The ZOE app was just put to the test. Here are the results.

Zoe is an app offering a personalized diet. It was just tested in a clinical trial. The results are fascinating.

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Animations: Even Topland @toplandmedia

References:
the trial:

more Zoe info:

Disclaimer: The contents of this video are for informational purposes only and are not intended to be medical advice, diagnosis, or treatment, nor to replace medical care. The information presented herein is accurate and conforms to the available scientific evidence to the best of the author's knowledge as of the time of posting. Always seek the advice of your physician or other qualified health provider with any questions regarding any medical condition. Never disregard professional medical advice or delay seeking it because of information contained in Nutrition Made Simple!.

#NutritionMadeSimple #GilCarvalho

0:00 Zoe
1:36 New Trial
3:32 The Zoe program
5:41 Calories
6:46 What the trial means
8:00 A better design
9:12 Funding
9:54 Is Zoe worth it?

[paulstevens]

The next trial should be half the people watch 1 Nutrition Made Simple video per day for free and half do Zoe for $650 a year.

[Itsme-ej]

I am grateful for people with high integrity like you. The more I see how everyone is trying to take advantage of unhealthy people, the more I get motivated to stay healthy.

[noggintube]

My wife paid for me and her to do the 30 day Zoe 'testing' and this is what I thought about it (just my opinion, nothing more):
CGM - really interesting to log the blood sugar and run the testing to see how I responded. It's nothing I couldn't do without buying one myself though, so worth doing, but not necessarily through Zoe.
Blood fat test - pointless. It's just a blood sample on a test strip you send off. It's done after eating a specific muffin they send you (from memory) and checks how your body processes far. You only do it once, so don't get to see if your changes are doing anything, and to be honest, it's just providing information you can't do much about. The information it gave wasn't any better than simply going to get a cholesterol test.
Microbiome - send off a stool sample and they come back with the 'good' and 'bad' bacteria you have. Again, it's only once so you can't see any improvements, and they simply state that to change it for the better you should eat more unprocessed food, fermented veg, live yogurt etc etc - nothing I didn't know already.
Challenges - some of the challenges where you eat certain foods and watch the blood spikes and how combining foods and changing composition (e.g. adding fats can slow down release) were interesting, but again, the information is already out there.

Overall - for someone like me who is already interested in the topics and watches channels like this, it's probably not going to give anything of value. If interested, get a CGM yourself and experiment, watching the spikes and how you can impact them with what and when you eat. I'd say that was the best part of it. Outside of that save your money and do your homework yourself. For less than the cost of this test kit, you could get a CGM and cholesterol home test kit that will be better in the long run.
For someone who knows nothing about healthy eating and needs it to motivate them into getting educated and inspired (and has the money) it's probably not bad. I wouldn't continue past the 30 days as I feel it's expensive for what it is, but it can be informative for those needing that first push in the right direction. It won't work miracles to those that aren't motivated enough to keep up a healthy lifestyle of course though.

[RoxanneRichardson]

I always enjoy hearing your thoughts on how a study could have been better. The idea of the control group thinking they're getting personalized advice via a fake Zoe app is a really good one.

[yodaa]

I think Zoe is trying to do something really new (personalized nutrition), and the people working behind it are legit, actual scientists. They are not there yet, or at least it is not clear if they are, but their program certainly helps people who are lost. In any case, they are in the right direction, I honestly hope they keep improving.

[hmbdata]

My opinion of Zoe changed radically when I found out how much they want for it.

[bvrod]

I wouldn’t discount it any more than all the other “diet” programs. If it helps you get there - then great. However, after my 3 year, and still going, program of mindfulness, nutrition, and basic exercise, I am convinced that for most of us obese people we can do all of this by simply sticking to mindfulness, nutrition, and basic exercise. Yes, I am repeating myself for a very good reason. Lost 79 lbs, 6 inches on waist and feel young again at 60+.

I tried them all, and the only sustainable one with the most impact was mindfulness, nutrition, and basic exercise - 100% free! Believe in yourself.

[aeh]

I did Zoe for 6 months. It wasn't bad but I have become increasingly sceptical of the 'personalisation' element, given that everyone on Zoe appears to be eating similar things - Mediterranean diet basically. Even though we all got different scores for different foods it would be like I would get 74 and my friend would score 76 - minimal differences. Also there are many anomalies in the app: for example, I went vegan and found that soy yoghurt was scored worse than dairy yoghurt, despite considerable research evidence that dairy may present health risks and the fact that I'm lactose intolerant! Zoe ignores food allergies and intolerances eg almonds are healthy, scoring highly on Zoe, which is no good if you're allergic to them! I eventually gave up as my vegan diet consistently scored lower, in contradiction of health research, including research done by scientists who work for Zoe!

[Physionic]

Control group 1x a week email:

'Yo, you good? Cool.'

[waynehiebert]

I think there is a lot of solid info on the Zoe youtube channel .. but to be honest was never aware of their business model and the cost is prohibitive.. Nutrition Made Simple is the gold standard when it come to unbiased reliable information ... Thanks Gil...

[Sonnell]

Please keep up with your mission, to keep sanity alive! Society needs this so much!
Thank you!!

[RC-blpm]

Man you do a great job! Stay grounded and remain as our trusted source!

[ruthe]

I am a nurse with a PhD in clinical nutrition. I did the Zoe program.

Due to my background I already had a good diet based on our current science (Mediterranean pattern).
Zoe tested my blood and microbiome and made recommendations.... But I was already doing all of the things they recommended.

The fancy testing did not improve my diet or health more than following a healthy diet.
I think it's the support. 🤔

[pini]

Thanks, great video! Research criticism is valid (it doesn't provide a lot of "research value"), but some people make fun of this trial, forgetting that this app can actually help some people who are lost, but can afford it.

[awolf]

Gil please release a book, you are literally the best, most trustworthy and factual based Nutrition Youtuber there is.

[DrSamsHealth]

So, coach providing feedback, encouragement and guidance is better than just receiving advice... Mind blowing! :) Same with intense psychotherapy vs. waitlist / booklet.

[victorlanced]

Love the sound upgrade, much easier on my ears. Keep doing the great work 👏

[AllMightReal]

Wow. Your proposed Sham personalization group blew my mind. And I was wondering how to do an RCT on the effectiveness of an app. Great Video as always! My favourite channel.

[Chriscrusty]

zoe's method of overcomplicating the weight loss process really fucked me up when i started losing weight. i had food aversions and started eating stuff i don't even like such as tempe lol, i was spending 2x as much on organic food because tim spector said it's more optimal for health. it was some of the first nutrition related content i found and it convinced me that being healthy takes obsession and extreme precision

[yassennikolov]

As usual - great review! Thank you for your service to all of us!