Is the Zoe nutrition test worth it? Or Emperor's new clothes?

[hydroxyapatite]

I've read a lot about Zoe nutrition - a much hyped, expensive nutrition package which helps you to regulate blood glucose and blood lipids, and improve your microbiome profile.'

Has anyone done this and found it worth the money? Aren't they really just testing your cholesterol levels and finding out by using a £40 monitor what foods causing a sugar spike after eating? Therefore guiding a better diet?

@ManateeFair just said "it's bollocks." There isn't any context as to whether she meant signing up to Zoe is bollocks or that all the research underpinning Zoe is bollocks. For some reason you seem to have assumed the latter even though the topic of this thread is the former! That is your straw man right there.

The personalised insights Zoe provides are marginal as the advice is broadly the same for everyone. As for paying hundreds for motivation - if that's what it's about then Zoe's marketing materials should reflect this. They don't.

The 30 plant rule is based on a correlational study. It is a guess, not a proven causal relationship.

In fact, the Facebook groups are not full of people who have followed the Zoe diet and seen improved microbiomes. It’s okay they say; it turns out the first measurements were flawed. The first measurements assessed the wrong elements of the microbiome but SCIENCE. Now we know better. Isn’t it fun to be part of SCIENCE? They do not consider that maybe these tests are also not valid. They do not ask, if the original tests were wrong, what else might be wrong?

Isn’t the emperor wearing beautiful robes?

But they don't need to pay ££ on Zoe! They can simply do a little bit of research themselves to realise that they're not eating a very diverse diet.

If it was so easy why would almost 70% of the population be overweight or obese? If they could just research and do it themselves?

Why Is anyone overweight or unhealthy when the info is out there and has been for ages(other than the specific 30 different plants.)

And it IS personalised. We all react differently, hence the TWINS study which is the foundation for it all.

The point of Zoe is it hits people in their wallets. It also provides 1:1 support if they need it.

I accept it's not for everyone. Fair enough.

I found it helpful as it highlighted my 'weak spot' which is saturated fats.
I also found it useful to see my BG go up highest with a roast dinner (potatoes and gravy made with flour) more than with a mince pie (full of sugar.)
I also found my BG came down a lot (after eating a banana) with a 20 min brisk walk.

That is your straw man right there.

I don't think you know what straw man is. It's not what I'm posting

The 30 plant rule is based on a correlational study. It is a guess, not a proven causal relationship.

Have you read the research into the results from immunotherapy treatment when the patients improved their microbiome, and seen the outcomes of their treatment compared to the control group? It was published about 2 years ago.

FGS! Please think a bit more before you post!
You shouldn't need these things explained to you.

The thing is, I suspect that the people who aren't eating 5 a day aren't likely to be in the market for Zoe, while the people who are in the market for it (by definition rich and interested in health) almost certainly already are.

I really like the whole organisation- I enjoy the podcast, I'm interested in the research- but I didn't learn anything additional about nutrition from doing the tests. For most people, I imagine there are ways to spend £300 on health that would deliver better bang for your buck- switch to more organic veg, join a gym, new running shoes or whatever. You can get 99% of the benefit of the nutritional advice just by following the summaries people have posted on here.

No, you're missing the point entirely. Which is that there is no need to sign up for Zoe in order to, for example, eat 30 different plants a week. Eating 30 different plants a week is great for your health, no one is disputing that. But you don't need to pay £££ to find that out. Your friend who only eats the same 4 vegetables doesn't need to sign up for Zoe to find out how to improve her diet. The information is available for free.

But you're perhaps missing the point that yes, this information is available for free, but most people - even intelligent affluent people who read and understand the information! - often find it hard to actually change their eating habits. Similarly theres loads of good about the benefits of various forms of exercise but how many people do enough?

For at least some people, something like Zoë/using a CGM (and tech like fitness trackers) may be extremely useful tools for motivation and change.

I haven't missed that point at all - it's valid. If someone wants to spend hundreds of punds on Zoe for motivation and wants or needs to have the information spoon fed to them then maybe Zoe could be worth it, and I've made that point. But my point is that for people who just want the information and are able to understand it (it's not very complicated) and motivate themselves then Zoe isn't worth it in my opinion.

for people who just want the information and are able to understand it (it's not very complicated) and motivate themselves then Zoe isn't worth it in my opinion.

Fair enough, I'd agree... not sure I actually know many people like that though!

