Cookbook

Every Body Should Know This by Dr Federica Amati

Food For Life by Prof. Tim Spector

Ferment by Prof. Tim Spector

Good Mood Food (preorder) by Prof. Tim Spector

Free resources from ZOE

The Hormone Harmony Guide: Tuning Your Body’s Internal Orchestra

Eating for Better Brain Health: Your brain-gut blueprint

How to eat in 2026 - Discover ZOE’s 8 nutrition principles for long-term health

Live Healthier: Top 10 Tips From ZOE Science & Nutrition

Gut Guide - For a Healthier Microbiome in Weeks 

Better Breakfast Guide

Have feedback or a topic you'd like us to cover? Let us know here.

Episode transcripts are available here.

Could 12 everyday high-fibre foods really help lower your risk of heart disease, dementia and some cancers? 

The world is obsessed with protein, but fewer than 1 in 10 people eat enough fibre. But this year, fiber is making an unexpected comeback.

In this episode, legendary chef Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall and ZOE’s Chief Scientist Professor Sarah Berry ask whether fibre is another food trend or a powerful part of our diet that we have overlooked.

Taking inspiration from Hugh’s new book High Fibre Heroes, they explore how fibre feeds your gut microbes, helps you feel full and slows the release of sugar into your blood. And, by the end of the episode, you’ll know how to eat more fibre without costly ingredients or difficult recipes, and how to turn familiar foods into simple meals packed with flavour.

Are you buying more protein while overlooking the foods your body may need most? The answer could already be in your cupboard, freezer or fridge.

🌱 Try our science-backed and tasty wholefood supplement Daily30

🌿Let your gut microbes snack on the ZOE Gut Health Bar

Build healthy habits. Download the ZOE app today and start your trial for just £2.30 for your first week. 👉 Join ZOE

Follow ZOE on Instagram.

Timecodes

00:00 Intro

00:57 Why the protein craze may be distracting us

04:51 How fibre may lower your disease risk

10:11 How much fibre do you actually need?

12:03 Why low-fibre food can leave you hungry

14:19 What 30g of fibre actually looks like

16:20 Why fibre diversity matters

18:51 Is fibre maxxing actually healthy?

21:08 The fibre mistake that can cause constipation

21:33 Has the world gone too far on protein?

23:25 Are most of us already eating enough protein?

25:42 How meat can push vegetables off your plate

28:20 Why healthy eating has to taste better

31:01 The 12 everyday foods that boost fibre

33:18 Why frozen peas are a healthy shortcut

35:00 Can frozen peas be healthier than fresh?

36:24 How to make frozen peas taste better

38:28 The mistake that ruins carrots

39:58 Why roasting makes vegetables taste better

42:24 What makes carrots so healthy?

44:31 Can cooked carrots be healthier than raw?

48:06 Kale vs cabbage — which is healthier?

52:18 How to make cabbage actually taste good

53:48 The easiest way to use more beans

54:24 How to start eating more fibre today

📚Books by our ZOE Scientists

The Food For Life Cookbook

Every Body Should Know This by Dr Federica Amati

The Appetite Reset by Dr Federica Amati

Food For Life by Prof. Tim Spector

Ferment by Prof. Tim Spector

Good Mood Food (preorder) by Prof. Tim Spector

Free resources from ZOE

The Smart Snacking Guide: How to feed your gut, fuel your day, and snack without guilt

The Hormone Harmony Guide: Tuning Your Body’s Internal Orchestra  

Eating for Better Brain Health: Your brain-gut blueprint

How to eat in 2026 - Discover ZOE’s 8 nutrition principles for long-term health

Live Healthier: Top 10 Tips From ZOE Science & Nutrition

Gut Guide - For a Healthier Microbiome in Weeks 

Better Breakfast Guide

Mentioned in today's episode

High Fibre Heroes: How to turn 12 everyday vegetables into 100 joyful, health-boosting recipes by Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall

ZOE’s PREDICT studies: What we’ve learned

Have feedback or a topic you'd like us to cover? Let us know here.

Episode transcripts are available here.

Today we’re talking about fat loss.

For decades, we’ve been chasing the perfect weight loss diet. From Atkins to carnivore, countless trends have promised remarkable results, yet fail the test of time.

So how do we cut through the noise and find a formula that actually works?

In this episode, I’m joined by nutrition researcher Alan Aragon and Professor Sarah Berry to unpack the science behind sustainable fat loss, and explain why, in some cases, the first step toward losing weight might actually involve gaining a little first.

🌱 Try our science-backed and tasty wholefood supplement Daily30

Get our brand-new app and Gut Health Test designed by world-leading gut health and nutrition scientists to build healthy eating habits 👉 Join ZOE

Follow ZOE on Instagram.

📚Books by our ZOE Scientists

The Food For Life Cookbook

Every Body Should Know This by Dr Federica Amati

Food For Life by Prof. Tim Spector

Ferment by Prof. Tim Spector

Good Mood Food (preorder) by Prof. Tim Spector

Free resources from ZOE

The Hormone Harmony Guide: Tuning Your Body’s Internal Orchestra

Eating for Better Brain Health: Your brain-gut blueprint

How to eat in 2026 - Discover ZOE’s 8 nutrition principles for long-term health

Live Healthier: Top 10 Tips From ZOE Science & Nutrition

Gut Guide - For a Healthier Microbiome in Weeks 

Better Breakfast Guide

Have feedback or a topic you'd like us to cover? Let us know here.

Episode transcripts are available here.

How can you enjoy sugar without gaining weight, fuelling cravings or crashing later in the day? The answer, surprisingly, is not to cut it out.

In today’s episode, Professor Tim Spector and Professor Sarah Berry discuss which forms of sugar affect your blood sugar levels most, and what small changes you can make today to reduce the impact. They also explore how sharp blood sugar spikes and dips may affect hunger, energy, inflammation and long-term health.

By the end of the episode, you’ll know how to spot hidden sugars, how to avoid the afternoon slump and energy crashes, and, most importantly, how to enjoy cake with less impact on your blood sugar.

Sugar is not the enemy. But could a few small changes help you enjoy sweet foods without the cycle of cravings, hunger and energy crashes?

🌱 Try our science-backed and tasty wholefood supplement Daily30

🌿Let your gut microbes snack on the ZOE Gut Health Bar

Build healthy habits. Download the ZOE app today and start your trial for just £2.30 for your first week. 👉 Join ZOE

Follow ZOE on Instagram.

Timecodes

00:00 Intro

03:28 If fruit is full of sugar, why is it good for us?

08:30 What really happens after you drink a sugary drink?

12:46 Why sugar leaves you hungry a few hours later

16:15 The blood sugar dip that makes you eat 320 extra calories

19:19 The surprising link between sugar and inflammation

22:00 Can blood sugar affect your brain health?

25:25 What the science really says about sugar and cancer

29:25 We've been blaming sugar for the wrong things

31:45 The 2 types of sugar most people confuse

32:35 The hidden sugars lurking in everyday foods

35:32 Why energy drinks may be worse than you think

38:51 Why orange juice may not be as healthy as you think

40:10 Why fruit and fruit juice are not the same thing

43:53 Why some smoothies behave like sugary drinks

45:03 Should you quit sugar completely?

46:46 Are sweeteners helping or keeping you hooked?

49:55 Is honey actually healthier than sugar?

51:40 3 everyday foods with surprisingly high sugar

52:27 How to enjoy cake without the blood sugar crash

55:01 The 10-minute habit that lowers your glucose response

57:15 Why energy drinks may be making your slump worse

58:32 The biggest sugar traps to watch out for

📚Books by our ZOE Scientists

The Food For Life Cookbook

Every Body Should Know This by Dr Federica Amati

The Appetite Reset by Dr Federica Amati

Food For Life by Prof. Tim Spector

Ferment by Prof. Tim Spector

Good Mood Food (preorder) by Prof. Tim Spector

Free resources from ZOE

The Smart Snacking Guide: How to feed your gut, fuel your day, and snack without guilt

The Hormone Harmony Guide: Tuning Your Body’s Internal Orchestra  

Eating for Better Brain Health: Your brain-gut blueprint

How to eat in 2026 - Discover ZOE’s 8 nutrition principles for long-term health

Live Healthier: Top 10 Tips From ZOE Science & Nutrition

Gut Guide - For a Healthier Microbiome in Weeks 

Better Breakfast Guide

Mentioned in today's episode

Dietary Sugar Intake Associated with a Higher Risk of Dementia, Journal of Alzheimer's Disease (2024)

Sugar-Sweetened and Artificially Sweetened Beverages and Risk of Mortality, AHA (2019)

A Twin Study of Acne in Women, Journal of Investigative Dermatology (2002)

Bananas and weight loss: What does the science say?

Food Order and Impact on Glucose and Insulin Levels, Diabetes Care (2015)

Here are 4 ways to help manage your blood sugar

Whole Fruits Versus 100% Fruit Juice, BNF (2025)

Have feedback or a topic you'd like us to cover? Let us know here.

Episode transcripts are available here.

Today we’re talking about muscle mass.

For many people, losing weight is the ultimate health goal. However, focusing solely on lowering the number on the scale often means overlooking something crucial: muscle mass.

We know that increasing muscle makes us stronger, but it also plays a surprising role in metabolism and helps keep unwanted fat at bay.

Dr. Vonda Wright joins me to explain why improving your body composition may be the smarter goal for lifelong health.

🌱 Try our science-backed and tasty wholefood supplement Daily30

Get our brand-new app and Gut Health Test designed by world-leading gut health and nutrition scientists to build healthy eating habits 👉 Join ZOE

Follow ZOE on Instagram.

📚Books by our ZOE Scientists

The Food For Life Cookbook

Every Body Should Know This by Dr Federica Amati

Food For Life by Prof. Tim Spector

Ferment by Prof. Tim Spector

Good Mood Food (preorder) by Prof. Tim Spector

Free resources from ZOE

The Hormone Harmony Guide: Tuning Your Body’s Internal Orchestra

Eating for Better Brain Health: Your brain-gut blueprint

How to eat in 2026 - Discover ZOE’s 8 nutrition principles for long-term health

Live Healthier: Top 10 Tips From ZOE Science & Nutrition

Gut Guide - For a Healthier Microbiome in Weeks 

Better Breakfast Guide

Have feedback or a topic you'd like us to cover? Let us know here.

Episode transcripts are available here.

What really helps you live a long, healthy life? Can healthy ageing be as simple as a few everyday habits?

In this episode, Dr. Ezekiel Emanuel, world-leading oncologist, bioethicist and World Health Organization adviser, shares six rules from his book Eat Your Ice Cream that may help lower your risk of dementia, heart disease, cancer and early death. 

Ezekiel explores the science of healthy ageing, longevity and disease prevention, and explains why many wellness trends distract us from what matters most.

By the end of the episode, you’ll have six practical habits that have the biggest impact on living well for longer. From building stronger relationships and staying mentally active to improving your diet, exercise and sleep, Ezekiel offers a simple framework designed to support health over decades, not weeks.

If you want to live a longer, healthier life, are you focusing on the habits that matter most? 

