ZOE’s best health tips of 2025 - Part 1

Summary

Podcast Summary: ZOE’s Best Health Tips of 2025 – Part 1

Podcast: ZOE Science & Nutrition
Host: Jonathan Wolf (ZOE)
Date: December 11, 2025

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Episode Overview

This special “Best of 2025” highlights episode brings together the most impactful scientific insights and practical health tips shared by expert guests throughout the year. Covering personal transformation, inflammation, gut and brain health, cutting-edge nutrition trends, and the global rise of matcha, this episode aims to inspire listeners to make manageable, evidence-backed changes for better health as they look ahead to 2026.

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Key Discussion Points and Insights

1. The Power of Transformational Change: Rich Roll’s Story

Guest: Rich Roll, Ultra-Endurance Athlete & Author

• Rich Roll’s journey from a “junk food addicted workaholic” to one of the world’s fittest men began after age 40.
• His health “rock bottom” was a moment of clarity linked to a family history of heart disease ([01:20]).
• Quote:
  “I realized that not only did I need to make some pretty significant changes in how I was living, I actually wanted to. I was blessed with a level of willingness to actually take action.” — Rich Roll ([03:55])
• Rich describes the "window diet” (fast food through the car window) and a cycle of using food to self-medicate post-addiction ([04:30]).
• Initially reluctant, Rich’s experiment with a fully plant-based diet led to a dramatic boost in energy, improved sleep, and better cognitive function within 7–10 days.
• Quote:
  “To suddenly be able to eat without that food coma... almost gave me more hours in the day… There was really no area of my life that was untouched.” — Rich Roll ([06:10])
• Takeaway: Small, sustainable dietary changes can create a powerful, positive momentum—especially midlife.

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2. Inflammation: The Silent Modern Epidemic

Guests: Prof. Tim Spector (ZOE Co-founder), Dr. Federica Amati (Head Nutritionist, ZOE)

• Explanation of inflammation—once thought of only as joint swelling or illness, now seen as chronic, low-grade “fire” in the body ([08:01]).
• Chronic inflammation is connected to fatigue, heart disease, diabetes, poor mental health, and increased dementia risk.
• Quote:
  “Our immune system is just in a sort of slightly on mode all the time… and it fatigues the body.” — Tim Spector ([10:11])
• Everyday Anti-Inflammatory Foods:
  • Broccoli (and sprouts): Contains sulforaphane, a compound with potent anti-inflammatory properties. To maximize benefits, use “chop and stop”—chop and let stand 10 mins before cooking, or microwave to retain more sulforaphane ([12:13]).
    • Tip: “You get three or four times more sulforaphane when you microwave [broccoli] than when you heat it” — Tim Spector ([13:25])
  • Red Cabbage Kraut & Other Fermented Foods: Small daily doses of diverse ferments (sauerkraut, kimchi, kefir, miso, yogurt, kombucha) significantly lower inflammation according to multiple studies.
    • A Stanford study: “Five small portions a day of ferments... in two weeks, a dramatic significant reduction in inflammation levels.” — Tim Spector ([15:31])
    • The ZOE Ferment Study: “Tiredness, mood and energy levels all improve within two weeks [with three portions of ferments daily].” ([16:23])

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3. Fasting, Aging & Metabolic Health

Guest: Dr. Valter Longo (Director, Longevity Institute at USC)

• Autophagy—the body’s cellular “clean-up” process—is triggered meaningfully only after about five days of fasting ([18:18]–[19:12]).
• Dr. Longo’s “Fasting Mimicking Diet” (FMD): A plant-based, low-calorie, low-protein regimen lasting 4–7 days can mimic fasting benefits, improve diabetes outcomes, and potentially reduce biological age.
  • “These diabetics… doing fasting mimicking diet once a month for 12 months… 70% reduced drug use.” ([21:00])
  • Even after dropping to just three to four FMD cycles per year, benefits persist.
• Biological Age:
  • “In both trials, two and a half years of biological age reduction after three cycles.” ([22:27])
• Caveat from Tim Spector:
  • The method is promising and pragmatic, but longer-term studies needed: “The test will be, you know, these long term studies to say, well, at three or five years, have things really changed permanently or is this temporary?” ([24:12])

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4. Brain Health & Dementia Prevention

Guests: Dr. Ayesha & Dr. Dean Sherzai (the “Brain Doctors”)

• Dementia, especially Alzheimer’s, is a “disease of middle age,” building for 20–30 years before diagnosis ([27:09]).
• Lifestyle, not genetics alone, determines much of long-term brain health.
• Key Strategies:
  • Nutrition: Plant-rich diets, particularly the MIND diet (Mediterranean-DASH Intervention for Neurodegenerative Delay), with lots of green leafy veggies, berries, whole grains, nuts, seeds, olive oil, and omega-3 sources ([27:50]).
    • “Every small incremental change… made a huge difference.” — Dr. Ayesha Shirzai ([30:54])
    • “When they adhere to the MIND diet, they reduce their risk of developing Alzheimer’s disease by 53%. Even moderate adherence reduced the risk by 37%.” ([30:34])
  • Exercise, stress management, good sleep, and cognitive activity are central pillars.
  • Key nutrients: B12, Vitamin D, Omega-3s (from fish or plant sources like chia/flax) ([31:28]).

