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ZOE Science & Nutrition
The truth about the 5 biggest wellness trends this spring | Liz Earle MBE & Dr. Federica Amati
00:53:05
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- [00:01]
Jonathan Wolf
Welcome to Zoe Science and Nutrition where world leading scientists explain how their research can improve your health. I love it when spring comes around, and not just because it means winter is behind us. The longer days, warmer weather, new leaves on the trees create that wonderful feeling of a fresh start. The perfect time to embrace a new healthy habit. But it's not just flowers blossoming in spring. This time of year also welcomes a bloom of wellness trends. You've probably seen them sprouting online. A brand new this or a groundbreaking that, all promising to revolutionize your health in a few simple steps. So how do you separate the facts from the fiction? The helpful health hacks from the hype? Today I'm joined by two experts who will help us to do just that. Journalist and best selling author Liz Earle has been tracking health and wellness trends for more than 40 years. She's been consistently ahead of the curve on health advice and as a result has millions of people listening to her podcast and reading her books. Liz also isn't afraid to try out some of the latest therapies on herself, even if they're a bit of an ordeal, as we'll hear during the episode. We're also joined by Dr. Federica Amarti. Federica is a scientist at Imperial College London, the author of the best selling book Everybody Should Know this and head nutritionist here at Zoe. By the end of today's episode, you'll know which wellness trends are worth a shot and the ones to avoid at all costs. Liz, we have a tradition here at Zoe where we always start with a quick fire round of questions from our listeners. Just give us a yes or a no or a one sentence answer if you can. If a trend is popular, is that a good sign it will be effective?
- [01:58]
Liz Earle
No.
- [01:59]
Jonathan Wolf
Can wellness trends sometimes cause more harm than good?
- [02:03]
Liz Earle
Yes.
- [02:05]
Jonathan Wolf
Federica, are natural remedies safe because they're natural?
- [02:10]
Dr. Federica Amarti
No.
- [02:11]
Jonathan Wolf
If I put cow fat on my face, will it make my skin glow?
- [02:16]
Dr. Federica Amarti
Yes, but there's other ways.
- [02:19]
Jonathan Wolf
And finally Liz, what's the most important thing to consider before adopting a new wellness trend?
- [02:25]
Liz Earle
It has to be consistency. I think things only work if they're repeated little and often. So if you can't commit, don't do it.
- [02:32]
Jonathan Wolf
I feel deeply conflicted about wellness trends because on the one hand I think it's great to see people actively saying I want to do something to improve my health and be active about it and sort of building communities to support them we know is really important to have that success. On the other hand, these trends often seem to be driven by very commercial marketing rather than actual scientific effectiveness. There's always something that has all this traction on social media around this time of year. Why is it these health trends spike in spring and what is it that's driving people to try them?
- [03:07]
Liz Earle
I think we all want to live better, don't we? I mean, we know that we're living longer. And how do we live well for longer? Cause there's no point in having years on our life unless we have that life in our years. So I think we are spurred on by that. And knowledge is power, isn't it? And it is empowering to think that there are things that we can do to change our lives. I think we don't want to be feeble and not have empowerment, not have our own autonomy to go and do stuff to make a difference. And I think there's always a risk, isn't there, with commercialization, that it's going to get taken up by the big greedy guys who see a money making opportunity. But there's so much out there that's free. And I think, you know, the sun shines, we go outdoors more, we're just more uplifted. And I kind of just think we have the vibe that we want to get out there and make a difference for ourselves.
- [03:57]
Jonathan Wolf
And why is it that a wellness trend, like something new is so tempting, even if it doesn't have like all this scientific proof and all the rest of it, versus maybe something that we all heard about five years ago?
- [04:09]
Liz Earle
I guess there's novelty, isn't there? It's a conversation point. And we just think, ooh, I've not tried that, I'll give it a go. And it is a talking point, isn't it? You know, whether you're in the cafe or down the pub, you just think, oh, have you heard about this? But some things do pop up from time to time, I think, that do have real value and they might not necessarily always be new. I think there's a lot of ancestral living that we're kind of reconnecting with. So it doesn't always have to be new. It just suddenly becomes front of mind for whatever reason. It's a fresh impetus. You know, we don't necessarily want the same old, same old. And if somebody comes up, maybe with a tempting new promise, you might think, ooh, do you know what, I'm gonna give that a go and see what happens.
- [04:47]
Jonathan Wolf
And what role does social media, you know, TikTok Instagram play in this?
- [04:52]
Liz Earle
I personally don't do TikTok, but you know, my team do and my kids do and yeah, things will just suddenly blow up. And I think that is new, isn't it? I mean, I'm now in my 60s. I didn't grow up with that. I didn't have any social media at all. So this is a whole new landscape. Working in wellness, having written about it for 40 years, suddenly finding that things are coming up to, you know, to bite you on the bum that you hadn't really thought about. And that's the speed of it. And I think that's a difficulty, isn't it? Because I always say I want to be considered with my answers and my approach to something. I'm famous actually within my team for saying if it has to be now, then it has to be no. Cause I need time to think about it and process it and dig into the evidence. But now it's all fast, fast, fast, react, react, react. And I think that's the danger that we get caught up without having time for that consideration.
- [05:41]
Jonathan Wolf
And you said something in the quickfire questions about sort of popularity not being a good indicator of effectiveness. Can I get you to explain that?
- [05:51]
Liz Earle
Yeah, not necessarily. I mean, you know, as, you know, fad diets come and go and can be extremely dangerous and not particularly effective. And I remember there was a fad one time for putting your feet in a little supposed to be toxin drawing foot bath and you put your feet in and then the sort of water went all brown and slimy and everyone said, look there, there are all the toxins in the water. And it was just a metal reaction with the copper wires in the bath. So, you know, that kind of died to death. And then you had pedicures that you went to with the little fish that nibbled away all the dead skin. And I think that died a death because I don't know whether.
- [06:29]
Jonathan Wolf
Yeah.
- [06:29]
Liz Earle
So, you know, so that is not. That's an example, I think, of things that can come and go very quickly.