🌱 Try our science-backed and tasty wholefood supplement Daily30

🌿Let your gut microbes snack on the ZOE Gut Health Bar

Build healthy habits. Download the ZOE app today and start your trial for just £2.30 for your first week. 👉 Join ZOE

Follow ZOE on Instagram.

Timecodes

00:00 Why more exercise may not help you live longer
03:49 The book that made a leading doctor furious
08:11 Why wellness culture thrives when life feels out of control
10:52 What the wellness industry gets wrong about longevity
13:05 Are peptides and supplements dangerous?
16:28 How much alcohol is safe to drink?
18:52 How ultra-processed food affects your brain and body
23:49 Is vaping safer than smoking?
25:35 Which vitamins and supplements are actually worth taking?
28:09 Rule one: The risks that are never worth taking
30:12 Is climbing Everest more dangerous than you think?
31:27 The number one rule for a longer, healthier life
33:35 How loneliness increases your risk of early death
35:51 What loneliness does to your immune system and heart
37:03 How many close friends do you need for better health?
39:20 Is working from home harming your mental health?
40:08 How to rebuild your social life when you feel isolated
40:52 Four vaccines linked to a lower risk of dementia
44:21 Is retirement bad for your brain?
45:32 Four simple food rules for better gut health
47:56 The three types of exercise you need as you age
50:17 How many hours of sleep do you really need?
52:24 Is sleep less important than social connection?
54:02 Why sleeping pills may not improve your sleep
56:13 The one habit that combines all six longevity rules

📚Books by our ZOE Scientists

The Food For Life Cookbook

Every Body Should Know This by Dr Federica Amati

The Appetite Reset by Dr Federica Amati

Food For Life by Prof. Tim Spector

Ferment by Prof. Tim Spector

Good Mood Food (preorder) by Prof. Tim Spector

Free resources from ZOE

The Smart Snacking Guide: How to feed your gut, fuel your day, and snack without guilt

The Hormone Harmony Guide: Tuning Your Body’s Internal Orchestra  

Eating for Better Brain Health: Your brain-gut blueprint

How to eat in 2026 - Discover ZOE’s 8 nutrition principles for long-term health

Live Healthier: Top 10 Tips From ZOE Science & Nutrition

Gut Guide - For a Healthier Microbiome in Weeks 

Better Breakfast Guide

Mentioned in today's episode

Eat Your Ice Cream: Six Simple Rules for a Long and Healthy Life by Dr. Ezekiel Emanuel

Multivitamins and cognitive health, Annals of Medicine and Surgery (2026)

The (un-)Social Brain, Physiological Research (2025)

Association between social activity frequency and overall survival, BMJ (2023)

The Health and Retirement Study

Harvard Study of Adult Development

Mistakenly seeking solitude, Journal of Experimental Psychology (2014)

Home alone: Remote work, isolation, and mental health, Science (2026)

Have feedback or a topic you'd like us to cover? Let us know here.

Episode transcripts are available here.

Today, we’re talking about Omega-3.

Omega-3 fats have been celebrated, scrutinised, and debated for decades. While some research points to remarkable heart health benefits, other studies suggest they can actually raise the risk of cardiovascular disease.

So where does the science stand today? Should we supplement, rely on food, or rethink our approach to omega-3 completely?

Dr. Bill Harris and Professor Sarah Berry join me to cut through the confusion, explain omega-3’s role in the body, and share an evidence based approach to this fascinating fatty acid.

🌱 Try our science-backed and tasty wholefood supplement Daily30

Get our brand-new app and Gut Health Test designed by world-leading gut health and nutrition scientists to build healthy eating habits 👉 Join ZOE

Follow ZOE on Instagram.

📚Books by our ZOE Scientists

The Food For Life Cookbook

Every Body Should Know This by Dr Federica Amati

Food For Life by Prof. Tim Spector

Ferment by Prof. Tim Spector

Good Mood Food (preorder) by Prof. Tim Spector

Free resources from ZOE

The Hormone Harmony Guide: Tuning Your Body’s Internal Orchestra

Eating for Better Brain Health: Your brain-gut blueprint

How to eat in 2026 - Discover ZOE’s 8 nutrition principles for long-term health

Live Healthier: Top 10 Tips From ZOE Science & Nutrition

Gut Guide - For a Healthier Microbiome in Weeks 

Better Breakfast Guide

Have feedback or a topic you'd like us to cover? Let us know here.

Episode transcripts are available here.

We all want to eat healthier. The Paleo diet promises exactly that: eat like our ancestors, avoid modern foods, and improve your health. But does it really support your gut, heart and long-term health, or is the story more complicated?

In this episode, Dr James Cole, a world-leading expert on prehistoric diets, joins Dr Federica Amati to explore what Paleo gets right and why some of the claims may be dangerously wrong.

James explains what ancient evidence tells us about human diets, why the modern-day Paleo diet may go too far in its restrictions, and what that might mean for your heart disease risk and gut health.

By the end of the episode, you’ll have ideas on what principles to keep from the Paleo diet, and what rules to avoid.

Could trying to eat as our ancestors did force you to cut foods your body actually needs? Before you give up grains, beans or dairy, it may be worth asking what ancient humans really ate.

🌱 Try our science-backed and tasty wholefood supplement Daily30

🌿Let your gut microbes snack on the ZOE Gut Health Bar

Get our brand-new app and Gut Health Test designed by world-leading gut health and nutrition scientists to build healthy eating habits 👉 Join ZOE

Follow ZOE on Instagram.

Timecodes

00:00 Intro

04:39 What does Paleolithic actually mean?

09:14 How scientists know what ancient humans ate

10:01 What ancient teeth reveal about diet

11:25 Why there was no single Paleo diet

13:16 The myth that ancient humans just ate meat

15:38 Why humans evolved to eat many foods

17:14 Why the human gut got smaller

22:13 How fire changed the human diet

24:02 Were ancient humans cooking plants?

25:51 What modern eating has lost

27:45 Did Paleolithic humans practise cannibalism?

30:37 Should we copy everything our ancestors ate?

32:56 What is the modern Paleo diet?

34:32 What the Paleo diet gets right

37:00 Did our ancestors eat meat every day?

38:18 Why Paleo cuts grains, dairy and beans

39:30 Are lectins in beans really dangerous?

41:27 Why modern Paleo may be based on shaky science

42:20 Is the Paleo diet healthy long term?

44:45 What a healthier Paleo diet would look like

46:17 The processed meat and cancer risk trap

48:37 Is grass-fed beef really better?

50:10 Should you fast like your ancestors?

52:10 How to cut ultra-processed foods without Paleo

56:20 What to eat instead of strict Paleo

📚Books by our ZOE Scientists

The Food For Life Cookbook

Every Body Should Know This by Dr Federica Amati

The Appetite Reset by Dr Federica Amati

Food For Life by Prof. Tim Spector

Ferment by Prof. Tim Spector

Good Mood Food (preorder) by Prof. Tim Spector

Free resources from ZOE

The Smart Snacking Guide: How to feed your gut, fuel your day, and snack without guilt

The Hormone Harmony Guide: Tuning Your Body’s Internal Orchestra  

Eating for Better Brain Health: Your brain-gut blueprint

How to eat in 2026 - Discover ZOE’s 8 nutrition principles for long-term health

Live Healthier: Top 10 Tips From ZOE Science & Nutrition

Gut Guide - For a Healthier Microbiome in Weeks 

Better Breakfast Guide

Mentioned in today's episode

The Paleolithic diet and chronic disease risk, Critical Reviews in Food Science and Nutrition (2026)

Long-term Paleolithic diet is associated with increased serum TMAO concentrations, European Journal of Clinical Nutrition

Evidence for mitigation of dental caries by Neanderthals, PLOS One (2026)

Evidence for the diets of Neanderthals and early modern humans, PNAS (2009)

Long-term effects of a Palaeolithic-type diet, European Journal of Clinical Nutrition (2014)

The Big IF Study: What did we find?

The Expensive-Tissue Hypothesis, International Journal of Molecular Sciences (2018)

Have feedback or a topic you'd like us to cover? Let us know here.

Episode transcripts are available here.

Today we’re talking about breast cancer.

Here at ZOE, we know that health is deeply personal - and breast cancer risk is no different. Your likelihood of developing breast cancer is shaped by factors such as genetics, body composition, and lifestyle. 

Understanding your individual risk is crucial because it helps determine when and how you should be screened - and in some cases, it could save your life.

Today, I’m joined by Dr. Thais Aliabadi to explain why breast cancer screening shouldn’t follow a one-size-fits-all approach, and how her own experience with cancer has influenced the way she thinks about prevention.

🌱 Try our science-backed and tasty wholefood supplement Daily30

Get our brand-new app and Gut Health Test designed by world-leading gut health and nutrition scientists to build healthy eating habits 👉 Join ZOE

Follow ZOE on Instagram.

📚Books by our ZOE Scientists

The Food For Life Cookbook

Every Body Should Know This by Dr Federica Amati

Food For Life by Prof. Tim Spector

Ferment by Prof. Tim Spector

Good Mood Food (preorder) by Prof. Tim Spector

Free resources from ZOE

The Hormone Harmony Guide: Tuning Your Body’s Internal Orchestra

Eating for Better Brain Health: Your brain-gut blueprint

How to eat in 2026 - Discover ZOE’s 8 nutrition principles for long-term health

Live Healthier: Top 10 Tips From ZOE Science & Nutrition

Gut Guide - For a Healthier Microbiome in Weeks 

Better Breakfast Guide

Have feedback or a topic you'd like us to cover? Let us know here.

Episode transcripts are available here.

Can food improve brain health, memory and mood? 

In this episode, Prof Felice Jacka and Prof Tim Spector explore how diet, the gut microbiome and fermented foods may affect your mood, brain function and dementia risk. Drawing on clinical trials and research involving more than 10 million people, they explain why what you eat could have a much bigger impact on your brain than most people realise, and what the latest science suggests you can do about it.

Felice, who helped create the field of nutritional psychiatry, explains how food influences the brain through the gut microbiome and inflammation. She and Tim explore why some foods change brain function, which support brain health, what the evidence says about ultra-processed foods, and why diet is becoming an increasingly important part of research on brain and mental health.

Learn which foods to eat more often, which foods to reduce, and simple, affordable ways to build meals that support your gut, mood and long-term brain health. From whole grains and legumes to fermented foods and everyday supermarket and grocery store choices, by the end of the episode, you’ll have realistic advice that’s easy to put into practice today.

If the food you eat today helps shape your brain tomorrow, what small change could make the biggest difference over the next year?

🌱 Try our science-backed and tasty wholefood supplement Daily30

🌿Let your gut microbes snack on the ZOE Gut Health Bar

Get our brand-new app and Gut Health Test designed by world-leading gut health and nutrition scientists to build healthy eating habits 👉 Join ZOE

Follow ZOE on Instagram.

Timecodes

00:00 Intro

03:10 Why beans may boost mood more than cake

07:35 Can diet reduce your risk of depression?

