ZOE Science & Nutrition

Latest Episodes:

Can you reverse damage from a bad diet? Jul 27, 2022

Show notes

A recent study claims that eating a hotdog reduces life expectancy by 38 minutes, and eating salmon could extend it by 70 minutes. At face value, this data implies you can eat your way to immortality. Taken with a pinch of salt, it suggests you can offset the harm from poor dietary choices. But does food really work this way?

In today’s short episode of ZOE Science & Nutrition, Jonathan and Sarah ask: can you reverse the effects of a bad diet?

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:

Estimating impact of food choices on life expectancy: A modelling study available here
Small targeted dietary changes can yield substantial gains for human health and the environment available here

This podcast was produced by Fascinate Productions

How to control blood sugar spikes Jul 21, 2022

Show notes

Biochemist Jessie Inchauspe heads into work one morning at a genetics lab in California. During the morning meeting, management offer staff the chance to self-test a new medical device. Jessie accepts.

She couldn’t have known this device would take her on a journey of discovery to reshape her health and help countless others do the same.

The device was a continuous blood sugar monitor, and it was this, combined with her academic background, and a remarkable willingness to use herself as a lab rat, that began a journey of discovery into how blood sugar affects our health.

In today’s episode, Jonathan is joined by two leading experts on the topic:

Jessie Inchauspe is a biochemist, bestselling author, and founder of the Glucose Goddess movement who’s helped hundreds of thousands of people improve their health by making cutting-edge science accessible.
Dr. Sarah Berry is one of the world's leading experts on human nutrition, who has personally run over 20 randomized clinical trials looking at how humans respond to different fats.

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

Timecodes:

00:00 - Intro

00:10 - Topic introduction

01:28 - Quickfire questions

02:39 - What is blood sugar?

03:29 - Why do we have blood sugar?

05:25 - Blood sugar monitoring

07:30 - How does blood sugar affect our health?

09:12 - Do we want a flat blood sugar?

14:03 - Blood sugar responses and menopause

19:20 - Personalization in blood glucose responses

23:17 - Actionable advice to better control your blood sugar

23:55 - Food ordering

28:30 - Vinegar and blood sugar

34:15 - What foods should I eat to control blood glucose spikes?

37:39 - Blood glucose & exercise

40:02 - Summary

41:45 - Listener question

43:03 - Goodbyes

43:17 - Outro

Episode transcripts are available here.

Buy Jessie’s book here.

Read ZOE’s PREDICT Studies here.

Follow Jessie: https://www.instagram.com/glucosegoddess

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

This podcast was produced by Fascinate Productions.

Saturated fat: Monstrous or misunderstood? Jul 14, 2022

Show notes

If you're confused about the health effects of fats, you are not alone. You've probably read the headlines - fats are killing us! Then found claims they’re actually healthy in the same publication the following week.

Saturated fats have been touted as the worst of all.

While there’s ambiguity around other fat sources, saturated fats are universally demonized.

But are they really the super villain we've been led to believe?

Find out in this week’s episode.

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

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

This podcast was produced by Fascinate Productions.

This is what the Keto Diet does to your body... Jul 07, 2022

Show notes

Keto has been promoted as a magic bullet for weight loss by its supporters and slammed as dangerous by its opponents. It's no surprise - completely removing almost all carbohydrates is not what most people consider ‘a balanced diet’.

With carbs off the table, Keto diets involve a dramatically increased fat intake. At the same time, drastically reducing carbs means starving our gut microbes of the fiber that feeds them.

Nonetheless, doctors prescribe keto diets to treat people with severe diabetes and see dramatic improvements, and many healthy people swear by keto for weight loss. On top of this, removing carbohydrates prevents blood sugar spikes and crashes linked to inflammation and disease.

In today’s episode, Jonathan speaks to a leading nutritional researcher to understand whether or not keto diets are a crazy fad:

Christopher Gardner is a professor at Stanford University and a member of ZOE’s scientific advisory board who’s produced a clinical trial of keto diets, published in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition.

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

Timecodes:

00:00 - Intro

00:10 - Topic introduction

01:38 - Quick-fire questions

05:20 - What is a ketogenic diet? How does it work?

08:34 - Why have people become interested in keto?

10:16 - To promote ketosis, how low-carb should a diet be?

11:46 - Why are randomized trials so important?

14:37 - Christopher’s study

18:46 - What is a Mediterranean diet?

21:31 - Study results

25:33 - How sustainable is a keto diet?

31:22 - How strictly should you follow the keto diet?

32:47 - Diabetes and keto

35:36 - Keto’s impact on the microbiome

37:57 - Is there a long-term impact on the ability to process carbs?

39:51 - Summary

41:40 - Listener’s question

42:12 - Goodbyes

42:32 - Outro

Episode transcripts are available here.

Read Chris’ Study here.

Follow Chris: https://twitter.com/GardnerPhD

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

This podcast was produced by Fascinate Productions.

Processed foods - convenient or catastrophic? Jun 30, 2022

Show notes

The word ‘processed’ has become synonymous with being unhealthy. The mainstream media encourages us to detox from processed food or offers us ‘10 easy ways’ to stop eating it.

But nearly everything we consume has undergone some type of processing.

In today’s short episode of ZOE Science & Nutrition, Jonathan and Sarah ask: If most of what we eat is processed, can it really be that unhealthy for us?

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

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

This podcast was produced by Fascinate Productions.

Our ancestors’ diet: surprising discoveries from a 5000 year old iceman Jun 23, 2022

Show notes

A mummified man found in the mountains of Italy on a nutrition science podcast? Have we gone completely off track?

We haven’t - we promise.

