ZOE Science & Nutrition

Latest Episodes:

Fiber: Why it’s important and how to get more of it Oct 06, 2022

Show notes

Diets rich in fiber are associated with good heart health and metabolic wellbeing. This type of diet can do wonders for our gut microbiome.

With so many benefits, relatively low cost, and high availability, fiber should be a staple nutrient in our diets — but most of us have a deficiency.

In today’s short episode of ZOE Science & Nutrition, Jonathan and Will ask: If fiber is so good for us, why are we not eating enough of it?

Follow ZOE on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/zoe/

If you want to uncover the right foods for your body, head to joinzoe.com/podcast and get

10% off your personalized nutrition program.

Studies referenced in the episode:

Read ‘Carbohydrate quality and human health: a series of systematic reviews and meta-analyses’ from The Lancet here

This podcast was produced by Fascinate Productions.

Heart health and aging Sep 29, 2022

Show notes

Do our blood vessels hold the secret to long life?

60,000 miles long. That’s the length of the tube system inside us that transports blood, oxygen, and nutrients to the cells in our body.

If these tubes fail, the result can be fatal. In some cases, it’s a heart attack. In others, it’s a stroke, where the blood supply to the brain is disrupted, and brain cells are damaged or killed.

Heart attacks and strokes are a major cause of death in developed countries - but we can take action to reduce the risks.

In this episode, Jonathan speaks to a world-renowned physician, scientist, and speaker to gain insights into how looking after this magical pipework could slow down aging.

Dr. William Li is a world-leading specialist in blood vessels and preventative health and the author of countless papers on the topic, who possesses the gift for communicating this complex subject in terms we can all understand.

Download our FREE guide — Top 10 Tips to Live Healthier: https://zoe.com/freeguide

Timecodes:

00:00 - Intro

00:09 - Topic introduction

01:34 - Quickfire questions

04:17- Why do blood vessels matter?

05:28 - How do blood vessels link to heart health?

09:15 - Elasticity of blood vessels

13:51 - Can we reverse the stiffening and blockage of blood vessels?

19:58 - Does food damage the blood vessels?

24:40 - Does high blood pressure affect blood vessels?

29:36 - How do aging and diet affect blood vessels?

34:16 - Data on reversing blood vessel damage

39:00 - How is aging linked to blood vessel health?

41:53 - Summary

43:05 - Goodbyes

43:21 - Outro

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

Follow William: https://twitter.com/drwilliamli

Follow ZOE on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/zoe/

Episode transcripts are available here

Gas & Bloating: the causes & how to stop it Sep 22, 2022

Show notes

Most of us are familiar with the unpleasant feeling of being bloated. It can happen after eating specific foods or when you experience slower bowel movements. Sometimes, it can be a symptom of an underlying health condition.

To take a closer look at issues related to gas and bloating, we’ve invited a special guest this week: superstar gastroenterologist and Zoe’s US Medical Director Will Bulsiewicz.

In today’s short episode of ZOE Science & Nutrition, Jonathan and Will ask: what are the main causes of gas bloating and how do we stop it?

Follow ZOE on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/zoe/

Download our FREE guide — Top 10 Tips to Live Healthier: https://zoe.com/freeguide

Studies referenced in the episode:

Burden of Gastrointestinal Symptoms in the United States: Results of a Nationally Representative Survey of Over 71,000 Americans + Am J Gastroenterol + here
Abdominal bloating is the most bothersome symptom in irritable bowel syndrome with constipation (IBS-C): a large population-based Internet survey in Japan + Biopsychosoc Med. + here
Sensation of bloating and visible abdominal distension in patients with irritable bowel syndrome + Am J Gastroenterol + here

This podcast was produced by Fascinate Productions.

How your food choices affect the planet Sep 15, 2022

Show notes

Our planet is overheating. Human society is creating too much carbon dioxide, stopping the sun’s warmth from escaping back into space. As earth gets hotter, its ice caps are melting, causing sea levels to rise, and submerging entire communities. Floods, droughts, and wildfires are already becoming much more common.

Some effects of climate change are now irreversible, but there is still hope, and adjusting what we eat might play a bigger part than you’d imagine.

In this episode, Jonathan speaks with a pioneer in science who will help you understand how your eating habits affect the planet, so you can make informed decisions about the foods you eat and how you prepare them.

Sarah Bridle is a professor of food climate and society at the University of York in the United Kingdom. She is on the vanguard of a new field, and her research carefully measures the exact effects of the foods we eat on climate change.

Download our FREE guide — Top 10 Tips to Live Healthier: https://zoe.com/freeguide

Timecodes:

00:00 - Intro

00:10 - Topic introduction

01:34 - Quickfire questions

03:14 - Why does climate change matter?

05:40 - Why does food matter for reducing climate change?

07:44 - Understanding how different foods affect the climate

11:32 - Do I have to go vegan to help stop climate change?