10:10 Can changing your diet put depression into remission?

12:45 How does the gut microbiome affect the brain?

16:04 Can gut microbes transfer depression symptoms?

17:55 What gut bacteria are missing in mental illness?

20:16 Is food the most powerful tool for brain health?

22:11 The yogurt study that surprised neuroscientists

25:35 Can fermented foods help grow the hippocampus?

28:18 Why fermented foods may improve mood and energy

30:16 The gut-brain connection explained simply

31:13 How diet during pregnancy affects brain development

37:52 Are depression, anxiety and dementia connected?

39:27 What are ultra-processed foods really doing to your brain?

39:55 The major study linking ultra-processed foods to disease

42:31 Are some ultra-processed foods healthier than others?

43:44 Real food vs meal replacements: what happens to your microbiome?

48:29 The ingredient Felice Jacka tries to avoid

50:16 Do supplements improve brain health?

52:23 The best foods for brain health and mental health

53:37 How to eat for brain health on a budget

55:40 The simplest brain health advice you’ll hear today

58:40 The complete brain health and gut health checklist

📚Books by our ZOE Scientists

The Food For Life Cookbook

Every Body Should Know This by Dr Federica Amati

The Appetite Reset by Dr Federica Amati

Food For Life by Prof. Tim Spector

Ferment by Prof. Tim Spector

Good Mood Food (preorder) by Prof. Tim Spector

Free resources from ZOE

The Smart Snacking Guide: How to feed your gut, fuel your day, and snack without guilt

The Hormone Harmony Guide: Tuning Your Body’s Internal Orchestra  

Eating for Better Brain Health: Your brain-gut blueprint

How to eat in 2026 - Discover ZOE’s 8 nutrition principles for long-term health

Live Healthier: Top 10 Tips From ZOE Science & Nutrition

Gut Guide - For a Healthier Microbiome in Weeks 

Better Breakfast Guide

Mentioned in today's episode

The 'SMILES' trial, BMC Medicine (2017)

Mood Disorders: The Gut Bacteriome and Beyond, Biological Psychiatry (2024)

ZOE study: Fermented food improves mood, energy, and hunger

Effects of a probiotic fermented dairy product on the brain, Gut microbiota (2025)

Associations between diet quality and depressed mood in adolescents, ANZJP (2010)

Ultra-processed food exposure and adverse health outcomes, BMJ (2024)

Global Burden of Disease, The Lancet (2026)

Folic acid, ageing, depression, and dementia, BMJ (2002)

Transplantation of gut microbiota derived from patients with schizophrenia induces schizophrenia-like behaviors, Nature (2024)

Have feedback or a topic you'd like us to cover? Let us know here.

Episode transcripts are available here.

Today we’re talking about blood pressure.

Most of us know that high blood pressure is bad — but surprisingly few of us understand what it actually means, how widely it affects the body, or how to keep it under control.

The good news is that monitoring blood pressure is easier than ever, putting you in a strong position to spot problems early and take meaningful action.

Professor Tim Spector joins me to explain what blood pressure is, why it matters so much, and share some top salt-based tips that can have a powerful impact on long-term health.

🌱 Try our science-backed and tasty wholefood supplement Daily 30+

Get our brand-new app and Gut Health Test designed by world-leading gut health and nutrition scientists to build healthy eating habits 👉 Join ZOE

Follow ZOE on Instagram.

📚Books by our ZOE Scientists

The Food For Life Cookbook

Every Body Should Know This by Dr Federica Amati

Food For Life by Prof. Tim Spector

Ferment by Prof. Tim Spector

Free resources from ZOE

Eating for Better Brain Health: Your brain-gut blueprint

How to eat in 2026 - Discover ZOE’s 8 nutrition principles for long-term health

Live Healthier: Top 10 Tips From ZOE Science & Nutrition

Gut Guide - For a Healthier Microbiome in Weeks 

Better Breakfast Guide

How quickly can you improve your gut health? Can diet help lower your risk of dementia? And what should you know about food labels and healthy weight loss? In this special live Q&A, Prof Tim Spector, Prof Sarah Berry and Dr Federica Amati answer your biggest nutrition questions and share practical, evidence-based advice you can use today.

Drawing on decades of research and data from hundreds of thousands of people, they explain how diet can influence the gut microbiome, brain health, hunger, energy levels and long-term health. They discuss dementia risk, healthy snacking, intermittent fasting, ultra-processed foods, plant diversity, breakfast, food labels and the latest science on weight loss.

You’ll learn how quickly the gut microbiome may respond to dietary change, why some foods keep you fuller for longer, how to build a healthier breakfast, and simple ways to make better food choices. The team also explain why small dietary changes can have lasting benefits.

If your daily food choices influence your gut health, brain health and future wellbeing, which change is worth making first?

🌱 Try our science-backed and tasty wholefood supplement Daily30

🌿Let your gut microbes snack on the ZOE Gut Health Bar

Get our brand-new app and Gut Health Test designed by world-leading gut health and nutrition scientists to build healthy eating habits 👉 Join ZOE

Follow ZOE on Instagram.

Timecodes

00:00 Intro

01:56 The first ever live ZOE podcast

09:14 How long does it really take to improve your gut microbiome?

12:56 Can you feel healthier before your gut microbiome changes?

14:15 Which foods should you always buy organic?

16:33 Are oats actually healthy?

18:36 The overnight oats trick that may improve blood sugar

19:28 Resistant starch: the hidden nutrient most people miss

21:32 Always hungry at 3pm? Sarah’s evidence-backed fix

27:17 The food industry trick that makes you eat more

29:44 Why ultra-processed foods leave you hungry

30:50 Does chewing more food really help you lose weight?

33:23 What does gut health have to do with depression and anxiety?

37:45 Is your gut controlling your brain?

39:34 Are fermented foods the most underrated brain-health food?

41:46 Starting Ozempic or Wegovy? Do this first

42:40 What do GLP-1 drugs do to your gut microbiome?

45:20 Tim Spector’s plan to fix Britain’s health crisis

47:55 Why governments still aren’t acting on ultra-processed foods

50:50 Have US food guidelines changed—and is the UK falling behind?

53:08 Is intermittent fasting safe for women?

56:15 What’s the healthiest breakfast to break a fast?

58:20 The science breakthroughs that could change nutrition forever

📚Books by our ZOE Scientists

The Food For Life Cookbook

Every Body Should Know This by Dr Federica Amati

The Appetite Reset by Dr Federica Amati

Food For Life by Prof. Tim Spector

Ferment by Prof. Tim Spector

Good Mood Food (preorder) by Prof. Tim Spector

Free resources from ZOE

The Smart Snacking Guide: How to feed your gut, fuel your day, and snack without guilt

The Hormone Harmony Guide: Tuning Your Body’s Internal Orchestra

Eating for Better Brain Health: Your brain-gut blueprint

How to eat in 2026 - Discover ZOE’s 8 nutrition principles for long-term health

Live Healthier: Top 10 Tips From ZOE Science & Nutrition

Gut Guide - For a Healthier Microbiome in Weeks 

Better Breakfast Guide

Mentioned in today's episode

Daily Sampling Reveals Personalized Diet-Microbiome Associations in Humans, Cell Host & Microbe (2019)

ZOE’s PREDICT studies: What we’ve learned

ZOE snacking study: What should you do?

The Big IF Study: What did we find?

Diet and Dementia, Neurology (2024)

Daily30: Does it work?

Have feedback or a topic you'd like us to cover? Let us know here.

Episode transcripts are available here.

Today, we’re talking about supplements.

We’ve all seen them; the multivitamins, the fortified foods, the neatly packaged powders promising improved energy, immunity and longevity. 

Supplements boast bold claims, however, it’s hard to know if they’re genuinely helpful or just well-marketed.

Professor Tim Spector and Professor Sarah Berry join me to unpack why supplements exist, what the science really says about their benefits and risks, and how to decide if supplements deserve a place in your daily routine.

🌱 Try our science-backed and tasty wholefood supplement Daily 30+

Get our brand-new app and Gut Health Test designed by world-leading gut health and nutrition scientists to build healthy eating habits 👉 Join ZOE

Follow ZOE on Instagram.

📚Books by our ZOE Scientists

The Food For Life Cookbook

Every Body Should Know This by Dr Federica Amati

Food For Life by Prof. Tim Spector

Ferment by Prof. Tim Spector

Free resources from ZOE

Eating for Better Brain Health: Your brain-gut blueprint

How to eat in 2026 - Discover ZOE’s 8 nutrition principles for long-term health

Live Healthier: Top 10 Tips From ZOE Science & Nutrition

Gut Guide - For a Healthier Microbiome in Weeks 

Better Breakfast Guide

Have feedback or a topic you'd like us to cover? Let us know hereListen to the full episode here

Ozempic, Wegovy and Mounjaro can help people lose weight. But what should you eat on GLP-1 drugs to avoid side effects, protect muscle, and maintain results long term?

In this episode, Dr Federica Amati, ZOE’s Head Nutritionist and author of The Appetite Reset, explains how these drugs work, why many people struggle with side effects, and why losing weight does not automatically mean better health.

You’ll learn why the weight lost may not be fat, why nutrient deficiencies, dehydration and muscle loss can become a risk, and what to eat before, during and after treatment. Federica shares four practical principles to help reduce side effects, protect lean mass, improve diet quality and support long-term health whether you stay on these medications or eventually stop taking them.

Millions of people are now using GLP-1 drugs. But if these medications reduce appetite so effectively, how do you make sure your body still gets the nutrients it needs?

🌱 Try our science-backed and tasty wholefood supplement Daily30

🌿Let your gut microbes snack on the ZOE Gut Health Bar

Get our brand-new app and Gut Health Test designed by world-leading gut health and nutrition scientists to build healthy eating habits 👉 Join ZOE

Follow ZOE on Instagram.

Timecodes

00:00 Intro

03:23 What Ozempic actually does inside your body

06:00 Are Ozempic and Mounjaro really miracle drugs?

10:53 Ozempic vs Wegovy vs Mounjaro: what’s the difference?

11:40 The step almost everyone skips before starting GLP-1s

13:16 Why do some people get worse Ozempic side effects?

15:20 The surprising brain effect changing people’s lives

18:20 The appetite system most people never learn about

21:25 How fibre helps your body make more GLP-1 naturally

24:24 Why ultra-processed foods never keep you full

27:20 Why staying a healthy weight is harder than ever

30:11 The hidden risk nobody mentions when losing weight

32:11 The 4 rules to protect muscle, bones and brain health

34:24 The side effect that can make life feel less enjoyable

35:26 What happens if you stay on Ozempic but never change your diet?

38:16 Can Ozempic cause malnutrition? Warning signs to know

39:35 Why some people suddenly stop craving junk food

41:15 What should you eat before starting Ozempic?

42:50 What should you eat while taking Ozempic?

44:01 Why meal timing matters more than you think

46:25 The eating mistake that triggers nausea and vomiting

47:18 The best protein foods for GLP-1 users

49:15 Can Ozempic cause muscle loss? The protein myth explained

51:40 What should you eat when coming off Ozempic?

