LIVE Q&A: Your gut health, dementia and weight loss questions answered by Prof Tim Spector, Prof Sarah Berry & Dr Federica Amati

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 (zoe.com/daily30?utm_medium=zoe_podcast&utm…)

🌿Let your gut microbes snack on the ZOE Gut Health Bar (zoe.com/snackbar?utm_medium=zoe_podcast&ut…)

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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 (amzn.to/4amfIMX)

Every Body Should Know This by Dr Federica Amati (amzn.to/4blJsLg)

The Appetite Reset by Dr Federica Amati (amzn.to/4aBakbR)

Food For Life by Prof. Tim Spector (amzn.to/4amZinu)

Ferment by Prof. Tim Spector (amzn.to/4hU1Df5)

Good Mood Food (preorder) by Prof. Tim Spector (amzn.to/4l9oXat)

Free resources from ZOE

The Smart Snacking Guide: How to feed your gut, fuel your day, and snack without guilt (zoe.com/snacking-2026?utm_medium=zoe_podcast&a…)

The Hormone Harmony Guide: Tuning Your Body’s Internal Orchestra (zoe.com/hertility?utm_medium=zoe_podcast&u…)

Eating for Better Brain Health: Your brain-gut blueprint (zoe.com/brainhealth?utm_medium=zoe_podcast&…)

How to eat in 2026 - Discover ZOE’s 8 nutrition principles for long-term health (zoe.com/2026?utm_medium=zoe_podcast&utm_so…)

Live Healthier: Top 10 Tips From ZOE Science & Nutrition (zoe.com/freeguide?utm_medium=podcast&utm_s…)

Gut Guide - For a Healthier Microbiome in Weeks (zoe.com/gutguide?utm_medium=podcast&utm_so…)

Better Breakfast Guide (zoe.com/breakfastguide?utm_medium=podcast&…)

Mentioned in today's episode

Daily Sampling Reveals Personalized Diet-Microbiome Associations in Humans (sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1931312…), Cell Host & Microbe (2019)

ZOE’s PREDICT studies: What we’ve learned (zoe.com/learn/zoe-predict-studies-what-we-ve-l…)

ZOE snacking study: What should you do? (zoe.com/learn/zoe-snacking-study-what-should-y…)

The Big IF Study: What did we find? (zoe.com/learn/the-big-if-study-what-did-we-find)

Diet and Dementia (jamanetwork.com/journals/jamanetworkopen/fulla…), Neurology (2024)

Daily30: Does it work? (zoe.com/learn/daily30-does-it-work)

Have feedback or a topic you'd like us to cover? Let us knowhere (gf6hx47iu5g.typeform.com/topicsuggestion).

Episode transcripts are available here (zoe.com/learn/category/podcasts).