13:14 - Are all meats equal in terms of their climate impact?

16:20 - How do by-products of animals impact climate?

17:22 - Carbon footprint of milk alternatives

19:51 - Is a baked potato good for the planet?

21:42 - Other things that impact climate change to consider

23:33 - Food miles vs air miles?

26:48 - Are avocados killing the planet?

28:05 - Avocados’ water consumption

28:44 - Packaging

34:34 - Food waste

35:20 - Can a sustainable diet be affordable?

36:39 - 3 things to do to reduce your impact on climate change

38:58 - Summary

40:22 - Goodbyes

40:49 - Outro

Episode transcripts are available here.

Follow Sarah: https://twitter.com/sarahbridle

Get Sarah’s book here.

Follow ZOE on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/zoe/

This podcast was produced by Fascinate Productions.

High cholesterol foods: what really happens when you eat them? Sep 08, 2022

Show notes

Cholesterol in our food has a bad reputation. Many of us think of it as something to try to cut it out of our diet completely. Yet new research could redeem eggs and other cholesterol-rich foods.

In today’s short episode of ZOE Science and Nutrition, Jonathan and Sarah ask: what happens when you eat high cholesterol foods?

Follow ZOE on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/zoe/

Download our FREE guide — Top 10 Tips to Live Healthier: https://zoe.com/freeguide

Studies referenced in the episode:

Hyperlipidemia as a Risk Factor for Cardiovascular Disease + Prim Care. + here
Dietary cholesterol provided by eggs and plasma lipoproteins in healthy populations + Current Opinion in Clinical Nutrition and Metabolic Care + here
The Role of Omega-3 Fatty Acids in Reverse Cholesterol Transport: A Review + Nutrients + here

This podcast was produced by Fascinate Productions.

How to make your body clock work for you Sep 01, 2022

Show notes

In today’s world, we increasingly live our lives late into the night. Whether it's work obligations, socializing, or being glued to a screen, we ignore the sun's rise and fall.

But most of us are unaware that a clock is ticking away inside us.

It uses light to keep time and tells us when to sleep and eat. Should we listen? Or is this biological clock simply a relic from a past time?

In today’s episode, Jonathan speaks to a leading authority to unravel the latest science that reveals that this body clock, or circadian rhythm, has a dramatic impact on our health, weight, and mental wellbeing:

Russell Foster is an Oxford University scientist who has dedicated his life to studying circadian rhythms. He’s a world leader in the field and the author of Lifetime: the new science of the body clock.

Download our FREE guide — Top 10 Tips to Live Healthier: https://zoe.com/freeguide

Timecodes:

00:00 - Intro

00:12 - Topic introduction

01:23 - Quickfire questions

02:30 - What is the biggest myth about our body clock that drives Russell crazy?

03:19 - What are circadian rhythms?

06:41 - Why do they matter to us?

10:32 - How does your body sync its clock?

14:07 - How does the circadian rhythm influence sleep?

15:18 - What happens if we don’t live alongside our circadian rhythms?

21:26 - What should night workers do?

26:45 - Does your circadian rhythm change when going through menopause?

29:42 -Is there a circadian rhythm for our gut?

33:12 - Will it damage our long-term health to continuously be awake by our small children?

35:15 - Summary

36:14 - Goodbyes

36:36 - Outro

Episode transcripts are available here.

Get Russell’s book here.

Follow Russell: https://twitter.com/oxscni

Follow ZOE on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/zoe/

This podcast was produced by Fascinate Productions.

Artificial sweeteners - worse than sugar? Aug 25, 2022

Show notes

Artificial sweeteners are everywhere. Not only in diet soft drinks but in many foods that you wouldn’t expect. You’ve probably eaten some today without realising.

Sweeteners have been around for over a hundred years yet remain the subject of much debate. It's hard to know how they stack up next to the alternatives.

In today’s short episode of ZOE Science & Nutrition, Jonathan and Sarah ask: are artificial sweeteners worse than sugar?

Follow ZOE on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/zoe/

Download our FREE guide — Top 10 Tips to Live Healthier: https://zoe.com/freeguide

Studies referenced in the episode:

Stevia Leaf to Stevia Sweetener: Exploring Its Science, Benefits, and Future Potential from The Journal of Nutrition here
Chronic Intake of Commercial Sweeteners Induces Changes in Feeding Behavior and Signaling Pathways Related to the Control of Appetite in BALB/c Mice from Biomed Res Int here

This podcast was produced by Fascinate Productions.

Can spices improve your health? Aug 18, 2022

Show notes

Kanchan Koya grew up in a house filled with wonderful fragrances from the spices simmering on her grandmother’s stove. In India, it was a common belief that spices were more than just pleasant tastes. Ancient wisdom said they had medicinal properties, and it was common for household medicine cabinets to store dried spices, not pills.

