Can The New Zoe App Change How We Eat? I Tried It To Find Out

As it becomes increasingly clear that there’s no one-size-fits-all approach when it comes to nutrition, we’ve seen a flurry of personalised programmes entering the health market. But arguably the most famous is Zoe, Tim Spector’s testing kit and app which offers advice on what users should eat using bespoke data on gut health and blood sugar levels. 

When it landed in the UK in April 2022, there was a waiting list of 220k people hungry to get their hands on that famous yellow arm patch – a blood sugar sensor – which had already taken off in the US. 

There’s no need to wait around to try out the company’s latest drop, though. Launching today is Zoe 2.0: the brand-new app which promises to transform the way you eat using science and AI. At £9.99 per month, it’s Zoe’s most affordable offering ever, and requires no testing, but can an app alone really change food and lifestyle habits? C&TH’s Ellie Smith gave it a go to find out.

Review: Zoe 2.0

My trial of the new Zoe app came at the perfect time. After a summer filled with weddings, festivals and holidays, nutrition had slipped down rather low on the priority list, and when September rolled round I was ready to knuckle down and start eating some vegetables again. Zoe 2.0 is all about becoming more mindful of your eating habits: just what I needed after one too many weekends fuelled by Aperol Spritzes and chips in pub gardens.

However, I was a little sceptical about how personalised an app could really be. There are endless nutrition platforms out there, was this just going to be another funnel for generic advice in an already oversaturated market?

I was pleasantly surprised. The personal element is clear right from the get-go – upon signing up, you’re asked to fill in a series of questions about your personal goals, whether you’re keen to prioritise longevity, improve your gut health, boost sleep or lose weight. You also fill in personal data, such as your height, weight and family health history. All this is then analysed and used to offer bespoke advice surrounding nutrition.

But how does this work in practice? ‘Our models are trained on data from over 300,000 people in the world’s largest nutrition and microbiome study, so the predictions are remarkably accurate even without taking any at-home tests,’ explains Zoe’s chief scientist Professor Sarah Berry. Users can also connect the app to their wearable fitness tracker, and over time it will then be able to draw information on how your diet, movement and sleep interact. 

AI Photo Logging

A key part of the app is the AI photo function, where you can take a picture of your meal, which is then swiftly analysed by Zoe for its nutritional content. I began by setting myself a challenge, pledging to log all my meals and snacks for a seven-day period. Everything you input is given a score out of 100 to help indicate how often you should be eating it, along with a breakdown of the nutritional information of all the macronutrients. The following day, you’re then given a Recharge Score which ‘looks at things like the quality of fats you’re eating, your intake of different types of processed foods, fibre, and how diverse your plant-based foods are,’ Berry explains.

I smugly kicked things off with a chicken salad (which I found myself arranging more neatly than usual in a bid to impress my personal AI assistant, a gut microbe called Ziggie). Within seconds, I was given a full breakdown of the meal, with Ziggie praising the mix of protein (chicken), avocado and olive oil (healthy fats), cherry tomatoes and cucumber (vitamins and antioxidants) and sesame seeds (fibre). I was awarded 88, a score which means you can enjoy the dish regularly. 

I was impressed by how accurately the app was able to identify the ingredients. And there’s science to back up this accuracy: Zoe tested its photologging function in a study, analysing 10,000 meals from 2,124 participants, finding it performs ‘extremely well’ when it comes to identifying foods. 

Portion size is a little trickier, admits Berry. But, she adds, by ‘combining smart visual recognition with what we know about typical portion sizes and your own logging history, the app gives much more accurate estimates than the usual self-reporting. Plus, since it learns from every new photo you upload, it just keeps getting more and more accurate over time.’

On day four, I didn’t feel so smug when sheepishly snapping a generous slice of red velvet cake at a friend’s birthday dinner, anticipating a telling off. Unsurprisingly, I received a low score of 18, meaning it’s one to ‘enjoy once in a while’. Ziggie explained: ‘This cake may be tempting, but it’s digested quickly, and with very little fibre, the energy it provides doesn’t last long.’ 