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5. Matcha: The 2025 Drinks Revolution

Guests: Chef Koj (Japanese Cuisine Expert), Prof. Tim Spector

• What Makes Matcha Special?
  • It’s literal powdered whole green tea leaf, traditionally shade-grown, then stone-milled ([33:36]).
  • Unlike steeped green tea, you ingest the full leaf, maximizing nutrient & polyphenol intake ([34:23]).
• Nutritional Comparison with Coffee and Tea:
  • Matcha has twice the caffeine of regular green tea, about 60–90 mg/cup, but less than coffee ([37:36]).
  • Unique for its L-theanine content—a compound that promotes focus and calm, counteracting caffeine’s “buzz” ([38:16]).
  • High in fibre: “Over 50% of the matcha powder is actually fibre… over 10 grams of fiber per tablespoon.” — Tim Spector ([39:20])
  • Contains healthy fats (including omega-3s), and protein—more nutritionally rich than regular coffee or tea ([39:46]).
  • Rich in polyphenols and antioxidants, possibly supporting gut health.
  • Study: L-theanine in matcha means the caffeine boost comes without insomnia or jitteriness ([40:22]).
• How to Start Drinking Matcha:
  • For beginners, make a paste with a little cold milk, then add warm milk (“matcha latte”). Try to wean off milk for full benefits as milk can limit polyphenol absorption ([42:16]–[42:41]).

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Notable Quotes and Memorable Moments

• On transformative change:
  “You need to take action quickly… If you don’t act upon it with some level of urgency, whatever willingness you’re experiencing tends to fade pretty quickly.” — Rich Roll ([03:55])
• On inflammation:
  “Our immune system is just in a sort of slightly on mode all the time.” — Tim Spector ([10:11])
• On plant-based foods:
  “There was really no area of my life that was untouched [by diet change].” — Rich Roll ([06:16])
• On fermented foods:
  “Five small portions a day of ferments... a dramatic significant reduction in inflammation.” — Tim Spector ([15:31])
• On fasting-mimicking diets:
  “These diabetics… doing fasting mimicking diet once a month for 12 months… 70% reduced drug use.” — Dr. Valter Longo ([21:00])
• On dementia prevention:
  “It’s not all or none… every small incremental change made a huge difference.” — Dr. Ayesha Shirzai ([30:54])
• On matcha’s unique benefits:
  “What I really like about Matcha is that it’s got similar polyphenol levels to coffee… many of them we still don’t understand exactly what they do, but these are great antioxidants.” — Tim Spector ([41:24])

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Timestamps for Key Segments

| Time | Topic | |---------|------------------------------------------------------------| | 00:54 | Rich Roll’s transformation story | | 08:01 | Chronic inflammation explained | | 12:13 | Broccoli (sulforaphane) & the "chop and stop" tip | | 14:41 | Benefits of fermented foods for inflammation | | 18:18 | Fasting, autophagy, and fasting mimicking diets | | 25:34 | Brain health, dementia, and preventive nutrition | | 27:50 | Practical lifestyle tips for brain health | | 33:36 | What makes matcha unique vs. green/black tea, coffee | | 37:36 | Matcha vs. coffee: caffeine, fibre, nutritional profile | | 41:38 | How to prepare and first try Matcha |

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Practical Tips to Take Into 2026

• Start with small, sustainable changes. Momentum builds over time, even midlife.
• Daily anti-inflammatory foods:
  Include pre-chopped/microwaved broccoli, a diversity of fermented foods (sauerkraut, kimchi, kefir, etc.) in tiny but regular portions.
• Plant-rich, whole-food diet (MIND, Mediterranean, or similar): Each small swap matters.
• Short-term fasting or fasting-mimicking diets (if medically appropriate) may improve metabolic and even biological age markers.
• Support brain health early. Focus on omega-3s, B12, vitamin D, and active lifestyle habits.
• Try matcha as a lower-jitter alternative to coffee: maximize health by gradually using less milk.
• Enjoy meals with others—social eating improves nutrition and builds healthy habits.

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For a deeper dive on any topic, listen to the full episode and explore ZOE’s referenced studies.

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Next up: Part 2 of ZOE’s Best of 2025 series. Don’t forget your cup of matcha!

Transcript

[A]

Welcome to Zoe Science and Nutrition, where world leading scientists explain how their research can improve your health.

Welcome to this special Zoe episode, the first of Our best of 2025 series. A collection of moments that you told us changed the way you eat, think and feel this year. It's been an incredible year. We spoke with world leading scientists, uncovered surprising insights and shared practical tools that you can use to feel better every day. And in this special highlights episode, we're bringing you the very best moments, including one surprising discovery about a bright green drink that took over the world this year. Whether you're starting fresh in the new year or building on progress you've already made, this episode is packed with simple ideas you can take into 2026.

Here at Zoe, we know that change isn't always easy. So if you're looking for a little inspiration, look no further than Rich Roll, who went from an overweight, junk food addicted workaholic to one of the world's fittest men, all after the age of 40. If you're heading into the new year feeling tired, stuck, or unsure where to begin, Rich's story is the reminder that change is possible at any age.