- [06:33]
Jonathan Wolf
Thankfully, I'd actually love. We just started to talk about a few, but I'd love to hear about some of the spring health trends that have come and gone that you've seen maybe with some shock and horror and are pleased to see the back of.
- [06:45]
Dr. Federica Amarti
Yeah, I mean, I think my most famous one, which came from Vogue magazine, was the cigarette and coffee diet. Do you remember?
- [06:51]
Liz Earle
Oh, my gosh.
- [06:52]
Dr. Federica Amarti
It was considered this like, diet that you could take. And it was a glass of white wine for breakfast with a cigarette and a coffee. And then I think it was a steak and another glass of white wine and cigarette and coffee. And that was the diet. And it was seriously put forward as a way to maintain a healthy weight French lifestyle living. Obviously not. And it persisted. It was quite a 90s staple.
- [07:14]
Jonathan Wolf
Were you living on that diet at the time, Federica?
- [07:16]
Dr. Federica Amarti
I certainly wasn't in the 90s. I was a bit young for it. But, you know, back to what Liz was saying pre social media, the things we were exposed to in traditional media were quite shocking, actually, when you look back now, one of my favorite ones that I encountered a lot when I was living in New York in the early 2010s was the blood type diet as well.
- [07:33]
Liz Earle
Yes.
- [07:34]
Dr. Federica Amarti
You know, at the time I'd already done my undergraduate degree and my master's and I just had to explain to people that it doesn't work like that, like your blood type cannot tell you which foods you should be eating. But the book was super popular and I knew a lot of people that were following this blood type diet. And there's no science back. I'm glad that I think that's dead.
- [07:53]
Liz Earle
You don't hear about it now, do you? No.
- [07:55]
Dr. Federica Amarti
Yeah. So those two are certainly on my hit list of things that I'm glad are gone.
- [08:02]
Jonathan Wolf
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- [10:22]
Liz Earle
I think it's a shortcut, isn't it? It's tempting to think I can do this the easy way. All I need to do is tell you my blood type and you're gonna give me a list of everything that's gonna make me feel fabulous and be thin forever, you know, and it's got.
- [10:37]
Dr. Federica Amarti
A bit of a pseudoscience to it. It sounds like there's some science maybe behind it because it includes a real biomarker. So it's like, ooh, blood type. Oh, well, it must have some scientific background. And I think that's often the trap. Some of these trends have different pulls and draws to them. Some of them feel like they could be scientific, and others feel like if you do them, you might be a bit cooler. So I remember the fish. I mean, I always thought it was dis. The fish, pedicure, spas. It was just quite a cool thing to do. And if you didn't do it, you didn't get it. So it separates in those two camps quite often, doesn't it?
- [11:08]
Jonathan Wolf
So what about the ones that have stood the test of time?
- [11:11]
Dr. Federica Amarti
It is things like healthy fats. So that you were definitely one of the earliest proponents of healthy fats.
- [11:17]
Liz Earle
I was taken to task at the time because, you know, one of my first books, Vital Oils, was all about vital oils. They are, you know, oils and fats. I was coming at it at the time more from a skin angle because I had tendency towards eczema. Very dry Skin, of course, if you take all the healthy fats out of your diet, you know, your skin falls apart, let alone all your vital organs and what's going on inside. So when I was writing about that at the time, it was really counterculture.
- [11:42]
Dr. Federica Amarti
It has stuck now, hasn't it?
- [11:43]
Liz Earle
It has stuck. I think the pendulum's coming back, isn't it? In favor of healthy fats and more away from the unhealthy sugars.
- [11:48]
Dr. Federica Amarti
Yeah. So that's one that should stay. And we're glad to see people understand also the difference between healthy fats and unhealthier fats. So really educating ourselves on that is important. Other trends that have stuck around, I think that fasting, and specifically time restricted eating or time restricted feeding is one that people are learning to use in their daily lives. I think there is still a risk of certain groups taking it too far and fasting for too long, especially premenopausal women. But overall this understanding that we shouldn't be eating all day and late into the night has stuck, I think, as a really good habit to include into your day.
- [12:25]
Liz Earle
I think the time restricted eating is really interesting. You know, back in the day we just used to call it kind of, I don't know, detoxing or just, you know, having this, this kind of fasting period. But now it's, it's really accepted and known and I think it's good that we get away from this continual snacking culture. You know, for me, understanding that my body needs a break, the digestion needs that time to gather its good bacteria and rest and digest and all of.
- [12:53]
Dr. Federica Amarti
That, it's exactly what we saw in our snacking study, Jonathan. We found that people who snacked after 9pm were more likely to have worse metabolic responses the next day. So not eating late into the night and not snacking on unhealthy foods is really important.
- [13:08]
Liz Earle
And I found personally because I track all sorts of things and you know, tracking my sleep, if I don't have that late night snack, my deep sleep is longer, the quality of my sleep is better. So that for me is an absolute win.
- [13:21]
Jonathan Wolf
I think we've understood a little bit like why these trends are so appealing and that for everyone that stands the test of time, maybe five don't. I'd love to look at this spring's hottest trends. And I know the two of you have conferred and come up with five. And for each one I want to know firstly, what is it? What does the science say about it? What's the experience of actually doing it? And Is it worth a try or something that we should avoid altogether? Federico, I'm gonna start with you. Trend number one, detox drinks. What is that?
- [13:55]
Dr. Federica Amarti
Detox drinks appear in lots of different ways. Whether it's detox teas, sometimes it's detox juices, cleanses. These are drinks that are supposed to help speed up detoxing. I mean, I often see these sold as a way to lose weight, to be honest. And there is literally no science behind these are some of the worst contenders. Sometimes they can be quite dangerous for health. Some of the supplements that are sold as detox supplements can make you go to the loo more. So they make you go wee more, basically. And that can actually be quite dangerous. It can lower your blood pressure, it can make you dehydrated. So it's really important to not buy these products. First of all, we have an excellent detox system that works very well for us. Our liver, our kidneys, and our large intestine help us to get rid of anything we don't need. Any byproducts from the cellular mechanisms that are in our body are expelled through those ways. So, you know, if you're looking to help your natural detoxification systems, there's lots of things you can do. Eat and drink water in a way that supports your liver, in a way that supports your kidneys, in a way that you go to the luregulate and allows your colon to work. Well, one of the worst scams, I would imagine, is these detox products, if I'm honest.
