Chronic diseases like heart disease, diabetes, and obesity are killing more people than ever before. Could your diet be the biggest driver of this risk?

Today, Dr Mark Hyman explains why food matters more than genetics for long-term health, and how one diet change can make the biggest difference.

Alongside Professor Tim Spector, Mark, a 15-times New York Times bestselling author and a practising family doctor, explores how modern eating is linked to chronic disease and what the science says reduces risk.

We break down how food is designed to make us eat more, how this affects metabolism, insulin and inflammation, and why this matters more than your genes.

By the end of the episode, you’ll understand the single most important dietary change Mark believes can lower chronic disease risk, based on clinical experience.

If the modern world is driving these conditions, what’s one small change you can make to take back control of your future health?

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Timecodes

00:00 The one change that could rewrite your health

03:15 Are chronic diseases really ‘chronic’?

06:30 Your genes don’t decide your future

10:05 Why healthspan is shrinking, not growing

12:30 Food is now killing more people than smoking

14:55 Who is funding nutrition ‘science’?

17:20 The moment soda taxes scared big food

19:45 Why cheap food isn’t actually cheap

22:10 How food hijacks your metabolism

24:35 Why ultra-processed food makes you overeat

27:00 Are these foods actually addictive?

29:25 The comparison that changes how you see carbs

31:50 Why ‘healthy’ guidelines backfired

34:10 The family transformation that shocked him

36:35 How cooking was engineered out of daily life

38:55 Kids are being targeted like smokers were

41:20 Countries that proved change is possible

43:45 Why calories in, calories out fails

46:05 What actually counts as food

48:30 Feeding your gut, not just yourself

50:55 The simplest way to choose better food

53:15 Why sugar shows up at breakfast

55:35 Milk, fermentation, and inflammation

57:05 The single answer he gives when pushed

59:10 Is it ever too late to change?

📚Books by our ZOE Scientists

The Food For Life Cookbook | https://amzn.to/4amfIMX

Every Body Should Know This by Dr Federica Amati | https://amzn.to/4blJsLg

Food For Life by Prof. Tim Spector | https://amzn.to/4amZinu

Ferment by Prof. Tim Spector | https://amzn.to/4hU1Df5

Free resources from ZOE:

Eating for Better Brain Health: Your brain-gut blueprint | https://ZOE.com/brainhealth?utm_medium=zoe_podcast&utm_source=youtube&utm_campaign=betterbrainhealth

How to eat in 2026 - Discover ZOE’s 8 nutrition principles for long-term health | https://zoe.com/2026?utm_medium=zoe_podcast&utm_source=youtube&utm_campaign=How to eat in 2026

Live Healthier: Top 10 Tips From ZOE Science & Nutrition | https://zoe.com/freeguide?utm_medium=podcast&utm_source=youtube&utm_campaign=freeguide

Gut Guide - For a Healthier Microbiome in Weeks | https://zoe.com/gutguide?utm_medium=podcast&utm_source=youtube&utm_campaign=gutguide

Better Breakfast Guide | https://zoe.com/breakfastguide?utm_medium=podcast&utm_source=youtube&utm_campaign=breakfastguide

Mentioned in today's episode

Food Fix Uncensored: Inside The Food Industry's Biggest Cover-Ups by Mark Hyman | https://amzn.to/4t0RClC

Salt, Sugar, Fat: How the Food Giants Hooked Us by Michael Moss | https://amzn.to/4k7soxI

Nourishment: What Animals Can Teach Us about Rediscovering Our Nutritional Wisdom by Fred Provenza | https://amzn.to/3ZOFlDf

Global Burden of Disease study: Diet vs. smoking, Lancet (2019) | https://www.thelancet.com/article/S0140-6736(19)30041-8/fulltext

Ultra-Processed Diets Cause Excess Calorie Intake and Weight Gain, Cell (2019) | https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/31105044/#:~:text=Subjects%20were%20admitted%20to%20the,Published%20by%20Elsevier%20Inc.

The study of food addiction, Appetite (2010) | https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC4354886/

Can fermented food fight inflammation? | https://zoe.com/learn/ferment-tim-spector-episode?srsltid=AfmBOopmXyIJYVCuHCZ6RfWvY_g7TzsVM9K38g6_ZLRWlYs9m86d3Im2

Breast Cancer Risk among US-Resident Polish Migrant Women, IJERPH (2021) | https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/34682540/#:~:text=Abstract,estimated%20with%20conditional%20logistic%20regression.

Milk and Health, NEJM (2020) | https://www.nejm.org/doi/full/10.1056/NEJMra1903547

Have feedback or a topic you'd like us to cover? Let us know here: https://gf6hx47iu5g.typeform.com/topicsuggestion

Episode transcripts are available here: https://zoe.com/learn/category/podcasts