CW: This article discusses dieting, weight loss, and disordered eating.
Rachel Fergusson
If your algorithm has fed you wellness content in the last year, you’ve probably heard about glucose spikes. And the gut microbiome. It’s also likely that before you learnt about glucose spikes or the bacterial makeup of your gut, you hadn’t spent a second of your life dwelling on these intricate bodily processes.
Now, this content is everywhere. There’s an army of wellness influencers on TikTok and Instagram kitted out with coin-sized glucose monitors. Many swear by the benefits of tracking blood sugar responses for improving everything: from energy levels and sleep to managing hormonal imbalances.
This flurry of interest in glucose tracking has largely stemmed from the meteoric rise of ZOE.
@joyoushealth Blood sugar monitoring started this week. Keeping it in the 4-6 range is the goal but will report back next week! #bloodsugar #healthyskin #bloodsugarbalance #glucosemonitor #glucose #nutritionist #holistichealth
The Rise Of ZOE
ZOE is a personalised nutrition app which strives to ‘revolutionise’ how we think about our health. It offers subscribers an at-home test kit (including a glucose monitor) to discover how their body responds to different foods. The app uses these insights to provide individualised nutrition analysis and advice.
“Tracking the inner workings of our bodies on such a microscopic level could actually be doing more harm than good.”
Since its launch in 2022, ZOE has accumulated over 130,000 paid subscribers and over a million Instagram followers. The app is endorsed by celebrities from Steven Bartlett to Davina McCall. They’ve even collaborated with popular supermarket M&S Food.
What Makes ZOE Different?
ZOE’s founders claim its anti-diet ethos sets it apart from other health and weight loss programmes. The app helps people reframe their mindset about food and instil habits that lead to greater long-term health. Sure, this seems like a respectable mission. But the extent of ZOE’s ‘anti-diet’ programme is questionable.
Dr Nicola Guess, a dietitian and diabetes researcher at the University of Oxford, says the science doesn’t add up. High blood sugar is a symptom, not directly a cause, of diabetes. In people without diabetes, there isn’t a proven link between high blood sugar and health. ZOE’s emphasis on glucose spikes (a normal part of how the body responds to foods like carbohydrates) cultivates fear over nothing.
ZOE’s chief scientist, Dr Sarah Berry, admits they “don’t have all the evidence.”
Tracking the inner workings of our bodies on such a microscopic level can actually do more harm than good. It can fuel obsessive behaviour around food consumption and turn normal bodily functions into a source of unnecessary worry. There have already been accounts of people becoming obsessed with checking their glucose monitors and restricting certain foods to avoid panic-inducing spikes.
The Focus On ‘Health’ Is Unhealthy
It’s easy to see how food logging, tracking, and scoring can encourage obsessive and restrictive behaviours. Studies show that people using calorie-counting apps have more disordered behaviours and attitudes towards foods. Using diet apps to lose weight also results in eating disorder symptoms, such as food preoccupation, all-or-none thinking around food, food anxiety, and purging behaviours.
Mental health charity BEAT says monitoring spikes in blood sugar encourages a fixation on numbers and diet, as well as causing distress. BSc-trained nutritional therapist Jeannette Hyde trialled the ZOE diet for four months. It deterred her from eating healthy foods because of potential blood sugar spikes. She says: “It took a year to get back to eating widely and having my energy again.”
NHS national diabetes advisor Professor Partha Kar says ZOE’s focus on numbers could translate into eating disorders in extreme cases. Despite these risks, ZOE does not ask if you have or previously had an eating disorder during the sign-up process—this is unusual for a diet app.
@join_zoe So excited to discover my unique microbiome, blood sugar and blood fat response with ZOE. #nutrition #guttok #personalisednutrition #unboxing #health #fyp #bloodsugar #guthealth #gutmicrobiome #science
Does ZOE Actually Work?
Reading various reviews of ZOE shows many users have found it beneficial in changing their attitude towards food for the better. Journalist Vicky Spratt said: “I could connect what I saw on the screen with the low energy slumps I was experiencing from low-fat foods and protein bars with the more stable energy I felt when I ate the foods I had been avoiding. It helped to rewire my brain.”
Yet even among those who had positive experiences, it seems a chunk of ZOE’s appeal is its gamified approach to food. By logging the ingredients in your meals, ZOE gives you personalised meal scores from zero to 100, indicating how well your body is likely to respond.
“The exclusivity of these programmes is doubling down on health inequalities in the UK.”
According to those who have used the app, a food score of 75 is the ‘magic number’, above which you’re encouraged to indulge in those foods as freely and frequently as you wish. A score below 75 means that some moderation in consumption is advised.
Although ZOE claims to be anti-diet, it’s easy to see how this system can create a stigma around certain foods. Labelling certain foods as ‘bad’ is a textbook example of diet culture. ZOE is still pushing its users to follow a diet under the guise of it being a healthy lifestyle.
Who Is ZOE Really Serving?
There are also serious questions about who in society benefits from ZOE and the wider movement towards personalised health. At an eye-watering cost of £294 for a test kit and a further £59 a month for membership, it’s arguable that the exclusivity of these programmes is doubling down on health inequalities in the UK. ZOE’s middle-class audience will likely have access to a healthier lifestyle, such as gyms and expensive food.
The hosts of the Polyester Zine podcast have also drawn attention to how ZOE screens out people struggling with chronic conditions like Crohn’s disease and diabetes. Instead, it focuses on those without any diagnosed medical problems. With this plus the hefty price tag in mind, they ask the question: who is ZOE really serving?
From health concerns to questions about affordability, ZOE is mired in controversy. Many people have seen positive results. But next time you see a glossy-haired influencer brandishing a yellow glucose monitor, proceed with a healthy dose of caution: it might not be everything it says on the tin.
UK charity BEAT have helplines for eating disorders, including one-to-one web chat and email. You can speak to someone 3pm–8pm, seven days a week, 365 days a year at the following phone numbers:
- England: 0808 801 0677
- Scotland: 0808 801 0432
- Wales: 0808 801 0433
- Northern Ireland: 0808 801 043
For more information, read about BEAT’s helplines and how they work here.
If you are in need of urgent help or medical advice for yourself or someone else, please contact 999 or the Samaritans on 116 123 if you or someone else is in immediate danger.
If you are looking for medical advice, contact your GP or 111.
Featured image courtesy of Sweet Life on Unsplash. No changes have been made to this image. Image license here.