This unfortunate soul could be the key that unlocks an entirely new understanding of human health.

This mummy, discovered in an alpine snow drift by two hikers, gives us a remarkable glimpse into the surprising dietary choices of our ancestors.

In today’s episode, Jonathan discovers some secrets held by our ancestors by speaking to two outstanding guests:

Frank Maixner works at the Institute for Mummy Studies in Italy and travels the world uncovering the secrets of our ancestors.
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

01:45 - What happened thirty years ago high in the mounts on the border between Italy and Austria

03:02 - Who was the Iceman?

03:39 - What happened to him and what did we discover about him?

05:10 - How old was he and what do we know about his lifestyle?

06:01 - What was he eating?

09:02 - What’s surprising about his health?

11:56 - The Iceman & mushrooms

13:08 - Iceman’s microbiome

14:13 - The most surprising information about the Iceman’s microbiome

15:27 - What’s microbiome diversity?

17:30 - Iceman’s origins

17:56 - The start of a new academic discipline

19:41 - Finding out about salt miners

21:02 - What did these salt miners eat?

23:05 - How plant-based was their diet?

23:39 - Did they eat dairy?

25:05 - Their diet diversity

26:40 - What do their microbiomes tell us?

32:31 - What does this mean for us? What is the actionable advice?

36:24 - Summary

38:16 - Goodbyes

38:40 - Outro

Episode transcripts are available here.

Follow Frank: https://twitter.com/frankmaixner

Follow Tim: www.instagram.com/tim.spector/

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

This podcast was produced by Fascinate Productions.

Introducing: ZOE Shorts Jun 16, 2022

Show notes

We’re excited for you to hear our NEW bitesize podcast: ZOE Shorts.

Some of you requested some short-form episodes, so we delivered!

In between the longer episodes, Jonathan teams up with world-leading nutrition researcher and podcast regular Dr Sarah Berry to tackle one hot topic from nutrition science in just 15 minutes.

From saturated fats to vitamins, time-restricted eating and much more, find out the history, the different sides of the argument and, of course, hear what the latest science says from ZOE Science and Nutrition.

Think of this podcast as a convenient, healthy snack: easy to consume but keeping you full throughout the day with bitesize nutrition advice and entertainment!

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 personalised nutrition program.

This podcast was produced by Fascinate Productions.

Superfoods Jun 16, 2022

Show notes

From blueberries to salmon, kale to acai, it seems like anything and everything can be classed as a superfood these days.

Supposedly they can prevent cancer, reduce inflammation, and even help you live longer…

In today’s short episode of ZOE Science and Nutrition, Jonathan and Sarah look at the history of superfoods and ask: are some foods really more ‘super’ than others? Or is this just another marketing ploy?

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

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

10% off your personalised nutrition program.

This podcast was produced by Fascinate Productions.

Inflammation, aging and disease. What's food got to do with it? Jun 09, 2022

Show notes

It’s a biological process that we need to stay alive. Yet too much of it leads to disease and a shorter life.

Inflammation is the immune system’s response to an outside event it thinks is dangerous. This stimulus could be an injury, like falling off your bike or an infection by a virus or bacteria. But inflammation can also be triggered by our food in the hours after we eat.

But if this natural process is required to protect us from infections and injuries, why is inflammation usually cast in a negative light? Is there something behind this, or is the idea that inflammation is bad a lie, designed to sell magic potions with dubious evidence?

In today’s episode, Jonathan speaks to two show regulars to unravel all the information about inflammation:

Dr. Sarah Berry is one of the world's leading experts on human nutrition, who has personally run over 20 randomized clinical trials looking at how humans respond to different fats.
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

00:09 - Topic Introduction

02:30 - Quickfire questions

04:27 - What is inflammation, why does it happen, and why it’s not always bad

10:38 - How is diet related to inflammation?

14:15 - Microbiome and inflammation

19:31 - What does prolonged inflammation do to your health?

23:06 - Can inflammation affect our weight?

25:24 - How does inflammation affect aging and menopause?

29:21 - How do we reduce our dietary inflammation?

33:26 - Should we exclude foods to reduce inflammation?

37:06 - Summary

38:49 - Goodbyes

38:52 - Outro

Episode transcripts are available here.

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

Follow Tim: https://twitter.com/timspector

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

This podcast was produced by Fascinate Productions

Can bread be healthy? May 26, 2022

Show notes

It’s no exaggeration to say that bread shaped modern humanity - it was the cultivation of wheat for flour that transformed our ancestors from hunter-gatherers to city dwellers.

Today, millions of us start the day with a slice of toast, and most lunches in the US and UK are wrapped in a slice of bread or a burger bun as a cheap, flexible, and delicious energy source.

But modern industrial processes designed to reduce the time and cost of baking mean today’s bread would be unrecognizable to our ancestors.

Today’s bread tastes good but has lost most of its nutritional content. With most of its fiber gone, and no time for bacteria to work its fermenting magic, bread has become a simple starch, rapidly turned into sugar in our blood and offering little to support our gut bacteria. For this reason, bread is increasingly demonized as an evil carb.

In today’s episode, Jonathan speaks to two authorities on the subject to ask: Can bread can ever be healthy?

Vanessa Kimbel is a specialist in personalised bread and her doctorate in nutrition & digestabilty of bread is in Baking as Lifestyle Medicine & preventative healthcare.
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

00:09 - Topic introduction

02:14 - Quickfire questions

04:08 - Why bread matters

05:23 - Is bread empty calories?

08:46 - What is bread?

11:30 - What is bran?

12:16 - The difference between the types of grains

14:19 - What is the impact of bread on our microbes?

17:03 - What should you look for in bread?