53:15 Why some people keep the weight off for years

57:45 Why do most people quit Ozempic within a year?

📚Books by our ZOE Scientists

The Food For Life Cookbook

Every Body Should Know This by Dr Federica Amati

The Appetite Reset by Dr Federica Amati

Food For Life by Prof. Tim Spector

Ferment by Prof. Tim Spector

Good Mood Food (preorder) by Prof. Tim Spector

Free resources from ZOE

The Hormone Harmony Guide: Tuning Your Body’s Internal Orchestra

Eating for Better Brain Health: Your brain-gut blueprint

How to eat in 2026 - Discover ZOE’s 8 nutrition principles for long-term health

Live Healthier: Top 10 Tips From ZOE Science & Nutrition

Gut Guide - For a Healthier Microbiome in Weeks 

Better Breakfast Guide

Mentioned in today's episode

The Appetite Reset by Dr Federica Amati

GLP-1 Discontinuation Among Patients, Diabetes and Endocrinology (2024)

How much protein do you need? ZOE’s new guide

Managing Gastrointestinal Adverse Events in Patients Treated with GLP-1s, Journal of Clinical Medicine (2022)

Neurological complications following GLP-1 use, BMC Neurology (2025)

Have feedback or a topic you'd like us to cover? Let us know here.

Episode transcripts are available here.

Today we’re talking about what causes ageing.

Here’s an important term you may not have heard before: inflammaging. It describes the link between chronic inflammation in the body and accelerated ageing.

While it’s relatively unknown, this process is one of the most important concepts to understand if we want to live longer, healthier lives.

I’m joined by Professor Janet Lord to break down what inflammaging is, why it’s one of the biggest threats to healthy longevity, and the surprisingly simple, science-backed habits we can all use to slow it down.

🌱 Try our science-backed and tasty wholefood supplement Daily 30+

Get our brand-new app and Gut Health Test designed by world-leading gut health and nutrition scientists to build healthy eating habits 👉 Join ZOE

Follow ZOE on Instagram.

📚Books by our ZOE Scientists

The Food For Life Cookbook

Every Body Should Know This by Dr Federica Amati

Food For Life by Prof. Tim Spector

Ferment by Prof. Tim Spector

Free resources from ZOE

Eating for Better Brain Health: Your brain-gut blueprint

How to eat in 2026 - Discover ZOE’s 8 nutrition principles for long-term health

Live Healthier: Top 10 Tips From ZOE Science & Nutrition

Gut Guide - For a Healthier Microbiome in Weeks 

Better Breakfast Guide

Have feedback or a topic you'd like us to cover? Let us know here

Listen to the full episode here

Could inflammation be causing low mood, anxiety, depression, or even affecting your risk of dementia? 

Emerging science suggests that inflammation in the body may change how the brain works. In this episode, Ed Bullmore, a Professor of Psychiatry at King's College London and a leading voice in brain research, explores why feeling low, emotionally flat, foggy or exhausted may not always be “all in your head”.

Ed explores emerging science suggesting that inflammation in the body may alter how the brain works. He explains how inflammation can influence the brain and discusses why obesity, gut health, gum disease, menopause, ageing and stress may all play a role. He also examines why medicine has traditionally separated physical and mental health, and what this may mean for understanding the root causes of low mood.

By the end of the episode, you’ll have some practical ways to support both brain and body health. Ed shares the evidence behind which exercise and diet matter most, and why discussing mental and physical health together may help you get closer to the causes of your symptoms.

If your mood, energy and brain health are shaped by more than what’s happening in your mind, what might your body be trying to tell you?

🌱 Try our science-backed and tasty wholefood supplement Daily30

Get our brand-new app and Gut Health Test designed by world-leading gut health and nutrition scientists to build healthy eating habits 👉 Join ZOE

Follow ZOE on Instagram.

Today we’re talking about skin and sunlight.

Skin and sunlight have a complicated relationship. Sunlight helps our bodies produce vitamin D, which is essential for overall health. However, too much exposure can accelerate skin ageing and increase the risk of skin cancer.

So how much sun is enough? Are most of us getting too little, or too much? And where does sunscreen fit into a healthy daily routine?

I’m joined by Professor John McGrath to explore how sunlight affects our skin, and how to strike the perfect balance

🌱 Try our science-backed and tasty wholefood supplement Daily 30+

Get our brand-new app and Gut Health Test designed by world-leading gut health and nutrition scientists to build healthy eating habits 👉 Join ZOE

Follow ZOE on Instagram.
📚Books by our ZOE Scientists

The Food For Life Cookbook

Every Body Should Know This by Dr Federica Amati

Food For Life by Prof. Tim Spector

Ferment by Prof. Tim Spector

Free resources from ZOE

Eating for Better Brain Health: Your brain-gut blueprint

How to eat in 2026 - Discover ZOE’s 8 nutrition principles for long-term health

Live Healthier: Top 10 Tips From ZOE Science & Nutrition

Gut Guide - For a Healthier Microbiome in Weeks 

Better Breakfast Guide

Have feedback or a topic you'd like us to cover? Let us know here

Listen to the full episode here

Could mushrooms hold the secret to better gut health, lower cholesterol, and can they protect your brain?

Today, Professor Robin May, a leading microbiologist and the UK Government’s Chief Scientific Officer, explores why our interest in mushrooms has exploded. He explains why they are not just another vegetable but could hold the key to better gut health, brain health, immune health, and lower cholesterol.

By the end of the episode, you’ll know which health claims about mushrooms are real, which are exaggerated and where the science is just too early to trust. You’ll have a solid understanding of what mushrooms are really doing inside our bodies and how to unlock the secret health powers they hold.

Should mushrooms become a regular part of your weekly shop rather than an occasional side dish? And if fungi have evolved alongside humans for millions of years, what else might they reveal about the future of nutrition and health?

🌱 Try our science-backed and tasty wholefood supplement Daily30

Get our brand-new app and Gut Health Test designed by world-leading gut health and nutrition scientists to build healthy eating habits 👉 Join ZOE

Follow ZOE on Instagram.

Timecodes

00:00 Intro

03:32 Are mushrooms closer to humans than plants?

06:20 What is a mushroom, really?

10:46 Why we’re eating more mushrooms now

12:14 The hidden nutrients inside mushrooms

13:56 Can mushrooms boost vitamin D?

15:35 The sunlight trick for healthier mushrooms

17:27 How many mushrooms give you enough vitamin D?

18:01 The mushroom with 500x more vitamin D

20:25 The mystery compound found in mushrooms

22:00 Should you take mushroom supplements?

24:30 Do all mushrooms contain this rare compound?

26:22 Can mushrooms help you live longer?

28:35 Can lion’s mane protect your brain?

30:24 Do mushrooms really boost IQ?

34:21 Can mushrooms affect your immune system?

36:40 How mushrooms feed your gut microbes

38:20 Should fungi live in your gut?

39:45 The fungus that lives on your head

41:50 Can mushrooms lower cholesterol?

43:21 Are you cooking mushrooms wrong?

45:25 Should you eat raw mushrooms?

47:21 How to make mushrooms taste better

49:25 The easiest way to eat more mushrooms

52:17 Robin’s top mushroom tip

📚Books by our ZOE Scientists

The Food For Life Cookbook

Every Body Should Know This by Dr Federica Amati

Food For Life by Prof. Tim Spector

Ferment by Prof. Tim Spector

Good Mood Food (preorder) by Prof. Tim Spector

Free resources from ZOE

The Hormone Harmony Guide: Tuning Your Body’s Internal Orchestra

Eating for Better Brain Health: Your brain-gut blueprint

How to eat in 2026 - Discover ZOE’s 8 nutrition principles for long-term health

Live Healthier: Top 10 Tips From ZOE Science & Nutrition

Gut Guide - For a Healthier Microbiome in Weeks 

Better Breakfast Guide

Mentioned in today's episode

A Review of Mushrooms as a Potential Source of Dietary Vitamin D, Nutrients (2018)

Ergothioneine: an underrecognised dietary micronutrient required for healthy ageing, British Journal of Nutrition (2023)

Ergothioneine: A Stress Vitamin with Antiaging, Vascular, and Neuroprotective Roles?, Antioxidants and Redox Signaling (2022)

Mushrooms & longevity, Nature (2025)

Lion’s mane & nerve growth factor, Journal of Biological Engineering (2023)

The Relationship between Mushroom Intake and Cognitive Performance, Nutrients (2024)

Have feedback or a topic you'd like us to cover? Let us know here.

Episode transcripts are available here.

Today we’re exploring the impact of ultra-processed foods on young people.

One of the big reasons ultra-processed foods have become so widespread is convenience. They offer quick, easy meals for people short on time - and few groups are more time-pressed than parents trying to feed young children.

But does this convenience come at a cost?

I’m joined by Harvard professor Dr Andy Chan, whose research is helping us understand how early exposure to ultra-processed food can shape future health.

🌱 Try our science-backed and tasty wholefood supplement Daily 30+

Get our brand-new app and Gut Health Test designed by world-leading gut health and nutrition scientists to build healthy eating habits 👉 Join ZOE

Follow ZOE on Instagram.

📚Books by our ZOE Scientists

The Food For Life Cookbook

Every Body Should Know This by Dr Federica Amati

Food For Life by Prof. Tim Spector

Ferment by Prof. Tim Spector

Free resources from ZOE

Eating for Better Brain Health: Your brain-gut blueprint

How to eat in 2026 - Discover ZOE’s 8 nutrition principles for long-term health

Live Healthier: Top 10 Tips From ZOE Science & Nutrition

Gut Guide - For a Healthier Microbiome in Weeks 

Better Breakfast Guide

Have feedback or a topic you'd like us to cover? Let us know here

Listen to the full episode here

If you feel like you can’t stop eating, constantly crave junk food, or struggle with overeating, this episode will change how you see food. 

Michael Pollan, one of the world's most influential science writers, joins Professor Tim Spector to explain how ultra-processed food may drive food addiction, override fullness signals, and keep us craving more. Together, they explore why foods high in sugar, salt, and fat can feel so hard to resist, and what we can do to fight back.

Michael and Tim unpack how the modern food system changed over the last 50 years, and why many ultra-processed foods are designed around “craveability.” They explain how these foods may stimulate the brain’s reward systems, why fibre and plants help us feel fuller, and why cooking more meals at home may help reduce overeating without calorie counting.

The episode includes practical ways to regain control of your eating habits, reduce cravings, feel better and live more healthy years.

If your cravings feel impossible to control, is it really a lack of willpower, or is modern food engineered to keep us coming back for more?

🌱 Try our science-backed and tasty wholefood supplement Daily30

Get our brand-new app and Gut Health Test designed by world-leading gut health and nutrition scientists to build healthy eating habits 👉 Join ZOE

Follow ZOE on Instagram.

Timecodes

00:00 Intro

04:04 How monoculture changed modern food

08:52 Are we basically made of corn?

12:58 The 3 ingredients engineered to drive cravings

14:32 Why ultra-processed food keeps you hungry

15:44 Why governments subsidize junk food

18:01 How fast food changed family cooking

20:00 Is ultra-processed food destroying family meals?

