Shortly after Sienna Miller, a new, high-profile face appeared in M&S stores in January. But this was no fashion icon. This was Professor Tim Spector, scientific co-founder of the Zoe personalized nutrition program. His image was plastered across the aisles of M&S to advertise what was billed as a groundbreaking new product: the Zoe x M&S Food Gut Shot.
The hype was on par with any A-lister partnership. M&S held a press conference to talk about the ‘hard work and hundreds of tastings’ that went into the shot, which contains more than five billion live cultures of 14 strains of gut-friendly bacteria, plus prebiotic fiber and ‘polyphenol-rich plants’. M&S product development manager Claire Richardson described it as “a dream” to work with so much scientific expertise.
Is this the world’s biggest gut shot? Launched today @marksandspencer, a collaboration with world-leading gut research company ZOE. Developed by @timspector and M&S’ brilliant product development and food technology teams, it contains FIVE BILLION bacteria (your gut will love it) pic.twitter.com/6yM0RJ1Vkn
— sharrycramond (@sharrycramond) January 2, 2024
And it was certainly the dream moment to launch. In addition to all the usual health resolutions that accompany the new year, the news coincided with a series of columns around the Zoe nutrition program, fueled by high-profile interviews with Spector, and his appearance in the Netflix documentary You Are What You Eat. The program also attracted £2 million in investment from Dragons’ Den’s Steven Bartlett last March, and has attracted celeb ambassadors such as Davina McCall, who made a promotional video for Zoe in August.
Does Zoe have the potential to go mainstream? And if so, how will this change the way British consumers eat?
The story so far
To date, Zoe has registered 130,000 subscribers. That may seem like a small number compared to the buzz surrounding the program, but Zoe says the subscriber base “continues to grow every week.” And there is room to reach a much wider audience.
“The potential to become mainstream is significant,” says registered nutritionist and wellness specialist Clemence Cleave. “People’s awareness of the importance of nutrition as a pillar of their health, combined with a lot of mixed messages in the media about what constitutes a healthy diet, plus the technical aspect of the tests – all this makes Zoe very attractive.”
For her, Zoe stands out “in the precision food market”. That’s partly because, unlike many of its rivals, it doesn’t focus on genetic or DNA testing.
Instead, the system looks at factors such as blood sugar control, blood fat control, gut microbiome health, diet quality and family/health history. These are determined via a stool test, a continuous glucose monitor and a blood fat test.
The potential
Each subscriber receives a personalized nutrition report on the app based on the findings. That personalization has the potential to become more accurate as well. “As Zoe membership grows and thus the data for research analytics grows, the new findings will ultimately enable Zoe to update their gut microbiome and food scores to further personalize recommendations to individual members in volume through their app,” the statement said. British Association For Nutrition. And Lifestyle Medicine (BANT).
The association sees a clear market for Zoë. “Personalized nutrition puts the power back in the hands of the individual and can deliver positive results in as little as four to eight weeks, all of which increases interest and adherence,” the report says.
However, there are barriers to wider adoption. The most important are the costs. The test kit and report have a price tag of £299.99 – and then there’s the monthly membership fee, which ranges from £24.99 to £59.99 depending on the length of the contract.
“It’s still an expensive service, and many people won’t be able to afford it,” Cleave says. “Another potential barrier to wider adoption is of course the impact on health it can have and the extent to which people feel that the advice they have received is helping them to live healthier lives in the long term.”
Cleave says that “the applicability of these tests to the general population is questionable and highly controversial.” For her, the tests provide a level of detail that few will need. And despite the personal nature of the results, for most people the advice will be somewhat “fairly generic, with an emphasis on consuming more plant-based foods and fibre”.
Gut health
The program certainly follows some common principles that can apply to all users. For example, improving intestinal health is a core goal. At the M&S press conference, Spector pointed out general shortcomings in this area. “We have lost about half the diversity of microbes in our gut compared to our ancestors,” he said. In press interviews he cited this lack of diversity as the main reason why Britain is “the sickest country in Europe”.
This is not just a health problem; we are the fools who fund the big food companies to make us the sickest people in Europe, while we are told it is all under control. Obesity and weight gain cost Britain £98 billion a yearhttps://t.co/W2KSbymjjB
— Tim Spector MD (pro) (@timspector) December 4, 2023
Live bacteria – such as those found in the M&S x Zoe injection – are a crucial tool for improving gut health. But you don’t need a branded product to get that effect. If Zoë’s message gets through, it could be a boon for brands that have focused on gut health as a selling point.
Many of these types of brands are already emerging. Kefir brand Biotiful, for example, has seen its drinks sales grow by 21% to £35 million [NIQ 52 w/e 9 September 2023]. Bio&Me says sales of its range have grown by more than 200% in the past year. This was undoubtedly fueled by positive publicity from, among others, Zoe ambassador Davina McCall, who presented the granola in a video diary about her eating habits.
Co-founder and CEO of Bio&Me, Jon Walsh, has a good feeling about the attention Zoe is receiving. “The Zoe app is certainly helping to increase consumer interest and education around gut health, which is brilliant. The more consumers know about good intestinal health, the better.”
Vegetable power
Fermented foods are one way to improve gut health. Eating a variety of plants is another. Zoe recommends consuming 30 plants per week to increase the diversity of the gut microbiome.
The recommendation has clear benefits for foods with a high content of fruit and vegetables. Take Allplants, which produces plant-based, chef-prepared meals. “The Zoe app’s emphasis on plant-based eating aligns with the evolving preferences we’re seeing, which is actively seeking out ‘vegetarian hero’ options over the overly processed meat alternatives,” said Lucy Squires, marketing director of Allplants.
As she notes, this change is already happening to some extent. For Squires, Zoe is simply part of a wider shift in eating habits that has taken place in the wake of programs like Panorama Ultra Processed Food: A Recipe for Bad Health, which aired in June. Or the Game Changers, a documentary about plant-based eating, proteins and strength that aired on Netflix in 2018.
“Great storytelling makes the health benefits of plant-based eating more accessible, inspiring and easier to understand,” says Squires.
For her, this all contributes to a reappraisal of what it means to be healthy. And Zoë will be part of that revolution. The message is this: more fermented foods, more plants and less processing.