- [15:06]
Liz Earle
Yeah, I think I completely agree. And I think, you know, there's no drink that I've ever seen any evidence for that is going to remove any toxin from your body. And as you say, you know, the liver, the kidneys, the gut, those are the detox systems. And I think, of course, yeah, drinking lots of water and the skin, definitely. And in fact, when it comes to the skin, one of my favorite ways rather than buying a detox drink is to just to do some dry skin body brushing.
- [15:30]
Jonathan Wolf
You said that with such confidence. Dry skin body brushing.
- [15:33]
Liz Earle
Do you not have a dry skin body brush?
- [15:35]
Jonathan Wolf
I literally have no idea what you're talking about.
- [15:37]
Liz Earle
Oh, my gosh. Okay, so help me out here. Literally, it's like a bris. It's like an oversized nail brush with natural bristles, and you brush your body with it when your body is dry. So you start normally at the feet, the soles of the feet. And if you're into Chinese medicine or traditional medicine, you might say that that's stimulating the reflex zones on the soles of your feet. And we don't need an eye roll for that because that does actually make you feel really good and tingly. And then you just work up the body just using sweeping movements. You're following the lymphatic system. So you might want to just do a little bit of extra dry skin brushing around the lymph nodes, the groin backs, the knees, armpits, for example, and you' just gently helping to stimulate the lymphatics. And you do feel better for it. I don't know whether the science is there. I don't know how many RCTs have been done on dry skin body brushing, but it certainly makes your skin glow. It looks brighter. So as we step into summer, there's perhaps another reason to consider doing it.
- [16:33]
Dr. Federica Amarti
It's very traditional, it's been around forever and it does just help to remove dead skin. And this upward movement is exactly what you would do with a lymphatic drainage massage, which does help, especially if you're somebody who does tend to have a bit of a slow lymph, which can happen. It's just one of the things that we can do. And there's absolutely no downside to it, I think. Also it gives you a few minutes to yourself. I know that sounds a bit. But if you tell kids or you have caring responsibilities, just taking a couple of minutes to have a dry body brush before your shower can feel really good.
- [17:03]
Jonathan Wolf
And is this an everyday activity or are you part of the detox? Like, I'm just trying to understand.
- [17:09]
Liz Earle
It depends on how good it makes you feel.
- [17:12]
Dr. Federica Amarti
I will.
- [17:13]
Liz Earle
Word of warning. So when you go and buy your body brush, Jonathan, and start doing this, because clearly you're highly invested in this already. I can tell.
- [17:19]
Jonathan Wolf
I'm very sad. It sounds a lot better than a cold plunge. I'm more up for trying this one.
- [17:23]
Liz Earle
I'm also into that too. But that would follow, you know, and it will feel quite hard and quite. Almost abrasive. Don't be too harsh. Harsh with it. Exactly. Especially if your skin is broken or irritated in any way, but you get used to it and you almost become healthily addicted. I find.
- [17:41]
Jonathan Wolf
Amazing. So no detox drinks? No, but lots of water and dry skin body brushing. I'm going to be looking that up straight afterwards. Liz, trend number two, red light therapy.
- [17:53]
Liz Earle
Ooh. So this is something that I am actually a fan of and I think, you know, when you think about red light, you know, what is it? It's basically just the ancient practice of Sunlight getting up at sunrise when we are surrounded by an abundance of natural red light and near infrared light, which is what we used to do in ancestral times, we would get up with the sun and we would go to bed with the sun. So that lovely light, that red light glow that you get early in the morning or at sunset has been shown to be incredibly beneficial. And again, there are studies that show that it will help with inflammation, reducing inflammation, speeding up the production of collagen, for example, within the skin. So I do think that there is merit and I think we're going to be seeing more of red light therapy, sometimes known as photobiomodulation. And there are clinical studies going on for all sorts of degenerative diseases and showing some quite impressive of results. Actually.
- [18:48]
Jonathan Wolf
Could you describe a bit? I mean, do you just put a red light bulb in your house?
- [18:52]
Liz Earle
No. I mean you do need to have a certain wavelength. So it's normally 630-850nm range. So you can get various different devices. If you are going to get a home use device, my advice would be to go to something that's FDA approved or medically certified. You can get medically certified devices and you can have everything from a face mask that you, that you wear to a red light panel that you sit in front of during the day. For example, you can have whole saunas filled with red lights. There are lots of different ways of doing it. And I think particularly because we've become so indoors and disconnected from that natural frequency, that wavelength that I think as human beings we are actually meant to connect with. And I think that there is some very interesting research. When you look at circadian biology and the kind of rise of natural living and the circadian rhythm, red light very much taps into that.
- [19:45]
Dr. Federica Amarti
Yeah. So some of the exciting science is actually from Russell Foster's group where he looked at exposure to red light specifically. Exactly at dawn. It can help to program your body clock, essentially. So there's some protocols, if you're traveling to la, for example, Jonathan, where exposing yourself to a little bit of red light in the mornings can just help shift your body clock to the new time zone. Now, in terms of skin benefits and inflammation benefits, the evidence is growing. It's still preliminary, but there are some exciting trials looking at, for example, patients in hospitals and how exposing them to red light can help speed up recovery. In terms of skin, some people report seeing benefits and I think it's part of the toolbox that we can have. What I would say is these red light masks can be very expensive. So there's plenty of things you can do before investing in one that will really help your skin. From good hydration to eating plenty of colorful fruits and vegetables, to making sure that you're using topical skincare that can be helpful, like retinol and moisturizing regularly and all these other things. And then if you are doing that and you have, you know, the extra money and you'd want to invest in a mask, it could be something that can be helpful. It's growing in popularity and there's evidence growing for its use in different applications. But I think it's one of the ones that we still don't have all of the evidence to say, oh, yes, this is 100% one of the best tools. But I'm excited about its role in circadian biology and I am excited to see how it can help with inflammation recovery. You know, some studies looking at arthritic joints have shown benefits.