21:46 What happens when you stop eating plants? 22:55 Your gut microbes are eating too

25:31 Caffeine and the world’s most used drug

26:26 Michael Pollan quits caffeine for 3 months

28:35 Is caffeine addiction actually harmful?

29:11 Coffee and heart disease risk explained

32:34 Why workplaces normalized caffeine 33:40 The simplest way to stop overeating

35:30 Did food companies convince us cooking is hard?

37:02 How to identify ultra-processed food

38:25 Michael Pollan’s famous food rule explained

40:14 Why “plant-based” doesn’t always mean healthy

42:46 The Japanese habit that may reduce overeating

44:24 How food companies engineer craveability

45:25 Are food companies manipulating your cravings?

46:41 Why eating 30 plants a week matters

47:36 Eat food, not too much, mostly plants

Today we’re talking about wellness trends.

Social media has supercharged the wellness world, with new trends popping up and spreading faster than ever. It feels like we’re constantly being sold the next must-have product - each one a guaranteed route to better health that you simply can’t live without.

But how many of these trends are actually backed by science? And could some of them actually be doing more harm than good?

I’m joined by wellness expert Liz Earle and nutritional scientist Dr Federica Amati to separate evidence from exaggeration. From red light therapy to cow fat, they’ll reveal which trends are worth your time - and which are best left behind.

🌱 Try our science-backed and tasty wholefood supplement Daily 30+

Get our brand-new app and Gut Health Test designed by world-leading gut health and nutrition scientists to build healthy eating habits 👉 Join ZOE

Follow ZOE on Instagram.

📚Books by our ZOE Scientists

The Food For Life Cookbook

Every Body Should Know This by Dr Federica Amati

Food For Life by Prof. Tim Spector

Ferment by Prof. Tim Spector

Free resources from ZOE

Eating for Better Brain Health: Your brain-gut blueprint

How to eat in 2026 - Discover ZOE’s 8 nutrition principles for long-term health

Live Healthier: Top 10 Tips From ZOE Science & Nutrition

Gut Guide - For a Healthier Microbiome in Weeks 

Better Breakfast Guide

Have feedback or a topic you'd like us to cover? Let us know here

Listen to the full episode here

10 million deaths a year. 

That is how many people are predicted to die from antibiotic-resistant infections if we do not find new treatments.

In today’s episode, Professor Martha Clokie and Professor Tim Spector explore the secret gut viruses, known as phages, being studied to fight deadly infection, target cancer cells, and to protect your gut microbiome. 

Martha is a world-leading expert on the mysterious phage and, for the last 20 years, has pioneered research to revolutionise the treatment of infections without antibiotics. She explains why antibiotic resistance is a growing global threat, why everyday infections are becoming harder to treat, and how some bacteria are now resistant to every antibiotic available. We explore how the viruses in our gut may help solve this problem, and how scientists may one day use them to deliver highly targeted cancer treatment.

By the end of the episode, you’ll have some ideas to help support a healthier gut ecosystem and understand how to increase the number of friendly gut viruses that live inside you.

The science is still early, but the message is clear: the small choices we make every day are shaping our long-term resilience to disease.

If viruses can help protect us from infection rather than cause it, how much of human health are we only just beginning to understand?

🌱 Try our science-backed and tasty wholefood supplement Daily30

Get our brand-new app and Gut Health Test designed by world-leading gut health and nutrition scientists to build healthy eating habits 👉 Join ZOE

Follow ZOE on Instagram.

Timecodes

00:00 Intro

01:34 The gut viruses scientists say we need to survive

03:19 There are more gut viruses than stars in the universe

10:50 The billion-year war happening inside your gut

13:10 The hidden system controlling your microbiome

14:42 What healthy microbiomes have that unhealthy guts lose

16:33 The gut viruses that may protect you from infection

17:38 Why your immune system allows trillions of viruses to live inside you

19:25 The natural viruses that kill salmonella

20:52 Why ageing may weaken your gut’s viral defences

22:05 Scientists still don’t know what most gut viruses do

25:12 The strange origin story of phage therapy

27:22 Doctors are already using viruses to treat deadly infections

28:02 Why antibiotics are starting to fail

29:07 The deadly infection crisis bigger than cancer

30:38 How factory farming fuels antibiotic resistance

32:27 The antibiotic resistance emergency is already here

33:25 The forgotten treatment abandoned after antibiotics

35:50 Why phage therapy may spare your microbiome

36:37 The dying patient saved by experimental viruses

39:41 Could phages replace antibiotics in the future?

40:50 The viruses scientists are using to target cancer cells

44:35 How diet shapes the viruses living in your gut

46:05 The surprising link between coffee and gut health

47:25 The foods that may increase healthy gut viruses

50:34 The future of gut health, cancer treatment and infection prevention

📚Books by our ZOE Scientists

The Food For Life Cookbook

Every Body Should Know This by Dr Federica Amati

Food For Life by Prof. Tim Spector

Ferment by Prof. Tim Spector

Good Mood Food (preorder) by Prof. Tim Spector

Free resources from ZOE

The Hormone Harmony Guide: Tuning Your Body’s Internal Orchestra

Eating for Better Brain Health: Your brain-gut blueprint

How to eat in 2026 - Discover ZOE’s 8 nutrition principles for long-term health

Live Healthier: Top 10 Tips From ZOE Science & Nutrition

Gut Guide - For a Healthier Microbiome in Weeks 

Better Breakfast Guide

Mentioned in today's episode

How gut viruses shape your gut microbiome

Phages to the rescue, Trends in Microbiology (2024)

Compounds in the foods we eat can trigger phage production, Gut Microbes (2020)

Microbiomes of garden vs supermarket produce, Nature (2022)

Phage Therapy at Belgium’s Queen Astrid Military Hospital, Viruses (2019)

Habitual coffee intake shapes the gut microbiome, Nature (2026)

Have feedback or a topic you'd like us to cover? Let us know here.
Episode transcripts are available here.

Today, we’re diving into one of the most requested topics we’ve ever had: cold water therapy.

Cold showers, ice baths and wild winter swimming have exploded in popularity over recent years with supporters claiming a range of health benefits. 

But are these claims actually backed by science, or is it all just another wellness fad? 

I’m joined by Dr. Susanna Søberg and Proffesor Tim Spector to break down the studies and discover if we could all do with a bit more ice in our life.

🌱 Try our science-backed and tasty wholefood supplement Daily 30+

Get our brand-new app and Gut Health Test designed by world-leading gut health and nutrition scientists to build healthy eating habits 👉 Join ZOE

Follow ZOE on Instagram.

📚Books by our ZOE Scientists

The Food For Life Cookbook

Every Body Should Know This by Dr Federica Amati

Food For Life by Prof. Tim Spector

Ferment by Prof. Tim Spector

Free resources from ZOE

Eating for Better Brain Health: Your brain-gut blueprint

How to eat in 2026 - Discover ZOE’s 8 nutrition principles for long-term health

Live Healthier: Top 10 Tips From ZOE Science & Nutrition

Gut Guide - For a Healthier Microbiome in Weeks 

Better Breakfast Guide

Allergies have tripled - with hay fever, seasonal allergies, eczema and food intolerances now affecting millions of people. But why are allergy symptoms getting worse, and what does gut health have to do with it?

In this episode, Adam Fox, a world-leading allergy Professor at King’s College London, explains why allergies may be rising so fast, why many beliefs about allergies are wrong, and what new science reveals about your immune system, skin and gut.

Professor Fox explores why some foods are more likely to trigger reactions, and why modern allergy science is increasingly focused on gut health. Adam also discusses why 90% of people told they are allergic to certain things may not actually be allergic, the difference between allergies and intolerances, and why some antihistamines may be doing you more harm than you realise.

By the end of this episode, you will have some practical ways to manage hay fever and seasonal allergies, including which antihistamines experts now recommend avoiding, simple ways to reduce pollen exposure at home, and when allergy testing or desensitisation treatment may help. Adam explains how newer treatments are starting to retrain the immune system rather than simply suppress symptoms.

If allergies barely existed a few hundred years ago, what changed? And could your gut now be shaping the way your immune system reacts to the world around you?

🌱 Try our science-backed and tasty wholefood supplement Daily30

Get our brand-new app and Gut Health Test designed by world-leading gut health and nutrition scientists to build healthy eating habits 👉 Join ZOE

Follow ZOE on Instagram.

Timecodes

00:00 Intro

03:19 Why peanut allergies became so common in children

08:05 Why allergies are different in every country

10:00 The hidden link between eczema and food allergies

11:14 Your gut and skin train your immune system differently

12:42 What eczema actually does to your immune system

15:15 Did hay fever barely exist 200 years ago?

17:36 Why hay fever can seriously affect your life

18:11 Hay fever may affect exam results and work performance

20:20 Most people diagnosed with penicillin allergy may not have it

22:30 90% of penicillin allergies may be wrong

25:52 The hygiene hypothesis may not explain allergies after all

28:10 The microbiome connection scientists can’t ignore

31:24 The mouse experiment that changed allergy science

34:05 The eating pattern linked to fewer allergies in children

36:35 Food allergy vs food intolerance - what’s the difference?

39:51 What anaphylaxis actually feels like in the body

43:43 Gluten allergy, celiac disease and gluten sensitivity explained

47:49 Why allergy blood tests can give misleading results

49:46 The new treatment changing peanut allergy care

52:41 5 science-backed ways to reduce hay fever symptoms

55:16 The antihistamines some doctors now avoid

56:40 The future of allergy treatment is changing fast

📚Books by our ZOE Scientists

The Food For Life Cookbook

Every Body Should Know This by Dr Federica Amati

Food For Life by Prof. Tim Spector

Ferment by Prof. Tim Spector

Good Mood Food (preorder) by Prof. Tim Spector

Free resources from ZOE

The Hormone Harmony Guide: Tuning Your Body’s Internal Orchestra

Eating for Better Brain Health: Your brain-gut blueprint

How to eat in 2026 - Discover ZOE’s 8 nutrition principles for long-term health

Live Healthier: Top 10 Tips From ZOE Science & Nutrition

Gut Guide - For a Healthier Microbiome in Weeks 

Better Breakfast Guide

Mentioned in today's episode

Professor Adam Fox OBE uses Instagram to share clear bite-sized insights on children’s allergies, eczema & other allergic diseases - Follow at @DrAdamFox

Rising Trends in Food Allergies, The Lancet (2024)

Pollen exposure and exam performance, Journal of Epidemiology and Community Health (2026)

Almost nine in ten patients labelled allergic to penicillin had no allergy, The Lancet (2025)

Risk Factors for the Development of Food Allergy, JAMA (2026)

Food Allergy and the Microbiome, Current Research in Microbial Sciences (2025)

Have feedback or a topic you'd like us to cover? Let us know here.

Episode transcripts are available here.

Today, we’re zooming out to look at the bigger picture.

