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.