- [21:16]
Liz Earle
Yeah, definitely. I think there are studies looking at improved speed of wound healing, for example, collagen production.
- [21:23]
Dr. Federica Amarti
And acne as well, wasn't it?
- [21:25]
Liz Earle
Yeah, acne as well. I think, you know, improving the ATP energy cycle, so giving us a bit more energy. I think it is beneficial. I think you're right. I don't think it's an essential. I think it's a nice to have and I think for me it's something that I've been doing regularly. Now, I actually got first interested in red light therapy with my daughter who had a long standing autoimmune condition. And I was literally, I went forensically down the drains with so many things and it was one of the protocols that she was using that really seemed to help her. And what was interesting is that because she was doing a lot of red light therapy, even though she was a lot younger than me, her skin dramatically improved. And I thought, I'm going to try this.
- [22:03]
Dr. Federica Amarti
Let me just.
- [22:03]
Liz Earle
Hello. You know, if I can, you know, just sit in front of a red light panel or a sauna or mask or something and actually get on with something else. Love a bit of multitasking and the light is going to do something for me. And I have to say that, you know, I am an adopter of red light. I think it's useful, not essential, but I think it can be beneficial, particularly as we age. I mean, I'm a lot older than you, Fettie.
- [22:25]
Dr. Federica Amarti
You do look fantastic. I mean, you're my friend.
- [22:27]
Liz Earle
I do a lot, you know, I mean, I guess I have to because that's my job. But you know, but red light therapy for me is one of the tools. Yeah.
- [22:33]
Dr. Federica Amarti
And this trend, Jonathan, unlikely to be.
- [22:37]
Jonathan Wolf
Harmful because it is FDA regulated, the right devices. So you're not going to get like harmful radiation.
- [22:43]
Liz Earle
Talk to your wife. Your wife will know in dermatology terms about using light therapy for things like psoriasis. And so, you know, we've known about light therapy for a long time. This is not a new thing. But I think you can get great free red light therapy by getting up in the morning, by getting up early and just bathing in that natural red light.
- [23:02]
Jonathan Wolf
Trend number three. We mentioned this in the Q and A, Rich. My producer described it as putting cow fat on your face, but I believe it has better marketing and is called beef tallow. What is beef tallow and why are people sticking it on their face?
- [23:18]
Dr. Federica Amarti
That's a very good question. Beef tallow is having a moment because it's been considered as a very healthy fat to cook with, to put on your face, to put in your hair, to just bathe in. I mean, it reminds me of when coconut oil had this glow up. Do you remember? It's the new coconut oil. It's being touted as miraculous for all sorts of things. And it is literally just the fat.
- [23:41]
Liz Earle
From beef traditionally, I think it's the fat that was around kidneys. You render it and you cook it down and strain it so much that it becomes flavorless, tasteless. It's just a very bland white. You can do it. You can make it at home if you want to.
- [23:55]
Dr. Federica Amarti
So of course it's full of fatty acids like other fats that you can get in lots of other situations. And it will, if you put it on your skin, the fatty acids will protect your skin and make it glow. But I think that is not my number one option.
- [24:11]
Jonathan Wolf
It's like putting Vaseline on my face, basically. Is that what you're saying?
- [24:14]
Dr. Federica Amarti
Vaseline is petroleum jelly. So it's actually a bit different to that. It is similar to putting coconut oil on your face or extra virgin olive oil on your face. Or actually that would be better, obviously. But it's essentially putting pure fat on your face. And our skin does like to have some fats to protect it and to help keep the moisture in. What fats really do to keep our skin hydrated is they just prevent the moisture from leaving your skin. So we lose moisture throughout the day, just through essentially evaporation. And fat locks it in so it can seem moisturizing. But there's way better ways to do it and less cruel ways. To do it. We don't need to be putting beef fat as well as eating beef all the time. It's just having a real moment and it does remind me of coconut oil where people were just putting coconut oil everywhere and oil pulling and brushing their teeth with it. I think it'll swing back in a way hopefully.
- [25:05]
Liz Earle
Yeah. I wonder, I mean I've been trialing beef tallow because obviously I'm aware of it as a trend and I think it does have some pluses. It has a lot of good fat soluble vitamins, you know, so because of where it comes from. So A D, E, K for example, conjugated linolenic acid. It's very good as your point as a moisturizer. The trans epidermal water loss, very good barrier. Having said that, if you are at all spot prone, pimple prone, it's comedogenic so it's going to block your pores. I would not use it on oily skin. I tell you where I have used it to quite success and that's on my feet. So it makes a very nice overnight foot balm. So you put that on your feet, you can buy. It's non fragranced. It's not like I don't actually like coconut oil for example. I find it too well coconutty but this is very neutral. And then you just slip on a pair of cotton socks to seal in your body heat and you wake up with super soft feet. But I don't think I put it on my face because I think if you're looking for a moisturizer I would rather have ingredients, you know, niacinamide, azelaic acid, you know, peptides. I think there's far more interesting ingredients, particularly as we age that are going to help support the structure of the skin.
- [26:17]
Jonathan Wolf
So it sounds like you're saying this is 90% hype and 10%. Well it is a fat and there are some benefits to putting something like that.
- [26:25]
Liz Earle
There are some benefits.
- [26:26]
Jonathan Wolf
Am I understanding that right?
- [26:27]
Liz Earle
Yeah. And it's using up a waste product perhaps that might otherwise not be used. And it's cheap, it's inexpensive so you know, if it floats your boat, great. But I'm not going to rush out and buy it.
- [26:38]
Jonathan Wolf
Yeah, it's not the moisturizer that is.
- [26:41]
Liz Earle
I need more for my aging skin, Jonathan. At my age I think I need a bit more than beef tallow.