I find it interesting that Zoe seem to be branching out from health testing and into the food and drink sector. I suppose it was an inevitability. Here’s your £2 150ml of fruit kefir. Whether the product is good or bad, the commercialisation makes me less likely to recommend Tim Spector and Zoe’s advice to people who are sceptical. Their obvious rebuttal (and I don’t entirely disagree) is “of course Zoe recommends that. They’re selling it”.

I'm glad we agree 😊. I'm sure we'd also agree that improving our nutrition and health should be for everyone, not just those who can afford to pay for Zoe.

The blood fat test isn’t a cholesterol test as per the GP. It’s measuring your specific response to food you have eaten and how long the fat stays in your system, which isn’t the same for everyone. Why yes! I have just been listening to a Zoe podcast.

I'm sure we'd also agree that improving our nutrition and health should be for everyone, not just those who can afford to pay for Zoe.

Yes - and I very much hope that one of the outcomes is more good evidence-based nutrition-health info, of the sort that healthcare systems will be able to make use of.

The thing is, I suspect that the people who aren't eating 5 a day aren't likely to be in the market for Zoe, while the people who are in the market for it (by definition rich and interested in health) almost certainly already are.

Yes, I agree.

The people who might benefit from Zoe probably don't have an extra £300 cash to spend.

But in general, for anyone, that £300 is better spent on fresh seasonal fruit and vegetables and gym memberships

I’m “on” Zoe - personally think it’s great. It teaches you about your blood sugar, blood fat and gut microbiome health and helps you find what foods work best for you. I’ve found it super helpful and interesting - but it is expensive, and, ultimately, if you’re not prepared to eat a lot of fresh, whole food (which means a lot of cooking) then it may not be for you. If you are, though, I’d recommend it!

No its emperors new clothes.

I guess rather than being 'emperors new clothes', it's 'luxury clothing that will suit some people very well but not others'.

Zoe is a good concept let down by software glitches and patchy customer service.
I followed instructions meticulously. Responder A acknowledged a "glitch' with the gut transit time flagging up as overdue after it had initially shown completed successfully, but then disappeared. Software glitches happen and she was polite and helpful. The prompt asked me to use the plus icon but this 'was not available on first day of testing' - so why show the prompt before the icon is available?
I waited as instructed for the prompt to activate the LibreLink. I followed the instructions carefully on the page I was taken too. It seems this was not the page Zoe intended and as a result the sensor results were not available to Zoe. Responder B wrote 'In relation to your sensor you have incorrectly logged in with your personal information and not the credentials provided by us'. In my brief experience Zoe software has too many glitches and customer service do not take adequately take responsibility for errors in the software but blame the user.

Zoe is a good concept let down by software glitches and patchy customer service.
I followed instructions meticulously. Responder A acknowledged a "glitch' with the gut transit time flagging up as overdue after it had initially shown completed successfully, but then disappeared. Software glitches happen and she was polite and helpful. The prompt asked me to use the plus icon but this 'was not available on first day of testing' - so why show the prompt before the icon is available?
I waited as instructed for the prompt to activate the LibreLink. I followed the instructions carefully on the page I was taken too. It seems this was not the page Zoe intended and as a result the sensor results were not available to Zoe. Responder B wrote 'In relation to your sensor you have incorrectly logged in with your personal information and not the credentials provided by us'. In my brief experience Zoe software has too many glitches and customer service do not take adequately take responsibility for errors in the software but blame the user.

My thoughts mirror yours @JacketAndJumpet - I'm fascinated by the subject, really enjoy the podcasts and follow the general advice, but think the benefits of joining the programme so marginal as to not be worth it.

The strength of the podcasts is that they demystify the subject and make it accessible, and there's a danger the programme does the opposite. Not for me.

Their M&S probiotics move completely undermines their research based approach and I would never have signed up to a programme which promotes this (I am very familiar with the research on probiotics). I am t almost two weeks in and regret signing up, as per most of the previous comments.

Found that a bit disappointing too.

The free content is excellent (I'm watching the latest one right now), but it's turning into a bit of a racket.

Have asked for full refund and compensation for bullying by chat responder.
Suggested response times by complaint team not met - why create an expectation which is not met? After 4 days no contact from complaint resolution team.
One customer service person has undertaken not to close thread until the end of the complaint resolution. Has written no further charges will be taken. Offered one free month but want no further interaction with Zoe due to poor quality of the app and patchy customer services.

That sounds bad! Is the customer service shit then?