[B]

Throughout my 20s, I had a struggle with drugs and alcohol that really took me to some pretty dark places and I was able to get sober at 31. I went to treatment for 100 days, which is a long time to be sort of voluntarily incarcerated in what's kind of a mental institution for the temporarily insane. But that really changed my life and, and provided me with a new set of tools around how to organize my decision making and my actions. And when I emerged from that experience, building a foundation of sobriety was like my number one priority. And I went all in on my recovery and over the next nine or so years was very focused on that. But at the same time, I was also very intent upon reestablishing myself as a sort of respectable human being who could show up on time and be relied upon and the like and rebuild my career as a result. And during that period of time, I really overlooked my health and well being because I was so focused on that one thing. And it's only in retrospect when I look back on it, that I realized the extent to which my relationship with food and lifestyle habits was still very alcoholic. Like I was using food to medicate my emotional state. Shortly before I turned 40, I was about 50 pounds overweight, so I wasn't like obese, but I was quite sedentary. I'd been an athlete in college. I swam for Stanford in the late 1980s at a pretty high level, but really hadn't taken care of myself in quite some time. And I had an incident walking up the staircase to my bedroom, where I had to, like, take a break halfway up. Like, I was literally winded by the exertion of just, you know, walking up a simple flight of stairs. And I had some tightness in my chest, and it was a scary moment. Heart disease runs in my family. My grandfather, who had also been a standout swimmer, had died young of a heart attack. And so heart disease was something that my mother was always telling me, you got to be careful with your heart. And everything kind of snapped into focus as a result of that experience. And I realized that not only did I need to make some pretty significant changes in how I was living, I actually wanted to. I was blessed with a level of willingness to actually take action on that. And I think the reason that I bring up the sobriety aspect of my story is because I had had that history. Like, I'd had that bottoming out moment where I made a decision, acted on it, and made a change that changed my life dramatically. And I felt the same energy. I was like, I think I'm having another one of those experiences. And what I learned about that experience was that you need to take action quickly because these, these, it's, you know, it's sort of a sliding doors moment. Like, if you don't act upon it with some level of urgency, whatever willingness you're experiencing tends to fade pretty quickly.

[A]

This moment was huge for Rich, realizing his diet wasn't just affecting his health, but limiting his energy, his happiness, and the life that he wanted to live.

[B]

I was on what you would call the window diet. Do you know what the window diet is?

[A]

Tell me about the window.

[B]

Window diet is when you drive up to a fine dining establishment, you roll the window down, and they hand you food into your car. That was the diet that I was on. So a lot of fast food, a lot of late night takeout.

In the law firm in which I was working as a lawyer, Pizza Hut, Domino's, McDonald's, Jack in the box, cheeseburgers, fries, you name it.

[C]

You tried them all?

[B]

I tried them all. Yeah, yeah, yeah. A lot of greasy food. So it was a big shift to actually go fully plant based. And I did it almost as an experiment to prove to myself that it wouldn't work so I could make peace with the fact that I just felt the way that I felt and this is the way I'm supposed to feel and was not Expecting the sort of dramatic shift in how I felt. But I tried a bunch of stuff. You know, I dabbled in paleo. I tried vegetarian. I sort of checked a bunch of boxes. And the one thing that I hadn't done because I was reluctant to do it was to go entirely plant based because it sounded hard. It was like, who wants to do that? It just sounded difficult. And I couldn't imagine how I could ever be full or sated with anything that I was eating. So I did it kind of as a challenge again, to prove that it wouldn't work, because I really didn't want it to work. That's the truth. So I was as surprised as anyone when it actually seemed to resuscitate me.

[A]

And this theme, small changes creating big momentum, came up again and again in the conversations we had this year. It's a powerful place to start as we think about how to eat and live in 2026.

[B]

Within seven to 10 days, I did feel like this resurgence, this spike in my energy levels. But at the same time, you know, kind of hand in hand with that, there was a hopefulness that I was starting to experience. I was used to, you know, eating a midday meal and being so tired, feeling like I had to take a nap and just kind of being checked of my life. And so to suddenly be able to eat without that food coma that I was so acclimated around almost like gave me more hours in the day and my sleep improved. And when your sleep improves, your stress levels go down. You're able to kind of navigate tricky, conflict oriented situations a little more gracefully. And of course, your cognition and problem solving is better. So there was really no area of, of my life that was untouched. And yes, of course, we are holistic animals. Like, we're not separated from the environment and our mental health. And what's going on in our brain obviously impacts the entire body. And my experience was pretty much 360 across the board. So many things improved as a result of that. And that gave me the enthusiasm to just say, oh, this doesn't need to be an experiment. How can I make this sustainable so that I can continue to learn about how to do this properly and make it work for my life? Because I want to feel this way all the time.

[A]

Midlife is often seen as a point of no return for health, but Rich's story suggests it could actually be the ideal moment to make radical change. But what makes this change so powerful? And why did it give Rich such a striking energy? To answer that, we need to turn to one of our most talked about topics of 2025, inflammation. To understand this better, I sat down with Dr. Federica Amarti, our head nutritionist here at Zoe, and with my Zoe co founder, Professor Tim Spector, to explore what inflammation really is and why so many of us are dealing with a constant low level of it.

[C]