- [26:47]
Dr. Federica Amarti
Shea butter's great for your feet as well. Go for shoes.
- [26:49]
Liz Earle
Love shea butter.
- [26:50]
Dr. Federica Amarti
Yeah. I also, it might just be me but putting direct animal product on my Face. I just. No, no, thanks, I'm good.
- [26:58]
Jonathan Wolf
I feel like it's got a better brand than like cow fat, which is a funny thing to decide to smear all over your face. But that is part of the trend, isn't it? It's like, is there something unusual that we haven't thought about doing before?
- [27:09]
Liz Earle
It's the imagination. Youngsters are thinking, ooh, this is, you know, cool and novel and new. And of course it's not new. It's probably one of the most ancient forms of moisturization.
- [27:18]
Dr. Federica Amarti
It's one of these ones that I think harks back to ancient wisdom that we've maybe lost. That's how it's been marketed. So it's like, you know, tap back into this. They don't want you to know that beef tallow is so great and it's like, well, no, it's just a fat. And there's lots of other things that work.
- [27:34]
Jonathan Wolf
I think you're right in some senses it sounds. Well, it's a sort of natural product. It's the sort of thing we wanted done for ages. But what I'm hearing is more for the feet than for the face. The show you're listening to right now that's providing you the latest evidence based health and nutrition information from the world's top scientists. While making it takes a lot of time, we think it's well worth it, all in the name of improving your health. All we ask in return is send a link to this podcast to someone you think would benefit and if you haven't already, click. Follow this podcast wherever you're listening right now. Okay, let's get back to the show. Liz. I'd like to move to trend number four, which is creatine.
- [28:18]
Liz Earle
Ooh, what is that? I love a bit of creatine. So it's a very simple single substance, creatine monohydrate, that has come out of the world of gyms and testosterone ridden bodybuilders for improving muscle strength and muscle mass into mainstream wellness. And I started lifting weights in my 50s for the first time ever and feeling much stronger and fitter and happier, you know, my 60s than ever before. I wish I'd picked up weights earlier. So I then began to look at what I needed to help support muscle loss as I age. And creatine was really well up there. And it seems to be one of, if not the most highly researched supplement. And not only just for building and maintaining muscle mass, but also interestingly, for cognitive function, function now and brain health.
- [29:12]
Dr. Federica Amarti
Creatine is super well researched. It's a combination of two amino acids. So it's as a compound, it's not found in nature by itself. But you can of course get the same amino acids from eating a variety of foods. But creatine specifically is really, really evidence based and it's cheap. Just need to get creatine monohydrate. You can buy it for relatively little money and it's considered safe. The most common side effect to it is bloating. So for some people it can lead to gastric bloating. If that's you don't take it. It's also simple to take. You take between sort of three and five grams. The jury's still out on whether you have to take it every day. It's one of those things where for sure, the ideal situation is that you're training regularly and you take it on training days. So then it does become one of these things that you're taking habitually. There is some evidence to show that you have to have a sort of a loading phase which essentially means that you're taking it every day for like a week, which saturates your creatine and then you can go back to just taking it when you train. And the evidence shows that a, it can make your workouts more efficient so you have a little bit more power so you maybe do a couple of more of those heavy reps. It helps speed up recovery after weight training and as Liz said, it does actually lead to greater muscle mass growth. So you actually put on more lean muscle mass if you take creatine. Now in terms of other benefits. So yeah, the cellular energy improvement seems to be, there's emerging evidence, the brain health evidence is still quite small. So there was one really encouraging trial where creatine supplementation alongside antidepressants had better outcomes. But we think it's to do with the interaction of the creatine with, with the antidepressants. So the creatine alone wasn't the answer, but very exciting. So there's more research happening in that space and you know, we love talking about gut health at Zoe, of course, Jonathan and our gut cells are really busy every day. They need a lot of energy to create more mucin and to make sure that the gut barrier is really strong. And it seems that creatine could help. So that's, I'm really watching the space on the research in that field because it could become something that can actually help with gut health as well. As long as you're not one of the people who gets the blo. So, yeah, I started taking creatine. So I've started lifting heavy weights with the trainer and creatine is one of the only things, you know how I feel about supplements.
- [31:38]
Jonathan Wolf
I was going to say, Federica, you tend to be very anti supplements, so I would say that's about the most positive I think I've ever heard.
- [31:46]
Dr. Federica Amarti
Creatine is the one that for me has the evidence. I've seen personal benefits. I get DEXA scans quite regularly and the combination, of course you can't just take creatine and sit on the sofa. Right. But the combination of of creatine and progressive load weight training has resulted in increased lean body mass. So it's exciting.
- [32:04]
Jonathan Wolf
So just to be clear, you're saying the evidence is quite good for it working, but it only works if I'm also doing like weight training. I can't just pop the pills and get muscle and get all the benefits.
- [32:15]
Dr. Federica Amarti
However, if you're over the age of 65 and you're worried about sarcopenia, so muscle mass loss and there's some indication of benefit for bone mineral density, so for keeping strong bones as well, taking creatine could actually be helpful anyway. You really do need to remove, but it could have a protective effect. Also. What I love about it is it doesn't replace any food, Jonathan. It is an add on. Oftentimes the problem with supplementation is that people take the supplement instead of having a balanced diet. Creatine is one of these supplements that sits outside of that space because it's specifically for a purpose and doesn't replace food.
- [32:51]
Jonathan Wolf
And a lot of people listening were saying, so do I need to combine that with some sort of protein powder if I'm doing the weights?
- [32:57]
Dr. Federica Amarti
No, absolutely no. So as long as you're eating, this is really important, actually. So protein requirements do change with age and they change, for example, in women after the menopause. However, the majority of UK adults and US adults that eat enough food, so as long as you're not restricting your calories, so whether that's because of extreme dieting or other, or taking ozempic for glp1agonist, for example, if you're eating enough food, high quality food, or food in general, you will be getting more than enough protein according to the guidelines. So I guess the message around protein is make sure you're getting good quality protein from good quality sources. That's the most important thing. If you're doing that and then you take creatine and you move your body, you're setting yourself up for a strong musculoskeletal system. So muscles and bones. Taking a protein supplement on top of that, not likely to do any benefit or have any positive effect. And if you're taking the protein supplement instead of a healthy diet, you're missing out on all the other benefits of having a good diet, which the protein supplement cannot replace. So good quality protein, creatine, working out strong bones and muscles.
