We use the term ‘dietary inflammation’ to capture the complex chain of unhealthy effects that can be caused by what we eat.

We know that our bodies respond differently to various foods. Some might cause our blood sugar levels to rise and fall in ways that aren't ideal, or affect our blood fats in less favorable ways.

While this isn't usually a problem if it happens occasionally, frequent occurrences may disrupt our body's natural balance in the long run. In the short term, these responses can cause unwanted symptoms such as blood sugar crashes, hunger, and fatigue. Over time, these unfavorable responses may increase your risk of developing non-communicable diseases.

It’s natural to see immediate changes in your body after you eat, such as changes in your blood sugar and blood fat.

If you have a healthy response we should see your body return to normal. But if a meal causes dietary inflammation then we may see signs of this, including blood sugar crashes, hunger, and fatigue.

Continue to eat this way and you may see signs of low-grade chronic inflammation, atherosclerosis, beta cell degradation, and weight gain.

Sustained dietary inflammation over several years puts you at greater risk of chronic diseases such as heart disease and diabetes.

It’s as simple as eating the right foods and limiting the wrong ones. Unfortunately, as what’s right for one person might not be for someone else, there’s no generic catch-all advice we can give to everyone.

That’s why, with the ZOE testing and insights, we want to help you understand your own body and unique responses to the food you eat.

How exactly microbes influence our metabolism is unclear, but our studies suggest gut microbes play an important role in how well we cope with dietary inflammation.

Good gut health seems to provide a protective effect, as it is linked with positive responses and lower levels of body fat, especially visceral (belly) fat.

Our research has identified 50 bacteria linked with good metabolism and 50 with bad metabolism. Much of the advice you’ll get from ZOE will be about helping you create the conditions for your good bacteria to thrive.

We’ve even discovered certain foods that are associated with these bacteria which will allow us to give you personalized ‘gut boosters’ with your results.