Without realizing, our view of inflammation has actually changed in recent years. So we used to know it as our defense mechanism against damage or infection, where the body would stimulate a response of the immune system, which meant it could fight off some nasty invasive bug or it could start to heal a wound or anything going wrong in the body. So we've all got this natural defense mechanism and this is why when you have a virus, you get an inflammatory response to your whole body. And that actually helps get rid of the virus quicker, but makes you sick in the process. So often it's not the actual infection causing the symptoms, it's the inflammation itself. It's the immune system saying, right, we're gonna get more white cells in there to take away the debris. We're gonna loosen up the blood vessels so they're leaky and all kinds of stuff get out there, Things swell up, they go red, they're painful. All this is for a reason. And when people think of inflammation, they think of someone with arthritis and a big swollen red joint. And as you know, I was a rheumatologist for over 20 years treating those kinds of people, and that's what I thought of as inflammation. But we now know that the whole thing is much more subtle. So these things still happen in everybody and we wouldn't be if we didn't have those mechanisms. But what appears to be happening now is that whereas if you think of inflammation as a big fire that gets burnt to sort of kill off all the bugs you don't want. Now, instead of that fire being turned off, it's still being left on a little bit. So the immune system is still simmering away, it still is engaging. And we have all these immune cells in our body. They're sending out chemicals all over the body saying, you know, there's danger, there's, there's a problem. So what's happening now in the modern world is many of us have low level inflammation where the immune system is just in a sort of slightly on mode all the time, so we can't relax. And you're using up valuable metabolic energy, you're distracting your body because it thinks it's looking around for something to attack. The immune system says, where can I go? What's going on here. And this has a number of consequences. So the fact that we have this low level inflammation means that our blood vessels are just slightly swollen, our gut is slightly leaky, white cells are just primed to do things all the time. And, and it fatigues the body. It doesn't have chance to repair. It can affect your heart. So your blood vessels in your heart are just not working perfectly and therefore increase your risk of heart disease. It can stress your metabolism so you're more likely to get high insulin levels and diabetes. It also actually can influence your brain and your mental health so that your body perceives you're under some threat and is more likely to cause depression. So your mood will go down as if you're ill. And we've all, you know, been ill or had a vaccination and the vaccination itself causes a short burst of inflammation that makes us tired, want to go to bed, not talk to people. So that's one of the current theories of depression. Then you've also got this risk of dementia. So inflammation is now linked very clearly to increased risk of dementia in a way your body can't repair itself as well if it's got the fire on. So it's, your immune system is now seen as absolutely crucial to repairing everything in your body. And, and if someone is not turning it off completely every night, you're using up a lot of that immune energy and that's why we get to this state. So it really affects all parts of your body and your mental and your physical health. And this is a modern phenomenon.

[A]

If this is going on in the background, it's no wonder we feel tired, foggy or run down. Thankfully, Tim and Federico shared some delicious science backed foods that help cool the flame of chronic inflammation. Let's start with a classic that even my daughter will eat. Broccoli. Why is it a standout for fighting inflammation?

[C]

Well, it's a great example and I think it's, you know, it's one of the Brassica family which includes all kinds of things like cabbages and leeks and onions and garlic and cauliflower. It's because it has anti inflammatory properties that have been shown and one of the main chemicals, and this is just an example of one of many, but there's a really cool chemical there that gets released when you eat broccoli called sulforaphane and this has all these effects on the body, these anti inflammatory effects on the body and it's been shown to reduce obesity related inflammation. When you give it to adolescents, it can Reduce insulin levels as well, and you get even more effects. When you look at broccoli sprouts, and this is a general rule, because the sprout comes out of the seed and those first shoots have really concentration amounts of all these nutrients, particularly sulforaphanes, and that gives them even more potential. So the younger that shoot is, the more you're getting of this really cool chemical. Now, there are some problems with sulforaphane because if you just throw your broccoli into a pan, you'll actually inhibit the sulforaphane from being released because the heat does this. So there's a little chemistry that needs to be going on here. So I've got a tip to overcome this. You something called chop and stop. This is the same for broccoli and it's the same for garlic and onions. You just chop it up, which releases the sulforaphane. As you break down the cell walls, all leaks out. And rather than being instantly deactivated by the heat, you leave it for 10 minutes, have a cup of coffee or a sneaky glass of wine, and you can then put it in the pan and you' all the sulforaphane. The other tip is to maximize the sulforaphane, is to actually microwave your broccoli. You get three or four times more sulforaphane when you microwave it than when you heat it. Most people think microwaving's really unhealthy, but actually in some cases it can be a real boon because it works differently.

[A]

A lot of people think healthy eating has to be complicated. When you hear something like microwaving, broccoli can actually make it healthier, it suddenly feels doable. And one of the biggest inflammation breakthroughs this year came from something simple, delicious, and surprisingly easy to add to your day. Red cabbage, kraut. Bit of a wild card. Talk me through it, Tim.

[C]

It is a wild card and it's really thrown in there as an example of a fermented food. And it may be one that people haven't thought about quite as much because it's a bit different. But really what I'm trying to emphasize here is that any fermented food that includes things like yogurts, kefirs, regular sauerkraut, kimchi, kimchi, which is like spicy sauerkraut, misos, all of these have anti inflammatory properties and these have been shown in multiple studies, both in test tubes and in humans. And the most recent studies often use multiple different ferments. So rather than focusing just on one, I think it's really important that people learn to diversify what they're eating because each ferment will have a different set of microbes in them. So yogurts will have, say, three microbes. And some of these more complex krauts and kimchi can have up to 20 or 30 in some kombucha. So this red sauerkraut is just one of an example of things that you can add to your meal in tiny little amounts. And a real classic study from Stanford showed that when they asked volunteers to try and get five small portions a day of ferments, they could really show in two weeks a dramatic significant reduction in inflammation levels. And I think that's the first time anyone really shown in a really good study. And it's from our colleague Christopher Gardner's group. The other study that we did at Zoe with many listeners might know about is the Zoe ferment study where we asked 10,000 people to take at least three ferments a day for two weeks. And although we didn't measure inflammation levels, we did measure things that are correlated like tiredness and mood and energy levels. And they all improve within two weeks. So the vast majority of people taking these ferments at least three times a day or in three portions a day will get changes in inflammation level that translate to improved symptoms. So I think that's, that's something that everyone can do. That's in addition to all these other foods and tricks.