- [34:09]
Jonathan Wolf
What's your experience been with it, Liz?
- [34:10]
Liz Earle
I love creatine and one of the good things, I think, as you said, Fedi, is that it's inexpensive, it's highly available. I started to avoid the bloating with just 2 to 3 grams daily. I just popped it in my coffee in the morning, I keep it by my coffee machine and Now I have 5 grams daily and I do find it beneficial. And is it making me work out more? I'm not sure. I'm not really a gym bunny, but I just kind of do that maintenance. And I think, yeah, I think the evidence is there. It's one of the things that probably will stand the test of time, to be honest.
- [34:43]
Jonathan Wolf
Liz, I'd like to come to the fifth trend, which is probiotic pills.
- [34:48]
Liz Earle
Yeah. Yes. So I take probiotics. I mean, I love anything to do with the gut. I wrote one of the first consumer books on gut health and that kind of started my journey. I remember going to interview Tim when he was at King's in his amazing corner office overlooking the House of Commons. So that was, you know, back in the day. And for me, it's all about increasing diversity. And I think back to when I first used to buy probiotic supplements. I used to buy sachets of powders and things that would declare they had billions of colony forming units and that was the best thing, but only one strain. Now, of course, I think we've swung the other way, haven't we, that we need lots of different, whether it's from foods and all our different fermented foods and our kimchis and our kefirs and all the rest of it. I think for me, as a midlife woman and I write a lot about menopause and postmenopause, one of the significant issues that flares up for women is recurrent UTIs and bacterial vaginosis and other pelvic issues. And I think there are some interesting studies looking at strains like rhamnosus and eruteri, which have to be very beneficial. And in fact, I was with a professor of urology not long ago who specialises in this and he gives it to all his patients. So how do we make sure that we get those strains? Well, yes, they're likely to be in kefir. Do we know they're there? No. If you buy a clinically analysed supplement that has a certain number of regulated colony forming units of a particular bacterial strain, then you know that that's what you're getting, rather than just risk that that particular food stuff contains it. So for me, I think it's about having both. It's about having plenty of fermented foods and lots of diversity and all the plant foods and et cetera, to feed all my lovely gut bugs. But I do specifically dip into certain supplements as well that I buy from the probiotic world.
- [36:37]
Dr. Federica Amarti
It's interesting, with probiotics there's, as Liz touched on, specific strains have a lot of research for specific outcomes. So where, where supplementing with probiotics could work is if you're doing it for a specific health reason. When it comes to multi strain probiotics, there's very few companies that test their multi strain product to show any effect. So for general well being, without a specific target, fermented foods are going to serve you better because they not only provide the live microbes, but they also critically provide the prebiotic fibers that are necessary for the microbes to do their job. The thing with probiotics, Jonathan, is when you take them, they are like transient visitors. So on their way down, they're producing all the helpful postbiotics, but then you essentially poop them out. I'm not going to go into too much detail, but there is niche theory. So if your gut microbiome doesn't have a specific niche space for the probiotics you're giving it, it will not stick. So you have to take that probiotic every day for that output and maintain that. So generally speaking, the most important thing we need to do is get enough prebiotic fibres from a variety of plants. So we know over 30 plants a week is a really nice metric of this. And at Zoe, of course, We've developed Daily30 specifically to support this. Having those fibres every day is going to help support all the beneficial bacteria and make them thrive and make them the most abundant species in your gut, then introducing new strains, primary way of doing that is through fermented foods. So if you're going to take a probiotic, I would say go for a very well researched strain. Well, first of all, ask yourself, why am I taking it? If it's because you want to just feel better and Be healthier. Do the diet bit first. If you have a specific goal, then you can work with your healthcare professional. You can find out if there are specific strains that have really good evidence to help you achieve that specific goal. Just chucking a load of probiotic pills is not going to make you healthy.
- [38:35]
Jonathan Wolf
Do you know someone who's always jumping on the latest wellness trends? If so, why not share this episode with them right now, Equip them with the tools needed to cast a critical eye on their health choices and figure out which are good, which maybe not so much. Trust me, they'll thank you for it. How can listeners cast a critical eye on like the next trend that is going to appear on their phone and sort of separate fact from fiction?
- [39:02]
Dr. Federica Amarti
I think unfortunately, we always see big trends for rapid weight loss around this time of year specifically aimed at women. Right. So do you remember the cabbage soup diet where you ate cabbage for a week but starved yourself for a week? Anything that's promising instant rapid weight loss or telling you that your body should look a certain way in a bikini, just move on. That is, it's toxic in its nature and it's definitely not going to be helpful. So that's one quick way to get rid of. Important to ask yourself, is this something that I'm trying to achieve? So sometimes trends will come along and it'll be like, do this, you know, do this amazing thing and you'll be able to, I don't know, run five marathons. Okay. Are you planning on running five marathons this summer? So just stick to what you think you need for your health and some of the things we talked about today I think are really helpful actually. So get up in the morning. Why don't you go for a nice walk first thing in the morning when the light is still, when the sun's still a bit lower, or in the evening after work. So expose yourself to some of the, that lovely red light. As we get sunnier days. You can do things that are evidence based and helpful and aren't like these fatty trends trying to sell you something that you don't need.
- [40:12]
Jonathan Wolf
Liz, you've been navigating this for a long time and talking about this for a long time. What would you add?
