How to feed the 50 gut bacteria that shrink body fat, calm inflammation and cut cholesterol | Prof Nicola Segata & Prof Sarah Berry

·1 hr 3 min·4 clips

Sarah Berry says randomized trials showed the top 50 bacteria increased after 12 to 18 weeks of diet change.

1. ZOE Science & Nutrition focuses on a Nature paper about how to measure gut microbiome health and how diet can change it. 2. Professor Nicola Segata of the University of Trento and Professor Sarah Berry, Zoe’s chief scientist at King’s College London, explain why the paper matters. 3. The episode asks whether the gut microbiome can be ranked for health and whether that ranking can guide food choices. 4. Segata says Nature is “the most respected and most read scientific journal in the world,” and that the paper went through five reviewers. 5. Berry says the size of the Zoe dataset matters because microbiome science has “noise” and very large variation between people. 6. Segata says human genomes are about 99.9% identical, while gut microbial species are only around 33% identical. 7. He adds that even microbial variants are far less similar, so large numbers are needed to see a real signal. 8. Berry says the paper has two parts: cross-sectional links and longitudinal intervention data. 9. She names the linked outcomes as inflammation, blood cholesterol, blood pressure, and body composition. 10. She says the intervention data shows whether changing diet changes the microbiome and then changes health outcomes. 11. Segata says the team ranked 661 species by association with healthy diets and cardiometabolic markers. 12. He says the result is a top 50 and bottom 50 list, which he describes as the microbes people would most want or least want in the gut. 13. Berry says the paper gives researchers a way to measure whether an intervention improves a microbiome in a health-associated direction. 14. Segata says some top-50 microbes were never grown in vitro before and were identified through metagenomics. 15. He describes these unknown bacteria as part of the “dark matter of the microbiome.” 16. Berry says the team can now create a score out of 1,000 using the type and abundance of good and bad bugs. 17. She says the score is intended as a practical summary of how health-associated a microbiome is. 18. Berry describes the format as an interview with rapid-fire questions, technical explanation, and repeated translation into plain language. 19. People interested in gut health, nutrition research, or microbiome testing would likely benefit from this episode. 20. People wanting a short, nontechnical overview without study details may skip it.

As heard by us

A grounded look at how gut microbes may shape energy, inflammation, and cardiometabolic risk.

It offers a careful look at the gut microbiome as a living ecosystem that may influence how the body handles energy, inflammation, and cardiometabolic risk.

Read the full review in PlayNext →

Why you'd press play

Hear how gut bacteria may help explain obesity, inflammation, and cardiometabolic risk.

Read the full recommendation in PlayNext →

Listen to the show on

Apple Podcasts Spotify

Play clips from this episode More from ZOE Science & Nutrition