[A]

And I love that because the study Tim's referring to, in the second arm, they had a high fiber diet. So one arm had fermented foods and the second arm had high fiber diet. And to see the difference between the two arms is amazing. So it shows you that fermented foods have a different effect on the immune system compared to high fiber alone. The high fiber diet participants had improved immune system function, so it was more ready to go when needed. The, the markers were really good to show that priming, but in the fermented food arm, they showed this active attenuation of inflammatory markers that you didn't see in the high fiber arm. So that's so cool. And I love the red kraut because it's colorful, it's high in bioactive compounds, it's fermented, it does all the things in one jar that you can make yourself at home. So there you have it, some easy gut friendly tips to help you feel your best. Make sure you go back and listen to the full episode to hear all the ideas we've shared. But food isn't the only lever we'd learned about this year. Another thing I discovered this year is that a healthy diet isn't just about what you put on your plate. Sometimes it's about the intentional absence of food. We invited Dr. Valter Longo, director of the Longevity Institute at USC and one of Time's 50 most influential people in healthcare, to explain how fasting affects longevity. In this clip, he explains how you can trick your body into reaping the rewards of fasting.

[D]

So autophagy is this process where cells begin to eat themselves, right? Eat their own components, so they shrink and they start eating themselves.

[A]

So Voltaire, that's a good thing if your cells are eating themselves. It doesn't sound like a good thing.

[D]

It is a good thing, right? And so these bacteria do it and yeast do it and all organisms do it. So it's an opportunity to get rid of a lot of normal components, but junk, real junk that accumulated in the cell. So in that sense it's an opportunity to clean up and so it's a good thing. A group that we collaborate with has done a clinical trial showing that the markers of autophagy don't seem to be measurable until about day five, end of day five in the, in the human blood. But that's one of the things that everybody, people fast for three hours and they think autophagy is, but, but it does. It probably takes about five days to get there.

[A]

So just to play back, you're saying that if you got into a state where your cells are actually sort of eating themselves, they're getting rid of sort of damage, that could be good, but you actually have to starve yourself for five days before that would happen.

[D]

Yes, of course. And I think we're going to talk about it. So we've been working for many, many years and how you don't have to starve yourself to get some of these effects. And this where, you know, fasting, mimicking diets and other things come in.

[A]

This idea of cleaning up the body at a cellular level is fascinating, but fasting for five days straight isn't realistic for most of us. Definitely not for me. So Volta has been developing a more approachable way to get the benefits of fasting without starving yourself.

[D]

So then we've done lots of trials Now, I think 35 trials already, looking at this periodic fasting mimicking diet. And so this is a low calorie, low protein, low sugar, high fat, plant based diet that lasts between four days and seven days, depending on what we're trying to treat. Then, you know, the Patient gets a box. And that's a medicine, right? Or that's potential medicine, let's say. And so we tested it now for lots and lots of different things. I think the most advanced ones is diabetes. Now very clearly we're seeing regression diabetes, regression diabetes remission. And the beauty I think is without lifestyle changes. Right. So we ask and the University of laden trial with 100 patients actually looked at lifestyle and so no difference other than a little bit increase in exercise towards the end of the 12 fasting mimicking diet cycle. So they did monthly. So these diabetics with doing fasting migrating diet once a month for 12 months, by the end of it they saw.

[C]

How many days per month?

[D]

Five days.

[C]

Five days per month?

[D]

Yeah, five days a month. And then they were allowed to go back to whatever it is that they do. But now the beauty is that they improve so much. 70% of them reduce drug use. They improve so much. Then we basically think, and we've seen this, we have clinics for my foundations and so that we can switch them to three or four times a year. That's it. Right. So year one you do a 12, maybe not even 12, but let's say 12. And then year two you might be able to go down to four to six cycles. And year three, we're hoping you're down maybe to three cycles and that's it. So you do it once every four months. And so now we're formally testing that in southern Italy in a 500 patient trial. Three ARM and one is control fasting, making diet once every three months and then fasting, making diet every three months plus what I call the longevity diet. And so we'll see, we're now a patient 400, so we've got 100 patients left. But yeah, the idea is, yes, we can try to get people to change everything they do, but they're probably either one change or they'll go back to whatever it is that they used to do. But maybe if the doctor was on board once every three months, if you have a problem, you can consider doing these five days and once you're done with the five days, you're done for three months.

[A]

Do you believe that this sort of fasting mimicking diet, this five days sort of every few months can improve the biological age, make you younger on the inside?

[D]

Yeah, so we did that in two trials and in both trials two and a half years of biological age reduction after three cycles. So this is using what I was telling you earlier.

[A]

Let me just play that you're saying that you did it three times. And your measured biological age improved by two and a half years.

[B]

Yeah.

[D]

So subjects that were asked to do the fasting, making diet monthly for three months, they showed a reduction almost identical in both trials of 2.5 years on average.

[A]

Tim, what's your reaction to that? At this time of year, many of us focus on supplements, quick fixes or food fats to stay healthy. But one of the most powerful tools we have is something much simpler. Sharing food with other people. The science is really clear on this. Eating with others naturally encourages us to slow down, which supports better digestion. People also tend to choose more nutritious, balanced foods when they eat together. It's all of those simple habits that makes a real difference to our well being, especially at this time of year. That's why we've created the Zoe Holiday Hosting Guide. Our free guide is filled with cozy recipes that are perfect for sharing hosting tips and go to dinner party dishes from our scientists and nutrition experts. Think warm, relaxed evenings with the people you love, sharing delicious, nourishing meals that makes you feel good from the inside out. To download your free guide, simply click the link in the show notes or go to zoe.comholidayguide that's zoe.comholidayguide.

[C]

It'S very exciting that you might be able to trick the body into this state. And I think the question is whether this is sustained over time.