On this podcast, we often talk about things that you can do to improve your diet. However, you're not the only one who has an impact on your health. The truth is, our food system - from government policy to supermarket placement - has a profound influence on what we eat, how we eat, and ultimately how healthy we all are.

So, what steps can we take to improve not just our own health, but the health of society as a whole? 

Today, I’m joined by Professor Brian Elbel and Professor Tim Spector to explore the forces shaping our food system — and the changes that could benefit our collective well-being.

What if boosting your immune system is the wrong goal? 

Today, Dr Giulia Enders explains how boosting immunity may increase inflammation and why your symptoms are often part of your body’s defence. Your immune system is not failing when you feel sick. It is trying to protect you. So what should you focus on instead?

That’s the idea at the very heart of Giulia’s new book, Organ Speak. Giulia is a gastroenterologist and author whose previous book, Gut, sold eight million copies and helped convince the world that gut health was worth taking seriously.

She explains how the immune system really works and why symptoms like a runny nose, cough, or fever come from your body, not the infection itself. You’ll learn how sugar may push the immune system toward inflammation, how stress can weaken it, and why sleep is key for producing immune cells. This episode also explores how exercise helps regulate your immune response. The core idea is simple: health is not about making your immune system stronger. It is about keeping it balanced.

By the end of this episode, you will have practical ways to support that balance and habits to help your immune system respond in the right way.

If the sneezing, runny nose, fever - all of it - are actually the whole point, how much energy should you spend in suppressing them?

🌱 Try our science-backed and tasty wholefood supplement Daily30

Get our brand-new app and Gut Health Test designed by world-leading gut health and nutrition scientists to build healthy eating habits 👉 Join ZOE

Follow ZOE on Instagram.

Timecodes

00:00 Intro

02:45 Why being sick feels like failure

04:30 The problem with only treating the gut

07:16 Why your body is not broken

10:25 When your immune system gets overprotective

13:28 The virus may not cause your symptoms

15:36 Should you stop cold symptoms?

16:40 When diarrhoea medicine can backfire

18:05 Should you take painkillers when sick?

18:52 Why immunity is not a war

20:46 The invisible microbe cloak protecting you

22:49 How your body clears bacteria from skin

24:10 Your microbiome is part of immunity

26:58 Is your immune system like AI?

28:00 Why boosting immunity can go wrong

30:36 Are immune supplements worth taking?

31:45 How stress weakens your gut barrier

34:25 The one-minute breathing reset

37:48 Why sleep builds immune cells

39:27 The most important half of sleep

44:16 Do naps help your immune system?

46:40 What to eat for immune balance

48:00 How exercise moves immune cells

49:10 Why exercise when sick can be risky

54:26 Strength vs cardio for immunity

56:00 The immune system takeaway everyone needs

📚Books by our ZOE Scientists

The Food For Life Cookbook

Every Body Should Know This by Dr Federica Amati

Food For Life by Prof. Tim Spector

Ferment by Prof. Tim Spector

Good Mood Food (preorder) by Prof. Tim Spector

Free resources from ZOE

The Hormone Harmony Guide: Tuning Your Body’s Internal Orchestra

Eating for Better Brain Health: Your brain-gut blueprint

How to eat in 2026 - Discover ZOE’s 8 nutrition principles for long-term health

Live Healthier: Top 10 Tips From ZOE Science & Nutrition

Gut Guide - For a Healthier Microbiome in Weeks 

Better Breakfast Guide

Mentioned in today's episode

Organ Speak: What it really means to listen to our bodies by Giulia Enders

Gut by Giulia Enders

Association of Stress-Related Disorders With Autoimmune Disease, JAMA (2018)

Sugar-sweetened soda consumption and risk of developing rheumatoid arthritis, AJCN (2014)

Have feedback or a topic you'd like us to cover? Let us know here.

Episode transcripts are available here.

Today, we’re shining a light on a lesser-known form of depression.

When we imagine depression, we often think of someone unable to get out of bed, someone who struggles to complete daily tasks. However, many people with depression are the exact opposite. They meet deadlines, achieve goals and appear successful. Yet, on the inside, they feel disconnected and distant from joy. 

This quieter, harder-to-spot condition is known as high-functioning depression.

I’m joined by psychiatrist Dr. Judith Joseph and Professor Sarah Berry to unpack what high-functioning depression looks like, why it’s so frequently missed, and how we should approach it. Sarah starts by asking for clarity on a word that is closely connected to this condition.

🌱 Try our science-backed and tasty wholefood supplement Daily 30+

Get our brand-new app and Gut Health Test designed by world-leading gut health and nutrition scientists to build healthy eating habits 👉 Join ZOE

Follow ZOE on Instagram.

📚Books by our ZOE Scientists

The Food For Life Cookbook

Every Body Should Know This by Dr Federica Amati

Food For Life by Prof. Tim Spector

Ferment by Prof. Tim Spector

Free resources from ZOE

Eating for Better Brain Health: Your brain-gut blueprint

How to eat in 2026 - Discover ZOE’s 8 nutrition principles for long-term health

Live Healthier: Top 10 Tips From ZOE Science & Nutrition

Gut Guide - For a Healthier Microbiome in Weeks 

Better Breakfast Guide

GLP-1 drugs like Ozempic and Mounjaro are now everywhere. But what do they actually do beyond weight loss? And what do you need to know before starting them?

In this episode, we’re joined by Dr Ania Jastreboff, a world-leading researcher at the forefront of GLP-1 treatments and writer of the New York Times bestselling book Enough: Your Health, Your Weight, and What It's Like To Be Free, co-authored with Oprah Winfrey.

Dr Jastreboff explains everything you need to know about Ozempic, Mounjaro, Wegovy and other GLP-1 medications for 2026. You’ll learn how GLP-1s may reduce the risk of heart disease, improve blood sugar control, and support conditions like sleep apnoea. We also explore why weight often returns after stopping, and what you need to know about Ozempic side effects and long-term use.

If these drugs can change how your brain controls hunger, what does that mean for willpower, weight gain, and how we treat obesity long term?

🌱 Try our science-backed and tasty wholefood supplement Daily30

Get our brand-new app and Gut Health Test designed by world-leading gut health and nutrition scientists to build healthy eating habits 👉 Join ZOE

Follow ZOE on Instagram.

Timecodes

00:00 Intro

04:25 What these drugs are really treating

06:42 The hunger problem nobody could name

10:57 The diabetes side effect that changed everything

12:15 Why Ozempic isn’t just “more GLP-1”

15:51 Why Mounjaro works differently to Ozempic

17:56 The part everyone gets wrong

20:15 Can these drugs protect your heart?

21:25 The 94% diabetes finding

22:09 Why the weight can come back

23:50 Do you have to take them forever?

25:30 Can you trust pharma-funded trials?

27:46 The risk of microdosing GLP-1s

31:41 Are these drugs becoming surgery-level?

34:10 The health effects beyond weight loss

37:22 The side effects people should expect

40:15 Could stopping leave you worse off?

41:35 Who should actually take GLP-1 drugs?

43:40 The biggest mistake when starting treatment

46:28 What to eat when your appetite drops

50:03 Why these are not weight loss aids

51:52 Should healthy people take small doses?

53:14 The exercise rule people miss

54:24 What comes after Ozempic and Mounjaro?

📚Books by our ZOE Scientists

The Food For Life Cookbook

Every Body Should Know This by Dr Federica Amati

Food For Life by Prof. Tim Spector

Ferment by Prof. Tim Spector

Good Mood Food (preorder) by Prof. Tim Spector

Free resources from ZOE

The Hormone Harmony Guide: Tuning Your Body’s Internal Orchestra

Eating for Better Brain Health: Your brain-gut blueprint

How to eat in 2026 - Discover ZOE’s 8 nutrition principles for long-term health

Live Healthier: Top 10 Tips From ZOE Science & Nutrition

Gut Guide - For a Healthier Microbiome in Weeks 

Better Breakfast Guide

Mentioned in today's episode

Enough: Your Health, Your Weight, and What It's Like To Be Free by Dr Ania Jastreboff & Oprah Winfrey

Retatrutide for Obesity, The New England Journal of Medicine (2023)

Healthy Weight Loss Maintenance with Exercise, Liraglutide, or Both Combined, The New England Journal of Medicine (2021)

Semaglutide and Cardiovascular Outcomes in Patients, The New England Journal of Medicine (2016)

Tirzepatide for Obesity Treatment and Diabetes Prevention, The New England Journal of Medicine (2025)

Tirzepatide for the Treatment of Obstructive Sleep Apnea and Obesity, The New England Journal of Medicine (2024)

Have feedback or a topic you'd like us to cover? Let us know here.

Episode transcripts are available here.

Today, we’re exploring the brain-gut axis

We’ve all heard phrases like “gut instinct” or “trust your gut”. These sayings hint towards a sort of mind in your midriff - and it turns out there is some truth to it. Emerging science reveals that the brain and gut are, in fact, closely connected, constantly exchanging signals through this intricate network of nerves.

So, the question is: if they’re so tightly intertwined, can treating one help heal the other?

I’m joined by gastroenterologist Dr. Will Bulsiewicz to unravel the mystery of this connection - and find out how we can use it to our advantage.

🌱 Try our science-backed and tasty wholefood supplement Daily 30+

Get our brand-new app and Gut Health Test designed by world-leading gut health and nutrition scientists to build healthy eating habits 👉 Join ZOE

Follow ZOE on Instagram.

📚Books by our ZOE Scientists

The Food For Life Cookbook

Every Body Should Know This by Dr Federica Amati

Food For Life by Prof. Tim Spector

Ferment by Prof. Tim Spector

Free resources from ZOE

Eating for Better Brain Health: Your brain-gut blueprint

How to eat in 2026 - Discover ZOE’s 8 nutrition principles for long-term health

Live Healthier: Top 10 Tips From ZOE Science & Nutrition

Gut Guide - For a Healthier Microbiome in Weeks 

Better Breakfast Guide

You have around 10,000 cancer cells in your body right now, but most never become dangerous. The science suggests cancer risk is not just about genetics, but how your body responds to these cells. So what can you do, day to day, to support your body’s natural defences?

In this episode, Dr William Li, a world-renowned physician, scientist, speaker, and two-time NYT Bestselling author, explains how everyday foods can fuel cancer growth or help your body keep it under control. We explore how cancer starts, why it is part of normal biology, and explain why lifestyle and environment are more important than genetics when managing your cancer risk.

Dr Li shares simple guidance on eating patterns that support your body’s defences, including increasing plant-rich foods and reducing ultra-processed foods. He also highlights everyday habits such as staying active, supporting gut health, and limiting toxin exposure as ways to tip the balance in your favour.

If your body is already managing cancer cells every day, what small changes could help it do that job better?

🌱 Try our science-backed and tasty wholefood supplement Daily30

Get our brand-new app and Gut Health Test designed by world-leading gut health and nutrition scientists to build healthy eating habits 👉 Join ZOE

Follow ZOE on Instagram.

Timecodes

00:00 Intro

02:26 Almost everyone has microscopic tumours

08:15 We all have cancer right now?