Kanchan grew up to become a molecular biologist, studying in the US at Harvard Medical School. When her lab began to investigate turmeric’s healing properties, the ancient wisdom from her childhood met the scientific inquiry of her adult life - beginning a lifelong obsession with the health benefits of spice.

In today’s episode, Kanchan and regular guest Tim Spector help us understand whether there is any scientific evidence to support the health benefits of spices, the easiest way to add spice to our diet, and which ones to choose.

Kanchan Koya is the founder of SpiceSpiceBaby and The Radical Vitality Podcast with a Ph.D. in Biomedicine from Harvard University and training from the Institute of Integrative Nutrition.
Tim Spector is a co-founder at ZOE and one of the top 100 most cited scientists in the world.

Download our FREE guide — Top 10 Tips to Live Healthier: https://zoe.com/freeguide

Timecodes:

00:00 - Intro

00:10 - Topic introduction

01:19 - Quickfire questions

02:17 - What is a spice

04:23 - How did Kanchan’s passion for spices begin?

06:56 - What do we know about how spices affect our health?

12:16 - The latest science on spices

17:07 - Which spices are best?

24:46 - How to start using spices?

27:56 - Hacks to start using spices for the best health benefits possible

30:55 - Quality of spices

35:45 - Storage of spices

36:53 - Summary

37:53 - Goodbyes

38:47 - Outro

Episode transcripts are available here.

Read ZOE’s PREDICT Studies here.

Know more about the 5 spices you should embrace here.

Follow Kanchan: https://www.instagram.com/chiefspicemama

Follow ZOE on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/zoe/

This podcast was produced by Fascinate Productions.

How healthy are meat and dairy alternatives? Aug 11, 2022

Show notes

Vegan diets are increasingly popular. As more of us reduce our animal product consumption, countless new meat and dairy alternatives appear on our supermarket shelves. Manufacturers market these products as healthy options (unsurprisingly), but perhaps we shouldn’t be so quick to trust them…

In today’s short episode of ZOE Science & Nutrition, Jonathan and Sarah ask: are meat and dairy alternatives healthier than their animal-based counterparts?

Follow ZOE on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/zoe/

Download our FREE guide — Top 10 Tips to Live Healthier: https://zoe.com/freeguide

Studies referenced in today's episode:

How well do plant based alternatives fare nutritionally compared to cow’s milk? here
Risks of ischaemic heart disease and stroke in meat eaters, fish eaters, and vegetarians over 18 years of follow-up here

This podcast was produced by Fascinate Productions

How food can improve your mood Aug 04, 2022

Show notes

We’ve all felt the effects of food on our mood, so it would stand to reason that dietary intervention for mental health would be well studied and a regularly deployed treatment.

But this is far from reality, as historically, psychiatry was only concerned with what happened from the neck up.

In today’s episode, Jonathan is joined by Felice Jacka, Professor of Nutritional Psychiatry and Director of the Food & Mood Centre at Deakin University. Felice was the driving force behind the landmark study to determine if dietary intervention could help treat the symptoms of moderate to severe depression.

With her help, we dive into what the science suggests regarding the relationship between food and our mental health and what foods we can eat to improve it.

Download our FREE guide — Top 10 Tips to Live Healthier: https://zoe.com/freeguide

Timecodes:

00:00 - Intro

00:09 - Jonathan’s introduction

01:28 - Quick-fire questions

02:08 - What do we mean when we talk about 'mood'?

03:40 - Is it true that we're much more focused on mental health?

05:11 - How do we think about the relationship between our bodies and our mind today?

07:01 - Felice’s journey into psychiatry

08:24 - PHD looking into the relationship between diet and mental health

11:44 - The SMILEs Trial

13:22 - How much did diet affect the participants in the study?

15:40 - How long does it take to see results?

16:40 - What role does body weight have in this debate?

17:22 - How important is it that we focus on the quality of our diet over calories?

18:20 - What is the gut-brain axis and the microbiota gut-brain axis?

19:12 - Gut disorders and mental health issues closely related

21:25 - The effects of gut bacteria on the brain

21:58 - What is orthorexia and how is that linked to anxiety?

23:16 - Is there a risk with using diet to treat mental illness?

24:20 - What do healthy diets from across the world have in common?

25:52 - Foods to eat more of or less of to improve mood

27:24 - Diversity in diet

29:12 - Effects of diet on the menopause

32:10 - How does our mental health affect how we eat?

33:20 - What part does the industrialized food system have to play on a social level?

34:14 - How ultra-processed foods impact us

37:06 - Summary

Episode transcripts are available here.

Visit The Food and Mood Centre’s website for more information on Deakin University’s world-leading, multi-disciplinary research: https://foodandmoodcentre.com.au/

Read Felice’s SMILEs Trail here.

Follow ZOE on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/zoe/

This podcast was produced by Fascinate Productions.

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