Because you might get a temporary change in these markers of biological age. But I do think what I like about it is that it's accepting that people aren't going to do long fasts for long periods of time outside a laboratory. And so it has a pragmatic element to it, which I think is, is really exciting. So I think the test will be, you know, these long term studies to say, well, at three or five years, you know, have things really changed permanently or is this a temporary will the body reset itself? I guess is always, you know, this is what we're always fighting in medicine is the body's ability to recalibrate and realize it's being fooled. And the question is, it seems to work short term. The question is, is this going to work long term? But it's very exciting.

[A]

Hearing research like this always leaves me inspired and curious. If we can influence aging at a biological level, what else might be possible? That question becomes even more important when we talk about brain health. Dementia is one of the fastest growing health crises in the developed world, with cases expected to double in the coming decades. And that's why we invited Dr. Ayesha and Dean Shirzai onto the show known as the Brain Doctors. They spent decades working in this field and are at the forefront of research into prevention.

[E]

I think it's important for our lovely audience to understand that when people are diagnosed with the scary word dementia or Alzheimer's disease, it's not something that, that just popped out of nowhere right then and there. Let's stick to Alzheimer's disease because there are other types of dementia as well. In Alzheimer's disease, there are multiple different things that are going on in the brain. There is deposition of these harmful toxic protein byproducts. Specifically, the ones that have been studied are amyloid beta protein and tau. And they essentially deposit within a cell and outside of the cell and they start damaging the infrastructure of the and the direct cause. As to why that happens, we're not very clear right now, but there are some hypotheses. And one of the hypotheses is that the body has a difficult time getting rid of these toxic byproducts over many, many years and multiple studies, both imaging studies and biomarker studies. Which means they look at people's blood levels of these toxic byproducts, or they look at cerebral spinal fluid, you know, the spinal tap fluid, and they look at the prot. It seems that the process of deposition of these harmful proteins, it takes decades for it to come to the point where people are diagnosed with dementia. It takes nearly 20 to 30 years for this process to have been present, ever present, and cause damage in the brain.

[A]

Nearly 20 to 30 years of this slowly being laid down in my brain.

[E]

That's correct. And that is why now scientists and neurologists are addressing Alzheimer's disease as a disease of middle age. It's not something that, you know, manifests in our 70s, 80s, 90s and beyond. Yes, the prevalence increases because people, you know, as they age, their risk goes higher, but the disease process actually starts in your 40s, maybe even 30s.

[A]

It's a reminder that it's never too early to start taking steps to protect your brain. And lifestyle makes an enormous difference. Aisha and Dean shared some practical science backed strategies.

[E]

Nutrition, exercise, unwind or stress management, restorative sleep and optimizing cognitive activity. And these are based on evidence based lifestyle intervention and lifestyle factors that improve brain health and prevent cognitive decline on Alzheimer's disease. Nutrition, very important. And I think you know this more than anybody else and you do such a fantastic job in this podcast empowering people about nutrition. So in the realm of neurology and neuroscience, we have a tremendous body of evidence Showing that the types of food that people choose directly impacts their brain health. And it can prevent devastating diseases like stroke and Parkinson's disease and Alzheimer's disease and other types of dementia, particularly vascular dementia. And when you look at the different dietary patterns, it's essentially a variation of the same theme. Diets that are high in plant based foods, fruits, vegetables, whole grains, legumes, nuts and seeds, and sources of polyunsaturated fatty acids. They tend to do very well. And the numbers are incredible. For example, there was a study that was conducted in Rush University in Chicago, here in the United States. Dr. Martha Morris, she was the lead researcher, the late Dr. Martha Morris, and she looked at adherence to the MIND diets. The MIND diet is a hybrid diet. It stands for Mediterranean Dash, Intervention for Neurodegenerative Delay. Thank goodness for the acronym MIND, the Mediterranean Dash Combination. And when you look at the diet, it's not a, you know, it's like a. It's not a cultural diet per se. It's essentially a scoring system. When people adhere to the MIND diet, they get a high score for consuming green leafy vegetables, cruciferous vegetables, other vegetables, fruits, specifically strawberries and blueberries that are high in polyphenols and flavanols. When they consume whole grains, when they have less refined carbohydrates such as white bread or added sugar to foods, when they consume nuts, seeds, which are great sources of polyunsaturated fatty acids and omega fats. When they consume extra virgin olive oil, which could potentially have high polyphenols, and mono and polyunsaturated fatty acids, they get a high score. And sources of omega 3 fatty acids, which are found in fatty fish or flaxseeds, chia seeds, hemp seeds, and they get a low score when they consume a lot of red meat, a lot of high fat dairy products, which may be higher in saturated fats, and if they consume too much alcohol. So that is essentially the concept that you find in all of these dietary patterns and in this population. When they adhere to the MIND diet, they reduce their risk of developing Alzheimer's disease by 53%. And even moderate adherence reduced the risk by 37%. And in my study, in the California teacher study, same thing, we looked at the Mediterranean diet and we looked at the scoring system. And the beautiful thing was it was not an all or none phenomenon. Every small incremental change towards that positive outcome, say, for example, adding a cup of green leafy vegetables or switching a donut for some fruits, it actually made a huge difference. And I think that's pretty empowering for people to know that you don't have to jump into it wholeheartedly. You can start by simply changing few things moving forward.

[A]

So cognitive decline isn't inevitable. Lifestyle choices play a far greater role in brain health than genetics alone. I asked Dean to dive deeper into the key dietary elements that are essential for maintaining brain health.

