Published 10th September 2026
Can ZOE help people lose weight? New study
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It won’t be news to anyone that overweight and obesity are increasingly common in the West.
This is really worrying, as research has repeatedly shown that carrying excess weight is associated with an increased risk of poor health outcomes.
However, studies have also shown that losing 5% or more of your body weight is associated with improved metabolic health.
On paper, that sounds achievable, but in the modern food environment, losing weight can feel almost impossible.
The ever-present advertisements for poor-quality foods, the expansion of food deserts, and the increasing cost of healthy foods all conspire against us.
To help tackle this growing problem, scientists have tested many dietary interventions to assess their effectiveness for weight loss.
One such intervention is calorie restriction, which is perhaps the most common approach to losing weight.
Research shows that while reducing energy intake can help some people lose weight in the short term, for others, it doesn’t work at all.
And even for those who have some success, the weight they lost often returns once the diet ends.
We need a better way.
In a recent study, our scientists investigated whether ZOE’s personalized diet program, which focuses on food quality rather than calorie restriction, could help people lose weight.
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What did we do?
We analyzed data from more than 5,000 people with overweight or obesity from our PREDICT 3 trial. Overall, 80% were women, with an average age of 59.
These people provided information about their health history and diet throughout the 3-month study.
Participants underwent testing from the original ZOE product: Blood glucose responses (from a continuous glucose monitor, or CGM), blood fat clearance (finger-prick test), and gut microbiome (stool sample).
We were also able to track how closely they adhered to ZOE’s nutrition advice by monitoring their daily diet scores (0-100).
These scores are generated in the ZOE app when you log your meals. In a nutshell, a higher score means the individual is more closely following ZOE’s healthy-eating advice tailored to their needs.
You can learn more about how the scores work here.
What did we find?
An impressive 83% reported some weight loss, with an average of 3 kg lost over the 3-month period.
Importantly, 34% (around 1 in 3) reported weight loss of 5% or more, which previous research shows is associated with improved metabolic health.
People who lost at least 5% of their body weight were more likely to be males and slightly older. They were also more likely to be slightly heavier at the start of the study.
When our scientists looked at the participants who had followed ZOE’s advice most closely, the results were even better.
This group included more than 2,200 people with a diet score of at least 70 out of 100.
In this group, the average weight loss was 3.6 kg, and 42% lost 5% or more of their body weight.
What does it all mean?
These results suggest that someone with overweight or obesity who follows ZOE’s personalized advice has a good chance of losing enough weight to have metabolic benefits.
And if you follow our advice closely, your chance of losing weight increases.
These results are exciting for a few reasons.
Firstly, we know that 5% weight loss is meaningful for long-term health, so these results provide evidence that following ZOE’s advice could have meaningful health benefits for some.
Importantly, although the 5% figure is a widely used benchmark, there’s also evidence that weight loss of just 3% can still have metabolic benefits.
Secondly, these participants weren't asked to track or reduce their energy intake, which is standard dietary advice that we know doesn’t work well for everyone.
And thirdly, this wasn’t a clinical trial conducted in a lab; these were real people living their normal lives, making dietary changes that fit into their routines.
ZOE’s approach isn’t about restriction; it’s about the joy of good-quality food and building long-term healthy habits you can maintain throughout your life, not just for the duration of a trial.
