When it comes to weight loss, there's endless discussion over what not to eat. Even popular weight-loss drugs like Ozempic work in large part by helping you limit what you consume. But what if you could shed a significant amount of body fat without being overly restrictive? That's what one well-known health expert is now trying to promote with his new "anti-diet."
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British epidemiologist and professor Tim Spector, MD, recently worked with the nutrition team at ZOE, a health science company he co-founded, to discover how people can lose weight without having to give up certain foods or restrict their intake through calorie counting.
In order to do so, they conducted a study that was published May 8 in the Nature Medicine journal. The ZOE researchers from Kings College London gathered 347 participants who fit the criteria for obesity, and divided them into two groups. One group was given an 18-week ZOE membership, where participants were sent at-home stool and blood sample kits that would be sent to a lab to calculate their blood fat, blood sugar, and gut microbiome levels.
With the results from these tests, the ZOE app scored 1.2 million food items from 0 to 100 for every user to give them personalized advice on how their body would respond to each, the Daily Mail reported.
The other group for the study received a standard "Dietary Guidelines for Americans" guide as well as a video tutorial, online resources, and weekly check-ins to help in their weight loss journey.
In the end, those who were given the ZOE membership lost the most weight. The participants in this group were able to lose 6.3 centimeters, or roughly 2.5 inches, off their waist in just 18 weeks. In total, they dropped about 4.7 percent of their weight, while the other group lost just 2.4 percent.
"We have shown that those who follow ZOE’s nutrition advice will see improvements in their overall health," Spector said in a statement. "It is clear some current population advice is out of date, over focused on calories and low fat foods and with low adherence unlikely to result in long term benefits."
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The study also found that the ZOE-based group was twice as likely to feel less hungry and four times more likely to report better sleep quality than the group that was provided the "Dietary Guidelines for Americans" guide.
But what exactly does the ZOE app promote to help weight loss? While each individual user will see unique guidelines, one of the key points of Spector's "anti-diet" is that it generally recommends people increase the amount of fiber they eat, according to the Daily Mail.
Previous research has shown that eating more fiber can help people lose weight because it can decrease your appetite.
"Fiber slows the speed of digestion, which makes you feel full and may help you eat less and stay satisfied longer," Marisa Moore, RDN, culinary and integrative dietitian, explained to Prevention.
And while no food is consider "off-limits" under the ZOE program, users are recommended to turn toward more high-fiber foods, such as oily fish, whole grains, nuts, seeds, and pulses (legumes). This, in turn, helps them avoid large amounts of dairy, processed carbs, and alcohol—all of which can make you gain weight instead.
"What the trial shows is that ZOE's approach of delivering personalized nutrition can help people lose the fat around their belly and improve their health whilst also having more energy and feeling less hungry," Sarah Berry, ZOE's chief scientist, told the Daily Mail. "It's the antithesis of the restrictive and prescriptive diets that we've seen that exclude entire food groups and leave people feeling hungry and tired. And it works better than standard care, even when people closely followed the generalized advice in the control arm. ZOE is a way of improving your health, for life."
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