10:45 Why most cancer cells stay harmless

13:40 The hidden trigger that fuels cancer growth

14:35 What makes cancer turn deadly

16:35 Cancer cells behave like seeds

19:05 How sunburn can lead to cancer

20:55 What smoking really does inside your body

22:20 The new way to fight cancer

24:20 Why genes matter less than you think

26:00 Is vaping worse than smoking?

27:05 The drinking habit that raises cancer risk

29:25 The environmental risk we can’t ignore

33:47 The diet pattern linked to cancer risk

35:10 Why processed meat is a class 1 carcinogen

37:25 How processed meat affects your gut

41:50 A simple way to reduce BBQ toxins

43:40 Does sugar really feed cancer?

45:51 The truth about soy and cancer

47:25 The soy study that shocked scientists

49:05 How tomatoes may lower cancer risk

51:00 Why berries are more powerful than you think

54:40 How tea and coffee support your defences

56:05 The gut link to cancer risk

57:40 Dr Li’s simplest rules to reduce risk

📚Books by our ZOE Scientists

The Food For Life Cookbook

Every Body Should Know This by Dr Federica Amati

Food For Life by Prof. Tim Spector

Ferment by Prof. Tim Spector

Good Mood Food (preorder) by Prof. Tim Spector

Free resources from ZOE

The Hormone Harmony Guide: Tuning Your Body’s Internal Orchestra

Eating for Better Brain Health: Your brain-gut blueprint

How to eat in 2026 - Discover ZOE’s 8 nutrition principles for long-term health

Live Healthier: Top 10 Tips From ZOE Science & Nutrition

Gut Guide - For a Healthier Microbiome in Weeks 

Better Breakfast Guide

Mentioned in today's episode

Eat to Beat Disease: The Body’s Five Defence Systems and the Foods that Could Save Your Life by Dr William Li

Eat to Beat Your Diet by Dr William Li

Huge microbiome breakthrough from ZOE, thanks to community science

Shanghai Breast Cancer Study, JAMA (2009)

The Anti-Cancer Activity of Lycopene, Nutrients (2022)

Health Professionals Follow-Up Study

Have feedback or a topic you'd like us to cover? Let us know here.

Episode transcripts are available here.

Today we’re talking about some foods that can change your life.

Fatigue, disease, gut problems and weight gain. Many of the issues we discuss on this podcast can be linked back to one thing: chronic inflammation. 

However, you don’t need drugs or detoxes to quell this fire. One of the most powerful tools we have to control inflammation is right in front of us: food.

I’m joined by Dr. Federica Amati and Professor Tim Spector to spotlight three inflammation-fighting foods - and explain why these small changes to your plate can make a big difference to your body.

🌱 Try our science-backed and tasty wholefood supplement Daily 30+

Get our brand-new app and Gut Health Test designed by world-leading gut health and nutrition scientists to build healthy eating habits 👉 Join ZOE

Follow ZOE on Instagram.

📚Books by our ZOE Scientists

The Food For Life Cookbook

Every Body Should Know This by Dr Federica Amati

Food For Life by Prof. Tim Spector

Ferment by Prof. Tim Spector

Free resources from ZOE

Eating for Better Brain Health: Your brain-gut blueprint

How to eat in 2026 - Discover ZOE’s 8 nutrition principles for long-term health

Live Healthier: Top 10 Tips From ZOE Science & Nutrition

Gut Guide - For a Healthier Microbiome in Weeks 

Better Breakfast Guide

Watch “The Gut Health Challenge” on YouTube | LINK

Can you boost energy, improve focus and lift your mood in just a few days, just by changing what you eat? 

In this episode, Professor Tim Spector and ZOE’s Head Nutritionist, Dr Federica Amati, break down the simple nutrition changes that help beat fatigue and shift how you feel. 

They speak to Lucy and Sarah, who put ZOE to the test and changed only their nutrition for six weeks. At the start, they were held back by brain fog, poor sleep, and constant tiredness. Could a six-week nutritional reset really move the needle? 

This episode shows what happened in real life as they explore why many people feel tired or flat, even when tests look “normal”. The episode explains why your gut microbiome matters, how you can feel better within days, and why consistency beats perfection.

You will also hear the simple changes they made. Bigger breakfasts. More plant diversity. Easy food swaps. Small habits that fit into real life.

If you feel tired but your tests say you’re “fine”, what would you change first? And if you felt better in days, would you keep going for six weeks?

Join Prof Tim Spector behind the scenes, just search “ZOE Gut Health Challenge” on YouTube | LINK

Timecodes

00:00 Intro

04:44 Why you can feel exhausted despite doing everything right

09:59 The test results that didn’t match how you feel

12:36 Why your symptoms may show before your blood tests

15:43 ‘Normal’ results… but still feeling terrible

17:31 The hidden gut problem behind low energy

19:43 Why this experiment wasn’t supposed to work this fast

21:54 Why your cravings may not be under your control

23:46 The first sign your body is changing (in days)

24:09 Feel happier in just 3 days?

24:59 The simple breakfast shift that changes everything

25:57 Why most people miss this one thing in their diet

27:38 The tool that makes healthy eating easier

29:14 How to improve your family’s diet without forcing it

31:06 The meal that proves healthy food can fill you up

32:25 The small food swaps that make the biggest difference

34:31 The eating habit most people overlook

35:57 Why 30 plants a week sounds impossible (but isn’t)

38:22 Why this doesn’t feel like a diet

40:39 What to do when you fall off track

42:22 The 80% rule that makes this sustainable

44:25 Why this finally feels easy to stick to

47:10 The one thing to change first

47:52 Did it work after just 6 weeks?

📚Books by our ZOE Scientists

The Food For Life Cookbook

Every Body Should Know This by Dr Federica Amati

Food For Life by Prof. Tim Spector

Ferment by Prof. Tim Spector

Good Mood Food (preorder) by Prof. Tim Spector

Free resources from ZOE

The Hormone Harmony Guide: Tuning Your Body’s Internal Orchestra

Eating for Better Brain Health: Your brain-gut blueprint

How to eat in 2026 - Discover ZOE’s 8 nutrition principles for long-term health

Live Healthier: Top 10 Tips From ZOE Science & Nutrition

Gut Guide - For a Healthier Microbiome in Weeks 

Better Breakfast Guide

Mentioned in today's episode

The Gut Health Challenge

Have feedback or a topic you'd like us to cover? Let us know here.

Episode transcripts are available here.

The ZOE app and Gut Health test are for general health and wellness purposes only. They are not intended to prevent, diagnose or treat any medical condition.

Sarah and Lucy received free access to the ZOE app and testing and Daily30 for their participation in the documentary.

Today, we’re diving into some popular drinks.

Coffee has long been the undisputed champion of hot beverages. Its bitter taste is an essential part of most people's morning. However, there’s a new kid on the block. You might have seen its distinctive green hue cropping up in cafés, supermarkets or even TikTok. I am of course talking about matcha.

So how do coffee and matcha compare? Do they work differently in the body? And is one better for your long-term health?

I’m joined by matcha expert Andrew Kojima and Professor Tim Spector to explore the science behind our daily pick-me-ups - and discover whether we should be switching sides.

🌱 Try our science-backed and tasty wholefood supplement Daily 30+

Get our brand-new app and Gut Health Test designed by world-leading gut health and nutrition scientists to build healthy eating habits 👉 Join ZOE

Follow ZOE on Instagram.

📚Books by our ZOE Scientists

The Food For Life Cookbook

Every Body Should Know This by Dr Federica Amati

Food For Life by Prof. Tim Spector

Ferment by Prof. Tim Spector

Free resources from ZOE

Eating for Better Brain Health: Your brain-gut blueprint

How to eat in 2026 - Discover ZOE’s 8 nutrition principles for long-term health

Live Healthier: Top 10 Tips From ZOE Science & Nutrition

Gut Guide - For a Healthier Microbiome in Weeks 

Better Breakfast Guide

Intermittent fasting may help with blood sugar, appetite, fat loss, and energy. But many people do it wrong. 

In this episode, Professor James Betts, one of the world’s leading experts on meal timing and its metabolic effects, explains what fasting actually is, how long you need to fast to see changes, and the key mistakes that can stop the benefits.

Today, we break down what happens in your body when you stop eating and explain why it may support weight loss and blood sugar control, but also why fasting doesn’t work for everyone. You will learn why breakfast may not matter, why the 5:2 diet often fails, and why eating even small amounts can stop a true fast.

By the end of this episode, you will understand what counts as a real fast, how long your eating window may need to be, why longer is not always better if you cannot stick to it, and why planning your first meal matters, because hunger can drive poor choices.

If fasting can work, but is not magic, what actually makes the difference: the timing, the consistency, or simply eating less?

🌱 Try our science-backed and tasty wholefood supplement Daily 30

Get our brand-new app and Gut Health Test designed by world-leading gut health and nutrition scientists to build healthy eating habits 👉 Join ZOE

Follow ZOE on Instagram.

Timecodes

00:00 Intro

02:30 The answers that completely contradict fasting advice

09:10 What fasting really means (it’s not what you think)

12:10 Why most people never actually fast

14:25 Why “eat to fuel your day” may be wrong

16:00 The 3 types of fasting people confuse

17:30 Why 5:2 might not work the way you think

18:15 The tiny mistake that ruins a fast

19:45 Why stricter fasting can feel easier

20:20 Why hunger disappears after a few days

21:20 What happened when he fasted for 5 days

22:35 What you can actually have during a fast

24:25 Do coffee and tea break your fast?

26:20 The truth about breakfast (finally tested)

28:15 The breakfast result no one expected

29:15 The hidden downside of fasting

32:20 What your body switches to when you stop eating

34:25 What really happens on day two of fasting

35:30 Why fasting might improve your health

37:05 Does fasting reduce inflammation?

38:25 What fasting actually helps with

39:20 How much weight people really lose

40:00 The most effective way to fast

41:00 The minimum fasting window that works

42:30 Who benefits most from fasting

44:30 Should you exercise before eating?

47:20 Do your eating times need to be consistent?

50:25 Does olive oil secretly break a fast?

51:45 The one rule for breaking a fast

53:40 The biggest takeaway about fasting

58:15 Should you actually try fasting?

📚Books by our ZOE Scientists

The Food For Life Cookbook

Every Body Should Know This by Dr Federica Amati

Food For Life by Prof. Tim Spector

Ferment by Prof. Tim Spector

Good Mood Food (preorder) by Prof. Tim Spector

Free resources from ZOE

The Hormone Harmony Guide: Tuning Your Body’s Internal Orchestra

Eating for Better Brain Health: Your brain-gut blueprint

How to eat in 2026 - Discover ZOE’s 8 nutrition principles for long-term health

Live Healthier: Top 10 Tips From ZOE Science & Nutrition

Gut Guide - For a Healthier Microbiome in Weeks 

Better Breakfast Guide

Mentioned in today's episode

Effect of the 5:2 Diet on Weight Loss and Cardiovascular Disease Risk, The International Journal of Endocrinology (2025)

Intermittent fasting ‘no magic bullet for weight loss’, Science Translational Medicine (2021)

Bath Breakfast Project, Springer (2011)

The role of intermittent fasting and meal timing in weight management and metabolic health. Proceedings of the Nutrition Society, (2020)

The causal role of breakfast in energy balance and health: a randomized controlled trial in lean adults. American Journal of Clinical Nutrition, (2014)

Nutrient timing and metabolic regulation. The Journal of Physiology, (2022)

Calorie counting vs. minute counting; does nutrient timing matter for weight-loss? Current Opinion on Clinical Nutrition and Metabolic Care, (2025)

Have feedback or a topic you'd like us to cover? Let us know here.
Episode transcripts are available here.