However, I was pleased to see the app doesn’t outright ban any foods. Dieticians have long warned that nutrition apps can exacerbate negative relationships with food through their heavy focus on numbers. But Berry argues that Zoe’s scores and streaks are ‘designed to encourage positive, sustainable behaviours, like boosting your plant diversity, choosing fewer high-risk processed foods, and learning how your body responds to what you eat. It’s not about labelling foods as strictly “good” or “bad” – we’re all about adding foods to your plate, not taking them away.’ 

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The Processed Food Risk Scale

Ultra-processed foods have dominated health headlines in recent years, yet there’s still widespread confusion surrounding the topic. While it’s pretty obvious glazed pink doughnuts and sugary sweets fall into the UPF bracket, the line is hazier when it comes to things like protein bars, plant milks and sauces, which are often marketed as healthy options, but secretly packed with additives. That’s where Zoe 2.0’s Processed Food Risk Scale comes in: simply scan a barcode and it will immediately pull up facts on the processing risk. 

‘Instead of just labelling foods as “bad” because they’re processed, it digs into how they’re made and what that means for your health,’ Berry explains. ‘Foods are scored on a five-point scale, from Unprocessed to High Risk, based on things like the type and number of additives (they’re not all bad, despite what you might have heard), hyper-palatability (this takes into account the ratios of sugar, fat and salt) and how fast you’re likely to eat the food (energy intake rate).’

I’ve been on a personal mission to cut my intake of UPFs this year, so I found this element particularly helpful. Sadly, it confirmed the news I’ve been refusing to accept for a while: Oatly’s Oat Drink Barista Edition was officially deemed Highly Processed. But this did inspire me to research alternatives – I discovered competitor brand Plenish, for instance, is made of just oats, water and salt.

(c) Sara Dubler, Unsplash

Plant Counter

While getting your five-a-day used to be the gold standard in health, in recent years the focus has shifted towards a more gut-focused approach to eating. The latest research, led by Spector, suggests we should be aiming for 30 different plants a week, with science showing this can protect against certain illnesses and promote healthy ageing. ‘We now know that our gut microbiome plays a key role in our overall health,’ says Berry. ‘A gut microbiome that contains a diverse range of good gut bacteria is associated with better energy levels throughout the day, more stable blood sugar, and a lower risk of heart disease.’

The new Zoe app includes a plant counter, using the data pulled from your food snaps. I liked this aspect too – seeing the number climb up is surprisingly satisfying, though I didn’t manage to hit 30. It made me realise that while I eat a pretty plant-heavy diet, I’m prone to eating similar meals on rotation. I vowed to mix things up more and be braver with recipes and supermarket choices. The app also made me more aware of what counts as a plant: not only vegetables, but also legumes, nuts, herbs and spices. Happily, even some dark chocolate counts.

The Verdict

As a food and health writer and personal trainer, I would say I’m pretty clued up when it comes to nutrition. But I found Zoe 2.0 a reliable, effective and user-friendly method of re-establishing healthy habits surrounding eating. Pretty much straight away, I found myself thinking more carefully about creating a gut-friendly, balanced plate, and I enjoyed the accountability the app encouraged.

Going forwards, I don’t envisage myself using the app to track everything I eat. However, it was a great tool for a reset, and I’ll definitely continue dipping in and out to learn about the nutritional content of my meals and identify UPFs. And others might find it helpful in other ways – as Berry puts it: ‘the key is using the tools in a way that supports long-term behaviour change, and can easily fit into your everyday routine to truly make it stick.’

Understandably, you’re going to get more personalised advice if you go the whole hog and do the Gut Health Test (£149). But for many people, this app alone will be enough to inspire positive change.

£74.97 for a three-month subscription or £119.88 for a 12-month subscription, available now from zoe.com