8 ways to eat better in 2026 | Prof. Tim Spector and Prof. Sarah Berry

**Jonathan** (0:00)
Welcome to ZOE Science and Nutrition, where world leading scientists explain how their research can improve your health.
The turkey has been eaten, the present's unwrapped, and now our thoughts turn to the year ahead. Many of us plan to improve our health this year, and this almost always means a focus on how to eat better. Now this year, the conversation about nutrition became louder than ever. Countless online influencers sharing an endless number of ideas. Don't eat meat, eat more meat, eat more saturated fat, avoid seed oils, make sure you get enough protein. And of course, here's a long list of pills and powders I sell that you need to take in order to stay alive. Many of these claims are unfounded and lack evidence, and it's become harder to know what's real, and that can feel overwhelming. Today I'm joined by two of ZOE's top scientists to help us find clarity as we prepare for the coming year. Tim Spector is one of the world's top 100 most cited scientists, a professor of epidemiology at King's College London, and my scientific co-founder at ZOE. Sarah Berry is a world leader in large scale human nutritional studies, a professor in nutrition at King's College London, and chief scientist at ZOE. Tim, Sarah and the ZOE Science team have been busy developing new core principles to help you eat better, all based on the later scientific research, not what's been shared on Instagram. By the end of this episode, you'll have eight science-backed principles to guide you so that 2026 can be your healthiest year ever. Sarah, thank you for joining me today.

**Sarah Berry** (1:45)
Pleasure. Great to be here so soon after Christmas as well.

**Jonathan** (1:49)
Tim, thank you for being here as well.

**Tim Spector** (1:50)
Likewise.

**Jonathan** (1:52)
First, I have a really important question, Tim and Sarah. Did Father Christmas bring you anything nice yesterday or have you just been too naughty this year?

**Sarah Berry** (2:00)
Jonathan, I'm always a good girl. Do you know what? I had about three hours of my kids not arguing.

**Tim Spector** (2:06)
I was far too naughty, Jonathan, as usual.

**Jonathan** (2:08)
I got a new TV, which I was very excited about, but I lost the negotiation at home about the TV being bigger than the old TV.

**Tim Spector** (2:15)
Who has the remote control? That's the most important.

**Sarah Berry** (2:18)
You're jolly lucky to have us as well on Boxing Day, Jonathan.

**Jonathan** (2:21)
I appreciate it. And I think today is going to be fun. Let's start with our Q&A. Tim, can you live 10 more healthy years if you eat a gut-healthy diet?

**Tim Spector** (2:32)
Absolutely.

**Jonathan** (2:34)
Sarah, can consuming too much protein ever be bad for you?

**Sarah Berry** (2:39)
Yes.

**Jonathan** (2:41)
Tim, is mindful eating just another wellness fad?

**Tim Spector** (2:45)
No.

**Jonathan** (2:47)
Sarah, is nutrition more important than exercise if you want to lose weight?

**Sarah Berry** (2:52)
Yes.

**Jonathan** (2:54)
Tim, is calorie counting a great way to lose weight?

**Tim Spector** (2:59)
No, it's a terrible way.

**Sarah Berry** (3:01)
I knew you would say more than yes or no for that one.

**Jonathan** (3:04)
All right. Finally, for both of you, what's been your favorite health myth of 2025?

**Sarah Berry** (3:12)
Gosh, I've got so many. I'm going to go with C-dols are toxic. That's my favorite myth. C-dols are not toxic to us. They can be part of a healthy balance diet, and we have a whole podcast on it as well.

**Tim Spector** (3:23)
Intravenous vitamin infusions seems to be completely daft.

**Jonathan** (3:27)
Well, thank you for that. I know that our listeners are keen to get clear practical advice on how they can improve their health for good, particularly if we're just coming to this end of this holiday season. I'm very excited to have two of the world's leading nutrition scientists here. I know you've been spending a lot of this year finalizing these eight ZOE principles for how to eat in 2026 So Sarah, changing habits is hard.
How much difference can a change in diet really make to long-term health?

**Sarah Berry** (3:58)
So diet can make a huge difference. I think it's the most powerful tool that we have to improve our health. Research quite clearly shows that if you change your diet at any point in your life, you can add lots of healthy years. So we know that if you're 40, for example, and you change from the typical UK, US style diet to an optimal style diet, the kind of diet that we very much support at ZOE, you can add 10 years of healthy life. At 70, you can add six years.