Today we’re talking about mobility well as you age.

As we get older, staying mobile becomes even more important. But often, it also becomes more difficult too. 

So today, we’re going to break down some barriers, take the slog out of staying active, and make movement fun.

I’m joined by Gabby Reece and Dr Federica Amati to explore simple ways to stay agile as we age. From the surprising benefits of walking backwards, jumping in a swimming pool, and not wearing shoes.

📚Books by our ZOE Scientists

The Food For Life Cookbook

Every Body Should Know This by Dr Federica Amati

Food For Life by Prof. Tim Spector

Ferment by Prof. Tim Spector

Free resources from ZOE

How to eat in 2026 - Discover ZOE’s 8 nutrition principles for long-term health

Live Healthier: Top 10 Tips From ZOE Science & Nutrition

Gut Guide - For a Healthier Microbiome in Weeks 

Better Breakfast Guide

Have feedback or a topic you'd like us to cover? Let us know hereListen to the full episode here

Most people think you need to poo every day to be healthy. You don’t. In this episode, we explain how to tell if your poo is normal, the warning signs you shouldn’t ignore, and the gut mistake you may be making on the toilet every day. 

Dr Trisha Pasricha, a leading Harvard gastroenterologist, a columnist for the Washington Post and author of the book You’ve Been Pooping All Wrong, explains how your poo, gut health, and disease risk are linked, and when you should see a doctor.

Dr Pasricha guides us through why frequency, colour, and consistency all matter, and why there is no single “normal.” You’ll learn how to spot changes that could signal disease, including early warning signs linked to cancer and long-term brain health.

You’ll hear simple advice you can use straight away. This includes how to recognise your normal pattern, what changes to look out for, and how to avoid the common toilet habit that may affect your gut.

Are you looking at your poo every day? And, if not, what might you notice if you did?

🌱 Try our science-backed and tasty wholefood supplement Daily 30

Get our brand-new app and Gut Health Test designed by world-leading gut health and nutrition scientists to build healthy eating habits 👉 Join ZOE

Follow ZOE on Instagram.

Timecodes

00:00 Intro

03:11 Your phone on the toilet: hidden risk?

07:26 Your colon runs on a clock

10:40 The illness that changed his gut for years

13:05 Why you should look before you flush

15:25 The poo colours you should never ignore

16:25 Why this sign is rising in younger adults

18:15 The stool colour doctors treat as urgent

19:27 What “perfect” poo actually looks like

21:05 What holding it in really does

23:05 The 3 things that control your bowel movements

25:35 Why gut problems are getting worse

26:43 The posture fix most people miss

27:35 The phone habit linked to 46% higher risk

29:47 Why your phone keeps you stuck there

32:35 The hidden gut–brain connection

34:50 What stress really does to your gut

36:50 Your gut may be controlling more than you think

38:50 Is IBS really misunderstood?

41:05 The theory that changes how we see Parkinson’s

44:15 The gut damage linked to future brain disease

47:45 The simple rule for better bowel movements

49:00 The foods that changed gut health in weeks

50:22 The surprising fix for constipation

52:05 The 2 habits most people ignore

54:31 A 60-second trick to calm your gut

55:30 If you change one thing, make it this

56:10 What matters most

📚Books by our ZOE Scientists

The Food For Life Cookbook

Every Body Should Know This by Dr Federica Amati

Food For Life by Prof. Tim Spector

Ferment by Prof. Tim Spector

Good Mood Food (preorder) by Prof. Tim Spector

Free resources from ZOE

Eating for Better Brain Health: Your brain-gut blueprint

Gut Guide - For a Healthier Microbiome in Weeks 

Better Breakfast Guide

Mentioned in today's episode

You’ve Been Pooping All Wrong by Dr Trisha Pasricha

Gastrointestinal Symptoms in the United States, The American Journal of Gastroenterology (2018)

Smartphone use on the toilet and the risk of hemorrhoids, PLOS One (2025)

Impacts of Gut Bacteria on Human Health and Diseases, International Journal of Molecular Sciences (2015)

Association between Early Adverse Life Events and Irritable Bowel Syndrome, CGH (2011)

Management of Gastrointestinal Symptoms in Parkinson's Disease: A Comprehensive, National Library of Medicine (2024)

Constipation and risk of dementia in adults, Frontiers (2025)

Gastrointestinal issues and Autism Spectrum Disorder, Child and Adolescent Psychiatric Clinics of North America (2020)

Stanford fermented foods study

Ultra-Processed Food Consumption and Irritable Bowel Syndrome, Nutrients (2025)

Have feedback or a topic you'd like us to cover? Let us know here.

Episode transcripts are available here.

Today we’re going prehistoric.

We have to stay sharp at ZOE. Nutritional science moves fast, so it’s important for us to stay up to date with new discoveries and the latest advice. 

However, every now and then, it helps to look back - way back.

In this recap, we’re turning to a rather unusual teacher: a 5,000-year-old Iceman, preserved in ice and carrying clues about the diet of our ancient ancestors.

I’m joined by Frank Maixner and Professor Tim Spector to uncover what this prehistoric man ate and what those findings can teach us about our diet today.

🌱 Try our new plant based wholefood supplement - Daily30+

*Naturally high in copper which contributes to normal energy yielding metabolism and the normal function of the immune system

📚Books by our ZOE Scientists

The Food For Life Cookbook

Every Body Should Know This by Dr Federica Amati

Food For Life by Prof. Tim Spector

Ferment by Prof. Tim Spector

Free resources from ZOE

How to eat in 2026 - Discover ZOE’s 8 nutrition principles for long-term health

Live Healthier: Top 10 Tips From ZOE Science & Nutrition

Gut Guide - For a Healthier Microbiome in Weeks 

Better Breakfast Guide

Have feedback or a topic you'd like us to cover? Let us know here

Listen to the full episode here

The blueprint for your life starts much earlier than you realise - long before you took your first breath, before your heart beat its first beat, before your mum and dad even met. 

This is the story of the first 1,000 days of life. From conception to age 2, a window so powerful that scientists now believe it influences our future risk of heart disease, obesity, diabetes, and even how our immune system reacts to the world.

In this episode, the world’s leading expert on how childhood nutrition and metabolism shape our long-term health, Professor Lucilla Poston, explains how early nutrition may influence appetite, metabolism, and future disease risk. 

Lucilla and ZOE’s Head Nutritionist, Dr Federica Amati, break down what science says about pregnancy, early feeding and the food children eat, and questions how lifelong health is shaped before a child even chooses their first meal.

Lucilla offers practical guidance on what matters most and explains key nutrients to consider. They discuss why regular movement may help support healthy blood sugar levels. They also explain what a balanced diet can look like for parents and young children, why babies should try a wide range of whole foods, and why many packaged baby foods may contain far more sugar than parents expect.

What small choices can you make today to help shape a healthier future for you, your children, and your children’s children?

🌱 Try our science-backed and tasty wholefood supplement Daily 30

Get our brand-new app and Gut Health Test designed by world-leading gut health and nutrition scientists to build healthy eating habits 👉 Join ZOE

Follow ZOE on Instagram.

Timecodes

00:00 Intro

03:47 Why the first 1,000 days can shape your entire life

08:12 What happens in the womb doesn’t stay in the womb

11:16 The tiny window where everything can go wrong

13:35 Why obesity in pregnancy is now a silent epidemic

15:17 Can a father’s health affect a baby before it even exists?

17:50 The missing nutrient most women don’t realise they need

20:35 The simplest way to improve your chances of conceiving

22:31 Should pregnant women worry about getting it wrong?

24:25 The biggest lies about pregnancy you’ve probably heard

26:47 Why pregnancy nutrition isn’t about being perfect

28:13 Why some children are at higher risk before they’re born

30:05 Can a mother’s diet rewire a baby’s brain for life?

31:47 The hormone that could make you crave junk food forever

35:11 When a normal pregnancy change becomes dangerous

39:04 Why pregnancy diabetes doesn’t end after birth

40:07 The one habit that lowers blood sugar during pregnancy

42:11 What pregnant women should actually be eating

45:37 The truth about ‘6 eggs a day’ and other diet myths

47:11 Why breast milk is more powerful than we ever realised

50:14 What babies should eat (and what to avoid)

52:13 The truth about baby food pouches parents aren’t told

55:20 The shocking reality of childhood obesity today

60:19 Is it too late to undo what happened before birth?

📚Books by our ZOE Scientists

The Food For Life Cookbook

Every Body Should Know This by Dr Federica Amati

Food For Life by Prof. Tim Spector

Ferment by Prof. Tim Spector

Good Mood Food (preorder) by Prof. Tim Spector

Free resources from ZOE

The Hormone Harmony Guide: Tuning Your Body’s Internal Orchestra

Eating for Better Brain Health: Your brain-gut blueprint

Live Healthier: Top 10 Tips From ZOE Science & Nutrition

Gut Guide - For a Healthier Microbiome in Weeks 

Better Breakfast Guide

Mentioned in today's episode

Paternal body mass index and offspring obesity, Annals of Nutrition and Metabolism (2023)

Lifestyle intervention in obese pregnancy, Nature (2022)

Exercise during pregnancy, BMJ (2026)

The long-term impact of obesity in pregnancy on offspring hypothalamic feeding pathways, Royal Society Open Science (2025)

Have feedback or a topic you'd like us to cover? Let us know here.

Episode transcripts are available here.

Today we’re looking at a novel way to improve our mental health.

If I’ve learnt anything from hosting this podcast, it’s just how interconnected all the systems in our body are. Nothing works in isolation, which means we often have to step back and look at the bigger picture if we want to improve a particular aspect of our health.

With this in mind, let’s shift our focus on mental health. Can we approach it from a different angle?

Harvard nutritional psychiatrist Dr. Uma Naidoo is here to explain the science behind the gut-brain axis, and how you can help one to help the other.

🌱 Try our new plant based wholefood supplement - Daily30+

*Naturally high in copper which contributes to normal energy yielding metabolism and the normal function of the immune system

📚Books by our ZOE Scientists

The Food For Life Cookbook

Every Body Should Know This by Dr Federica Amati

Food For Life by Prof. Tim Spector

Ferment by Prof. Tim Spector

Free resources from ZOE

Live Healthier: Top 10 Tips From ZOE Science & Nutrition

Gut Guide - For a Healthier Microbiome in Weeks 

Better Breakfast Guide

Have feedback or a topic you'd like us to cover? Let us know here
Listen to the full episode here