ZOE REVIEW: IS IT WORTH THE HYPE? HERE’S WHAT WE THOUGHT OF THE GUT HEALTH MONITOR

It would be an understatement to say I was excited about reviewing Zoe. The kit promises to deliver insights into how your body metabolises food and what state your gut is in via a CGM (continuous glucose monitor) linked up to their app, alongside various other tests.

This especially interested me because my PCOS (polycystic ovary syndrome) predisposes me to a pretty frustrating relationship with sugar (I want it, deeply, with yearning, but eating it exacerbates the symptoms of my hormonal imbalance, making me feel wobbly), but also because, as a journalist specialising in wellness and health, I was keen to learn if this bespoke approach to diet might really be valuable.

Chuck in that I had noticed even more of the bright yellow Zoe stickers covering the CGMs on fashionable arms in the enclave of West London where I live and, well, that leaves you with a very eager woman when I was handed the assignment of reviewing the ever-growing phenomenon of Zoe.

Keep scrolling for my full review and verdict.

How we tested Zoe

When it comes to using Zoe, every person who undertakes the process has to do a series of tasks and wear the continuous glucose monitor for a fortnight, so, I did precisely that. Among the tasks are eating two cookies (which are designed to test how you interact with sugar and fat), and sending off blood and faeces samples. While wearing the monitor, you are asked to log your meals in the app and complete a series of challenges. After removing the sensor, the app and its nutritionists remain on hand for advice, and you are sent the results from the tests, which broadly sum up how your body processes fat and sugar, and how well your microbiome and diet scores.

Zoe

The first thing to say is the process of getting going requires a whole day of rigmarole – you need to do a blood test (pain-free, thanks to a clever device), take a faeces sample (not as gross as it may sound but still an odd pursuit), attach the continuous glucose monitor (this was the easiest bit of the entire endeavour and I felt next to nothing when pressing it onto my arm) and devour two cookies (one high in fat, one high in sugar – both designed to offer insights into how you process each) at prescribed times.

That done, you must send off the blood and faeces within the window advised, then spend two weeks wearing the CGM sensor while completing a series of nutritional tasks suggested by the Zoe app and guided, should you need it, by trained nutritionists who are on hand throughout. Here, I hit the first stumbling block. I was required to test my blood sugar at intervals and log my meals, so Zoe could learn how different foods affected me, but add in getting my hands on different foods or ingredients, and, well, I failed miserably.

During our chat after my trial, Dr Federica Amati, head nutritionist at Zoe, said she considers this drive for diversity in diet as one of the strengths of Zoe. She told me, even for her, someone who understands nutrition deeply and who has a balanced diet, it “pushed me out of my comfort zone – I’d gotten lazy.” The thing is, even though I knew I was meant to be trying the various different meals/ingredients suggested, I remained fairly lazy throughout – primarily because I just didn’t have the time to give my all to the app on my phone asking me to assemble meals when I was in a hurry/desperately tired. On this front, it – or perhaps, more accurately, I – failed.

Read more: The best multivitamins to take

On a more positive note, I found the readings on the sensor reinforced and drove home what I anecdotally knew about sugar: eat it solo or before protein and fat and you’re in for a much higher spike than if you’re considered about where you place sugar in your diet. This was most pronounced at a dinner party, during which I ate what was put in front of me, out of politeness, and the bread served at the start of the meal sent my sugars rocketing to a high of 12.4 mol/l.

That evening, I followed the suggestion of Zoe guidance on sugar and went for a walk on the way home, to reduce the amount soaring around my blood and, lo and behold, everything levelled out fairly quickly. Being reminded of the huge effect sugar has on me was an unequivocally good thing – I need to be vigilant to keep my PCOS in check, and simply can’t consume sugar with the abandon that some do.

After removing the sensor, I awaited the results from the samples I sent off. Unsurprisingly, the results, once processed, revealed my blood sugar control to be “poor”, while my fat control, diet assessment, and microbiome scores were all good. The explanations in the app were handy but, again, didn’t tell me anything I didn’t already know.

At this point, I asked an independent nutritionist, Dr Stephanie Moore, who’s offered me sound nutritional advice in the past, for her thoughts. She said: “The main benefit of Zoe is getting people to think more about how what they eat affects their body as a whole – but a full understanding of the gut microbiome is still a way off, so, simply identifying some strains is not overly useful, because we still don’t link what the ideal microbiome is.” She also added that perhaps this will change, given that Zoe is collecting an awful lot of data, from which she hopes there will be “some useful findings – but, for now, I think it over promises”.

Buy now £299.99, Zoe.com

The verdict: Zoe

I’m inclined to say I agree with Dr Moore – while I’m unequivocally pro the idea of food being medicine, the whole process involved in using Zoe is so very complicated for something that delivers relatively simple insights. I think the insights could be gained as efficiently from eating in a considered way, listening to your body, and making an effort to diversify your diet.

For more healthy eating tips, check out our round-up of the best vegan cookbooks

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