Midlife is often seen as a point of no return for health, but it could be the perfect moment to make a radical change. New research suggests that your gut microbiome holds the key to aging well, protecting you from chronic disease, and even reversing some of the damage from years of poor diet and stress.
Few people understand this better than Rich Roll, who went from an overweight, junk-food-addicted workaholic to one of the world’s fittest men - all after the age of 40. Now a plant-fuelled ultramarathoner and bestselling author, Rich shares the wake-up call that forced him to transform his life.
He’s joined by Professor Tim Spector, one of the world’s top 100 most cited scientists and professor of epidemiology at King’s College London, who explains why gut health becomes even more important as we age - and how small changes to diet, movement, and daily habits can have an outsized impact later in life.
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Timecodes
00:00 A life-changing health transformation
00:38 Overweight, exhausted, and stuck at 40
01:16 How ultra-processed food harms your body
02:08 Can you really transform your health at midlife?
03:18 The biggest myth about changing your health
05:10 From addiction to peak performance
08:40 What happens to the body on a fast food diet
10:26 Unexpected benefits of a plant-based diet
15:30 Gut microbes control more than you think
21:19 Gut health, mood, and mental clarity - what’s the link?
25:00 Does exercise improve your gut microbiome?
27:55 How movement increases your healthspan
30:12 Do elite athletes have better gut health?
32:45 Fuelling extreme endurance without meat
36:00 Tim’s #1 food for gut health
39:05 How to make small changes that actually stick
41:30 Why motivation is overrated—just start
45:00 The mindset shift that makes exercise easier
48:20 It’s never too late to take control of your health
📚Books by our ZOE Scientists
The Food For Life Cookbook
Every Body Should Know This by Dr Federica Amati
Food For Life by Prof. Tim Spector
Free resources from ZOE
Live Healthier: Top 10 Tips From ZOE Science & Nutrition
Gut Guide - For a Healthier Microbiome in Weeks
Mentioned in today's episode
The anti-inflammatory effect of bacterial short chain fatty acids is partially mediated by endocannabinoids, 2021, published in Gut Microbes
Signatures of early frailty in the gut microbiota, 2016, published in Genome Medicine
Elevated Inflammatory Status and Increased Risk of Chronic Disease in Chronological Aging: Inflamm-aging or Inflamm-inactivity?, 2019, published in Aging and Disease
Heterochronic faecal transplantation boosts gut germinal centres in aged mice, 2019, published in Nature Communications
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Episode transcripts are available here.
ZOE Science & Nutrition 