- [40:17]
Liz Earle
I would think especially as it does get warmer, definitely get out in nature. There is just so many benefits. Even the microbiome of forests and trees and leaves and all of that is so extraordinary if you can slip off your shoes and so detox. I have also got to believe in grounding. It's a bit Woo. But it's, there is a little bit of science there again for connecting with the earth's negative ions for helping to reduce inflammation. So that's something perhaps to watch and discuss in the future. But I think also bear in mind that with the warmer weather we need to stay hydrated. And I think one of the things that I've learned over the years is, you know, if I'm aiming for my one and a half, two liters of water a day, is to sip little and often because I used to in the past think, oh my gosh, I haven't achieved the amount, I'm just gonna glug back a huge amount of water which actually is then depleting my electrolytes and all of that and overloading, you know, my system potentially. So just to be always on the go with a glass, a refillable water bottle, just something to remind me to stay hydrated. Because you know, even just in practical terms, they say that some of the most common persistent headaches is just due to dehydration. And if we can just stay hydrated, remember that we're likely to be losing more water and more moisture in months.
- [41:29]
Jonathan Wolf
And Liz, I know you talk about food a lot. Are there any seasonal foods that we should be looking to cook more that maybe also help us with the wellness trend as well as just tasting great?
- [41:40]
Liz Earle
Well, I unfortunately, like so many, suffer from hay fever. And I have got to love quercetin. Amazing. Polyphenol has antihistamine properties. And again, I came out at it through my daughter who had MCAS mast cell activation syndrome. So and again was was advised to have antihistamines and intra interestingly by her conventional medic, quercetin. And so I take it as a supplement if I need to. But I also look for quercetin in foods. So red skinned apples, red onions, red berries, blueberries, strawberries, raspberries, you know, bring them on because they are bursting with quercetin.
- [42:16]
Jonathan Wolf
What's quercetin?
- [42:17]
Liz Earle
So quercetin is a natural antihistamine and it's a polyphenol, it's a plant pigment. So it's gonna be very beneficial for our gut bacteria and irsity and all of that. And it has added benefits. It's a friend with benefits benefits.
- [42:29]
Jonathan Wolf
And so you're saying that if I was eating like red skin apples and red berries, that could actually reduce my allergies?
- [42:35]
Liz Earle
Potentially, yes. You know, it does have a mild antihistamine benefit. If you want to up your quercetin, you might want to look at a specific supplement. But certainly, you know, for younger members of the family who might not be taking supplements or might not be able to. Interestingly, elderberries, one of the richest sources of quercetin. I know a lot of people will look at elderberry syrup, for example, in the wintertime as being very beneficial for all sorts of things. And one of its key compounds is quercetin.
- [43:01]
Dr. Federica Amarti
And what's nice is these are all fresh fruits. And so fresh fruits and vegetables are wonderful for summer, A, because they're in season, B, they're hydrating, they're naturally hydrating. So when you're making a chopped salad or a fruit salad, you're delivering on the polyphenols, on the fiber. You're also delivering on natural hydration on top of drinking water and maybe make you some ice, green tea and things like that. There's a reason why all these juicy fruits and veg are in season and summer. Right. It's actually good for us to eat them fresh and get that hydration from them.
- [43:30]
Jonathan Wolf
Amazing. I'd love to jump to some really actionable advice. Now I'm going to ask you both about one science backed trend that you think people should start tomorrow.
- [43:42]
Liz Earle
The most important thing that I've learned over the years of wellness is prioritizing sleep. You know, we now know that sleep is not just falling into bed and crashing out and switching off. It's that regenerative process that happens and it's active. I think that's the thing that I've really learned to understand is that our sleep is active and so we have to set ourselves up for more successful sleep. So for me, you know, I don't set an alarm to wake up in the morning. I set my alarm for what time I need to go to bed to make sure that I'm not, you know, doom scrolling and endlessly watching box sets.
- [44:12]
Jonathan Wolf
Does that work?
- [44:13]
Liz Earle
It does because it reminds me and it reminds me to get rid of my blue light, to put on my blue blockers or to just, you know, dim the light and not sit under these bright glarey lights. That's gonna upset my circadian rhythm. I do take a bit of magnesium glycinate before bed just to kind of help calm my nervous system. I like having Epsom salt baths. I get my ritual. I put a few drops of lavender oil on my pillow. Lavender has been shown, again, clinically to actually affect the way the brain works and be quite sedating. And it's just this ritual that my body is going, oh, now it's Time to switch off.
- [44:46]
Dr. Federica Amarti
I want to come for a sleepover. It sounds very relaxing.
- [44:48]
Liz Earle
Excellent. Let's get your PJs. Come join me.
- [44:53]
Dr. Federica Amarti
So I think the trend I'd love to see stick this summer is increasing our fresh fruit intake. We know that globally there is a lack of fresh fruit in our diet. And when I talk about fresh fruit, I mean the whole fruit, not juices, not smoothies, really getting the fruit yourself, chopping it up if you want to, or eating it whole. Fresh fruit is important especially for cardiovascular health. So that's heart health and your vascular system and you know, heart disease is still the number one killer killer. So we should all be working to keep our heart healthy. And eating fresh, whole fruit every day is hugely beneficial for our health. Our gut microbiome loves it. It's satiating. It's delicious. It's like nature's dessert, right? So make yourself a fresh fruit salad, have some apples in your bag on the go and re embrace fresh, whole fruit. Especially in summer when you get this variety of delicious fruits and yeah, make the most of it, make the most of the season. I think that's a trend that would really benefit everyone.
- [45:47]
Jonathan Wolf
Finally, I'd love to come back to these trends and I'd love to hear about the one trend that you have adopted recently that you think everyone should try.
- [45:56]
Liz Earle
I think actually really thinking about it is probably the creatine because that seems to have sprung out of almost nowhere into daily life. And I think it's beneficial, particularly for midlife women. And I think that we're going to be seeing even more evidence to support it. I don't think it's gonna do any harm. It's cheap, it's easily available. It's something to your point, Felli that we don't naturally find in foods. And I think it's one of those things that actually is here to stay.
- [46:29]
Dr. Federica Amarti
Same. I've recently adopted creatine. And if I had to choose another one, I've been really careful about my sleep as well. So really scheduling that time where I stop, put my devices away, I've left my phone in the office. All of those things I've been much stricter with. I agree that sleep is super important and part of that for me and Zoe have done research on this is making sure that I have very regular mealtimes for dinner. So unless I'm celebrating a birthday or something, I will have finished my dinner by latest 8pm before heading to bed later that evening.
