Inside Tim Spector’s weekly food shop - 6 grocery rules to lower your blood pressure, cholesterol, and heart disease risk | Prof Tim Spector & Prof Sarah Berry

Jonathan Wolf (0:02)

Welcome to ZOE Science & Nutrition, where world-leading scientists explain how their research can improve your health. A neon sign hangs above your head, buzzing and flickering.

SPEAKER_2 (0:19)

Bathed in its harsh light, it feels as if you've been standing motionless for hours.

Jonathan Wolf (0:24)

Your eyes are wide as they flip back and forth. A bead of sweat runs down your furrowed brow as you whisper into the void, what yogurt should I buy?

SPEAKER_2 (0:34)

In our grandparents' day, the weekly shop was easy, with little to choose from, and much of it was simple whole food. Today, we're inundated with choices.

Jonathan Wolf (0:45)

There are hundreds of snack options, an endless range of breads, and a thousand different yogurts. It can be so overwhelming that we feel paralyzed by too much choice.

SPEAKER_2 (0:55)

So today, I talked to two of the world's leading nutrition scientists about how they do their weekly shop.

They outlined six simple rules to help you navigate the experience. And so by the end of today's episode, you'll have the necessary know-how to transform the health of your shopping basket.

Jonathan Wolf (1:12)

I'm joined by Tim Spector, Scientific Co-Founder of ZOE, and Sarah Berry, ZOE's Chief Scientist.

Both are professors at King's College London. Both are world-leading experts on nutrition science. And have decades of experience running nutrition studies and navigating grocery stores. With their powers combined, they'll finally remove the pain and confusion from grocery shopping.

SPEAKER_2 (1:35)

And by the end of the episode, you'll be able to confidently choose the best products to keep you healthy for years to come.

Jonathan Wolf (1:42)

Tim, is it true that some breads are healthier than others?

Tim Spector (1:47)

Definitely.

Jonathan Wolf (1:48)

Are most keffirs and kombuchas in the supermarket healthy?

Tim Spector (1:52)

Probably not.

Jonathan Wolf (1:54)

Sarah, do you buy many products that advertise themselves as sugar-free?

Sarah Berry (1:59)

No.

Jonathan Wolf (2:01)

Do you use front-of-pack nutrition labels to guide your shopping choices?

Sarah Berry (2:06)

Partially.

Jonathan Wolf (2:08)

Have you changed what you buy each week since joining ZOE?

Tim Spector (2:13)

Yes.

Sarah Berry (2:14)

Absolutely, yes.

Jonathan Wolf (2:16)

Finally, Tim, what's the biggest thing that people get wrong when they're doing their weekly shop?

Tim Spector (2:22)

I think it's being fooled by those labels on the front with ridiculous health claims. High protein, low fat, low sugar, low calorie.

They're the things most people get wrong and they get attracted to them.

Jonathan Wolf (2:35)

When I walk into my local grocery store when I'm going to do the shop, I can sometimes feel completely overwhelmed. I want to buy the best foods for my health and for my family's health, but there are so many options today.

For instance, if I want to go and buy yogurt, which I know from YouTube can be a healthy option, there are rows and rows and rows to choose from. I can't read the ingredient list for all of them. Today, I'm hoping we can go behind the scenes and get a sneak peek into your shopping carts and understand what world-leading nutrition scientists actually do when they have to go and do the shop. Tim, why are there so many options in shops today? I feel like when I was young, it was nowhere near as bad as this.

Tim Spector (3:21)

Most big supermarkets have 30,000 or more items, some up to 50,000, which is just incredible.

I think it's quite important to put this into an evolutionary perspective. I think just 100 years ago or even 70 years ago, there was virtually no choice of what you ate. It was what there was in the house or what there was in the village. There wasn't this concept of waking up every day or going to the shops and say, which of these thousands of items am I going to eat today? I think we've suddenly faced with ridiculous amounts of choice. We will tend to go for the unhealthy, sparkly, shiny things that marketing is telling us to buy. I think this is where the manufacturers are doing such a marvelous job on marketing and making us buy things that we wouldn't normally eat.

Jonathan Wolf (4:14)

I feel we're all convinced that having more choice must be good. So isn't it just a good thing that there's now this enormous variety of different foods in the supermarket?

Sarah Berry (4:25)

So I think it's actually a double-edged sword. I do think there are some benefits to it. The things that I'm now seeing on the shelves compared to when I was younger, 30, 40 years ago, there's an enormous new variety that's then exposing us to all different types of fibers, polyphenols, bioactives, and different tastes. So I think that's one good side, one good aspect of it.