[F]

The three elements that are important for brain B12. Make sure that your B12 levels are normal, or on the higher side, vitamin D and Omega 3. We just did two reviews, two comprehensive reviews, one on Omega 3 and the developing brain and Omega 3 on the aging brain. And in both of them there seems to be trends towards needing Omega 3. Being extra aware of Omega 3 because Omega 3 has that much fat, it's the only fat that the body doesn't make, well, Omega 6 as well. But in the western diet, you don't have to worry about Omega 6. In fact, we have excess of Omega 6. So Omega 3 is very, very important. DHA for the brain in particular makes up more than 50% of brain's volume. So it's critically important and we don't make it, so we have to kind of be aware of it. So that's basically whether you get it from fish or in our cases and other people's cases, they can get it for chia, flaxseed or supplements. And that's basically it. The acronym is smashing. Salmon, mackerel, anchovies, sardines and herring, the fatty fish, but it's not the fish, the fish gets it from the algae. So it's the Omega 3 in particular. There's no uniqueness beyond that. So that's important to kind of know where you're gonna get your omega 3 and be aware of it and get it. And we just did a conversation with a world renowned lipidologist and omega 3 expert who said that even people who are just taking it from chia and flaxseed, if they're extra aware of it, they should be fine.

[A]

I don't know about you, but I love how empowering this is. You don't have to overhaul your entire life. Small swaps and daily habits genuinely add up. And one of those daily habits for many of us is a hot drink. Which leads us to one of the biggest trends of the year. Matcha exploded in popularity in 2025. And this year I learned something I genuinely didn't expect. Matcha doesn't just give you a gentler caffeine buzz, it actually behaves differently inside your body. We invited Chef Koj, an expert in Japanese cuisine, to take us inside the science, the history, and the unique preparation behind this vibrant green drink.

[G]

Okay, so first of all, it's a type of green tea. And all green teas are made from the same plant that any other teas that we might be familiar with, black teas that we drink, typically with milk. And it's a special type of green tea because rather than taking the leaves and infusing those into water, you pick the leaves, specially when you first grow them. And when I say pick, you mean you pick the youngest ones as well. And not just physically pick, and then you ground those into a very fine powder. Takes a long, long time, the whole preparation, which is why it's quite expensive. And you suspend those particles in water rather than infusing other nutrients out of the tea leaves, and you drink that or eat it.

[A]

So you just drink the whole leaf rather than, like, dipping it in and taking it out again.

[G]

Exactly. Imagine when I make a coffee plunger, you drink that and you get the bits at the end, and it's a bit unpleasant in your mouth. Okay. That's because the particles are not very fine. But if you imagine that they were really, really fine, you would just drink that and not notice. That's what drinking match is like.

[A]

Amazing. And so tell me, is there some magic process by which you decide which tea leaves? Or I could wander up to a tea plan plant, pick a few, cut it into little pieces, and like, hey, presto, I have matcha.

[G]

No, because it's taken at least 900 years to work out where to grow the leaves, how to pick them, when to pick them, what to do to them before you pick them. And so one of the main things that matcha has over other types of green tea is that it's grown in shade. And they realized this by accident initially, because it was naturally in the shade of other trees. But they noticed that the green. The leaves had more chlorophyll, so they were greener, and so they look and they taste different.

[A]

So it's very particular sorts of tea leaves that are picked. And are tea leaves normally not grown in the shade?

[G]

No, most tea would be grown in full sunlight. And, you know, tea has moved from China to Japan to Sri Lanka to India to Kenya now as well. And they all share similar characteristics of where they're grown, typically higher up on hills, full sunshine. But what the Japanese did when they realized the tea leaves that were growing in the shade of other trees naturally were fighting for more sunlight. And so they. They push More chlorophyll into the leaves, and that's what makes them greener. So now what they do is they actually shade them. So traditionally they would shade them with, you know, bamboo.

[A]

And so how is that different from the preparation of a green tea or a black tea? People who know me know that I'm a bit addicted to my black tea. What is different here?

[G]

Okay, so I'll start with black tea for a start. The difference with black tea is that you would collect the tea, you wouldn't be quite so picky on which leaves you choose, and you'd let them ferment and oxidize. As you know from watching leaves, if you just let them die, they'll go brown. And that's why black tea, it's actually black tea, but Chinese people call it red tea because often when you infuse it, it's more reddy brown. So that's the main difference. The green tea, you're trying to make sure it doesn't oxidize, make sure it doesn't ferment. And that's the big difference between green and black tea. And then I think the first thing you asked was, what's the difference between green tea and matcha? Well, matcha, you're making sure that you get the particles. And with green tea, you'd infuse it as you would do with any other normal tea, what I call normal tea or tea that we're more used to.

[A]

So in a green tea, I dip it in the hot water, I let it sit there for a few minutes, I take it out. So then all I've got is just the water with some stuff that's sort of come out of the green tea. Whereas in matcha, I've literally got the entire leaf smashed in very small pieces.

[G]

Yes. And I think for me, that means that when it goes into your body, if you just put it into water, you're kind of relying on what's water soluble to then put into your body. But by putting the whole thing in, you're opening up more options in terms of what your body can ingest, process and extract nutrients from.

[A]

Understanding what makes matcha different from green tea or coffee helps explain why so many people are turning to it for focus and calm. But how does it actually compare nutritionally? Tim explains.

[C]

You've got the green teas, which have low levels of caffeine in them, so 20 to 50 milligrams. Then you've got the matcha, which is the concentrated form, which has about double that, 60 to 90 milligrams. On average, and then coffee goes to 100 to 130 milligrams, so it's a sort of gradient, so you're getting relatively less in there. And black tea would be, you know, somewhere between Matcha and green tea. So you've got a range of these caffeines. But we've been hearing about this other chemical, this L threonine, which does seem to counteract some of the overstimulatory effects of the caffeine on the mind, and that's why it doesn't seem to affect your sleep as much as coffee.