- [47:01]
Jonathan Wolf
Not very Italian of you, is it?
- [47:02]
Dr. Federica Amarti
Well, sleep is important. And I'll embrace that.
- [47:06]
Jonathan Wolf
I was fascinated, Liz, by what you said because I think there are a lot of listeners, so I'll be thinking about this and who are saying both, like, I really want to sleep better because sleep is a. Is a real challenge and I feel tired. And that's, I think, because our modern life is so at odds with sleeping and I have this, and I think so many people do, is like, I've just got this one more thing I want to do. Or you have the phone out and somehow something pops up and before you know it you're like scrolling away at something that tomorrow you will have no idea why you did it and yet it is preventing you from just going to bed. So I do think, I think it's genuinely. I find it hard.
- [47:40]
Dr. Federica Amarti
Yeah. Write a list though. Don't you find?
- [47:42]
Liz Earle
Yes, you have a pencil and paper beside the bed is really helpful. It's also good if you've got something on your mind because you get it out of your head and you've commissioned it to paper. Your brain can kind of shut down and let it go because it knows that it's going to come back to it in the morning. But actually, just to finish off, we talked about getting up earlier and seeing that early morning light. What we're doing there is setting up the circadian rhythm and that hormone cascade. And if we see early morning light, it helps the production of melatonin, which helps us sleep better. So bizarrely, getting up early and looking at that early morning light outdoors is going to help to give us that better night's sleep.
- [48:16]
Jonathan Wolf
I love this. I think this has been a beautiful whistle stop tour of the wellness trends around us. I'd love to do like a quick summary or maybe it's really just. Honestly, the things have stuck in my mind as we shot around it. So the first one is I never knew there was a cigarette and steak diet you can try. I'm rather disappointed to hear that it doesn't work, but maybe not really surprised. So vogue that diet is out. On the other hand, I think the thing that I'm really struck by is just how positive you both are about creatine and particularly Federica. I know you are generally very anti supplement and pro food, so the fact that you're so positive is really interesting. And what I heard is it's cheap, it's well researched, you don't need to sort of combine it with protein powders or anything. You can take it on its own. But you do need to also do some sort of exercise with weights. It doesn't work on its own. And you said might be good for people over 65 as well. So it's not just thinking about people who are sort of building up lots of muscle?
- [49:11]
Dr. Federica Amarti
Oh, no, no. It's far beyond just being a big muscly bodybuilder. It's for general health and good musculoskeletal mass, essentially.
- [49:19]
Jonathan Wolf
Yeah, I love it. And I heard you both say be aware of bloating, so you may need to sort of bring it up slowly. And I assume, as always, depending upon the rest of your diet, that might be better or worse. Beef tallow, also now known as cow fat, now that's been explained to me for your feet, quite possibly, yes.
- [49:36]
Liz Earle
Better than the fish.
- [49:38]
Jonathan Wolf
Better than the fish. Maybe fish fat is next year's trend. Well, we'll come back and report. Detox drinks. No, science can be dangerous, you said, because actually they can be making you urinate more, have all sorts of things. So like do not take a detox drink instead, stay hydrated, which means lots of water.
- [50:00]
Dr. Federica Amarti
And support your liver. Your liver, liver is the main guy here. Support your liver with a liver friendly diet, which you won't be surprised to hear is the same as a gut friendly diet. High fibre, plenty of plants and polyphenols will help your liver do its job. And good quality fats. Our liver doesn't like cow fat. It likes oil from fish. It likes extra virgin olive oil, olives, nuts and seeds.
- [50:24]
Jonathan Wolf
Dry skin body brushing, which Liz is like, well, that's not a trend. Everyone's known about that for thousands of years. Years. New for me. Oversized nail brush brush, like dry, starting from the feet up. And apparently it's gonna make me feel magic.
- [50:37]
Liz Earle
Give it a go, but just go gently to start with because your skin will start to tingle. But if you stand in the light and you do it, you see all those dead skin cells being whisked away. So you're helping to speed up cell turnover and you're improving your blood circulation and you just feel really zingy and energized.
- [50:53]
Jonathan Wolf
I love it. And I can also see Liz is very worried I'm gonna do it wrong.
- [50:57]
Dr. Federica Amarti
Go to a spa first.
- [50:59]
Jonathan Wolf
I'll report back. You know, maybe I'll take one leg, give it a minute and just check. And then lastly, but definitely not least try getting up early and see the early morning light. You get the red light, but also you're just sort of setting yourself up for this rhythm that might help you with sleep later. And we've talked a lot about the amazing things from sleep.
- [51:17]
Dr. Federica Amarti
Yeah.
- [51:18]
Jonathan Wolf
Now, if you listen to the show regularly, you already believe that changing how you eat can transform your health health. But you can only do so much with general advice from a weekly podcast. If you want to feel much better now and be on the path to live many more healthy years, you need something more. And that's why more than 100,000 members trust Zoe each day to help them make the smartest food choices. Combining our world leading science with your Zoe test results, Zoe is your daily companion to better health for life. So how does it work?
- [51:50]
Liz Earle
Work?
- [51:51]
Jonathan Wolf
Zoe membership starts with at home testing to understand your unique body. Then Zoe's app is your health coach, using weekly check ins and daily guidance to help you shift your food choices to steadily improve your health. I rely on Zoe's advice every day and truly, it has transformed how I feel. Will you give Zoe a try? The first step is easy. Take our free quiz to find out what Zoe membership could do for you. You Simply go to Zoe.com podcast where as a podcast listener, you'll get 10% off. As always, I'm your host, Jonathan Wolf. Zoe Science and Nutrition is produced by Julie Panero, Sam Durham and Richard Willan. The Zoe Science and Nutrition podcast is not medical advice and if you have any medical concerns, please consult your doctor. See you next time.
- [52:42]
Liz Earle
Sam.