[A]

So there's another drug here that has been a different effect, Correct, Yes.

[C]

I mean, obviously in teas and coffees and, you know, there are hundreds of chemicals that we're only just discovering, but these are a few that have been isolated, we, we think, definitely have these brain effects. And so you've got these two competing effects with Matcha that are really, really quite fascinating to study and that, you know, you can still get some of the benefits of caffeine without it keeping you up at night and making you too wired. And maybe that's why Matcha seems to be taking off.

[A]

I'd actually love to get into that now, because I always thought it was the only thing coffee was, was caffeine. And I know, Tim, that you co wrote a big new paper with Zoe on this groundbreaking how much coffee can actually transform our gut. And I know that you've also been reading up on the latest research on Matcha, so I'd like to sort of almost measure them up against each other a little bit, because I think for many of our listeners, they're like, okay, how does this compare with this coffee that I'm so used to? Could you tell me about the nutritional differences between coffee and Matcha?

[C]

Yeah. So if we start with fibre, coffee's actually a decent source of fibre, 1.5 grams per cup. So if you're having three cups a day getting, you know, 4 or 5 grams of fiber, about a third of the average intake in the us, and Matcha probably has more fibre in it than coffee. It all depends on the amounts you're using. But over 50% of the matcha powder is actually fibre. So if you're putting a tablespoon in, you're going to be getting, you know, over 10 grams of fiber. So fiber is as good, if not better than coffee. There's less caffeine relatively, but probably still enough to get you up in the morning. It has fats in it that coffee doesn't have. So it's actually a source of omega 3s and these linoleic acids. And these are all healthy fats, interestingly, that come out well, you know that these healthy fats are good for the brain, et cetera. 17% of it is protein. Everyone's on about protein these days, you know, these relatively small amounts, but it's all good quality, you know, giving you a few grams of protein in there as well. If you take this all together, then actually nutritionally there's quite a lot good stuff going on with this, with this match in this concentration that seems to be pretty equivalent to. To coffee, given what we know. And I think there's lots of things we don't know. Well, there's other chemicals are in there, but interesting that the things that it has that coffee doesn't is it has this L threonine, which is this other chemical in there that seems to, in studies maintain sleep quality. So people who are taking, I think it's. They take generally about 3 grams of matcha before going to bed. Doesn't seem to stop them sleeping as coffee would. The studies show a bit of variability between people, but that's. That's a really encouraging sign. What I really like about Matcha is that it's got similar polyphenol levels to coffee. These defense chemicals that you get from the. From the, you know, the bean or the leaf or, you know, the plant itself. And so whereas it's more diluted in green tea, you're getting a really concentrated hit of them. And many of them, we still don't understand exactly what they do, but, you know, these are great antioxidants.

[A]

Hearing Tim break this down was one of my favorite moments of the year, especially the part about fiber and the calming effect of L Theanine. If you've ever wondered how to try Matcha for the first time, this next clip is for you. Let's say I was like, you know what? I really want to try it as a drink because I see it advertised in all these different coffee shops. Would you have any guide? I have already heard both of you told me not to go to have the Starbucks, Venti, whatever, but is there a way that might maximize my chances of having something that you would. You would approve of? Both, I guess, in terms of the quality of the Matcha and also the experience. Is this as maybe a very easy entry point?

[G]

Yeah, just some warm milk. Just again, because it's a powder, add the milk in very slowly at the beginning. Even like maybe a bit of cold milk. To make it into a paste so you don't have any of the clumps of powder left. And then top it up with warm milk and again, you'll get, you'll get the soothingness, the umami of the milk. And actually, you know, when you taste good milk, it's, it is sweet. You don't need the extra sugar.

[A]

Yeah.

[C]

So I think it's reasonable to start with. But I think there's some evidence that having milk in your teas does interact with the good polyphenols, so they may not be absorbed as well. So use that as a starting point. Then try and wean yourself off the milk and go hardcore like we've done today, which is I actually prefer it neat rather than with milk. But you know, the most important thing is to enjoy it.

[A]

And that wraps up some of my favorite moments from 2025. I hope they leave you as inspired as they left me and full of ideas to take into 2026. Don't forget to catch part two of our 2025 highlights. But for now, please excuse me. I'm off to find a warm cup of matcha.

At Zoe, we never stop being curious about how people respond to food. Recently, we asked thousands of people about breakfast, what they eat, and how they feel about it. Their answers may surprise you. Over 70% told us that their breakfast is balanced, yet only 6% get enough fiber. If you've been listening to this podcast, you know that's not enough to be balanced, so it's no wonder that only 16% felt energetic after eating. And more than half of these thousands of people were hungry again within three hours. Clearly, breakfast is broken. But what if you could get a breakfast that actually supports your energy and keeps you feeling full? Daily 30 our 30 plant gut supplement, is a simple addition to your regular breakfast. It's one small fix that doesn't require you to overhaul your current morning routine. Daily 30 is designed by Zoe Gut Health scientists and features ingredients that support energy, gut health, digestion, daily nutrition, immunity, and skin and hair. Deliciously crunchy. You can sprinkle it on eggs, yogurt and berries, avocado, toast, and even pancakes. It tastes great on lunches and other meals too. As Professor Tim Spector discussed on this podcast recently, the wrong breakfast can lead to grabbing sugary snacks throughout the day, so it's crucial to start building good habits. At the start, get your breakfast fix and try the new [e-mail] Daily30 Our scientists recently released the latest version of Daily30, which now includes even more plants, including raspberries, goji berries, fermented green tea, kombucha, kale and marine algae. Go to zoe.comdaily30 to get started. Try it for a week and see how you feel.