Zoe review: Is Zoe worth it? Our expert nutritionist and more than 200 Which? members give their verdict

Zoe claims its 'personalised nutrition programme' will change the way you eat, feel and live, with science-backed insights into how your body digests food, and advice on dietary changes to make to improve your health.

The Zoe programme, which involves a gut health test kit and nutrition tracking app, has barely been out of press headlines since its launch, with the bright yellow Zoe 'patch' (a blood glucose monitor) becoming something of a status symbol. 

But the high price point meant it was out of reach for many. So, with price cuts announced for 2025, is now the time to give it a go? 

As Which?'s in-house nutrition expert, I've had more questions about Zoe than anything else I can think of in the time I've worked here, so I was interested to put it to the test. I tried it out myself for six months, talked to relevant health experts for a fuller view, and also asked hundreds of Which? members who'd used it about their experiences.

Find out how it works, my verdict and insights from users below.

Eat well, live better, stay healthy – sign up for our free monthly Food & Health newsletter for the latest insights delivered straight to your inbox

How much does Zoe cost?

There's an initial upfront cost for the test kit, and a rolling monthly subscription payment for the subscription period. There's a choice of three plans:

• Starter (4 months): £299 upfront for test kit, £24.99 per month
• Core (12 months): £299 upfront for test kit, £9.99 per month
• Complete (12 months): £479 upfront for initial test and 1 gut health re-test, £9.99 per month.

There's a 10% discount on the Zoe website for new customers if you give your email address, which would bring a Core membership down to £269 for the kit and £9 for the monthly subscription (£377 for a year / £31 per month overall).

Zoe says the membership plans provide ongoing access to the Zoe app, personalised insights, meal recommendations and support to help you achieve your health goals.

It doesn't offer the gut health tests as a standalone thing, stating that it's the ongoing membership to the app that helps to build lasting healthy eating habits.

If you want to join Zoe, you can do so on the Zoe website.

Bear in mind, Zoe won't be suitable for everyone. In particular, it advises that it isn't suitable if you have an existing bowel disease, and warns that some dietary changes can trigger adverse results in people with sensitive guts. See the ZOE FAQs for the full list of medical conditions it's not suitable for.

My experience of using Zoe as a nutrition and food expert

I was intrigued to try Zoe. Would I find the glucose monitor useful and find out something I didn't know about my health? I was especially interested in the gut health tests because of my history of Crohn's, an Inflammatory Bowel Disease.

As a nutritionist, I know I have a healthy diet already so I was interested to see if I'd learn anything new.

The process

Stage one when you join Zoe involves a series of home tests (posted to you) to assess how your body responds to food. 

Attaching the glucose monitor and doing the blood test and stool sample was relatively easy. The challenging part was eating the supplied ‘test’ cookies – they were overly sweet and dry, and needed washing down with lots of water. 

The night before your test day (when you eat the supplied foods) you need to attach the glucose monitor patch to your upper arm, which you then wear for up to 14 days. On test day, you eat one pack of cookies for breakfast, fast for four hours and then eat the second pack (blue) for lunch. These strict timings mean it's best to do it on a day when you don't have much planned and you can follow the instructions carefully.

Once I was done, I popped my samples in the post and waited for my results, which arrived just under two weeks later.

What the tests showed

I found the results interesting and also quite surprising. 

My blood sugar control was rated as good, which was reassuring, as there’s a history of type 2 diabetes in my family. However, my blood fat control was rated as poor. Zoe said the tests showed I’m prone to rises in blood fat after eating fat-rich foods and my body is less efficient than other people’s at clearing fat from my bloodstream. 

Most concerning was my gut microbiome, rated by Zoe as bad. According to Zoe, I have only two out of 50 ‘good’ bacteria and 20 out of 50 ‘bad’ bacteria. 

This was unexpected. While I had Crohn’s disease when I was younger, after a resection on my colon almost 20 years ago I’ve been symptom free. 

I don’t have any current symptoms of poor gut health (such as feeling run down, bloating, digestive issues or being prone to colds) and my diet is balanced with a wide range of fruit, veg and wholegrains. 

I asked Zoe about my results. It told me: ‘Crohn’s does impact your microbiome and bowel surgery produces large-scale changes that can persist for a long time. There are distinct differences between the gut microbiome of people with and without Crohn’s, but we don’t know if these changes are a consequence of the condition or vice versa. 

Putting the results into action

Stage two involves putting your new-found test insights into action by logging your meals, snacks and drinks on the Zoe app. 

Your entries are rated with an overall ‘healthiness score’ as well as how that food impacts your glucose, blood fat and gut health.

Each meal gets rated with a score between zero and 100, and colour coded with a traffic light system – red (‘once in a while’ foods) through to super green (enjoy freely). The aim is to get your day’s intake in the 'super green' zone. 

I was also given a list of gut-boosting foods to eat more of, and gut-suppressing foods to avoid. 

Initially, the app also suggested ways to increase meal scores, usually by increasing the wholegrain or veg content or by adding nuts and seeds, but this feature disappeared during my trial (features seemed to get added and removed regularly while I was using it). 

Probiotics and gut health – we explain what you need to know and what to avoid, with insights from gut health experts

Is Zoe really worth it? Our expert verdict

To sign up for Zoe, head to the Zoe website.

Why you can can trust our Zoe nutrition app review

We purchased the Zoe programme ourselves so there was no outside influence on our review. 

Our in-house nutritionist, Shefalee Loth, trialled it for six months, analysing the process and information provided, and using the app and its recommendations for her daily meals.

She also followed up with Zoe for further insights on the results, and talked to independent experts including a gut health dietitian and microbiome research expert to assess the information given. 

Shefalee Loth, Which? principal researcher and nutritionist

Shefalee is a public health nutritionist with 20 years' experience, and has worked for the NHS, The London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine and World Cancer Research Fund

At Which? Shefalee is a principal researcher, researching and writing food and nutrition content for our magazine and website and is a media spokesperson. She is also a trustee at Sustain, the food and farming alliance.

She focuses on cutting through the hype to explain what you need to know about nutrition and healthy eating. From How bad is ultra-processed food? to the Top gut health myths you need to know about and What really works to cut cholesterol, Shefalee gives no-nonsense advice to help you make healthier choices and save money.

Our Zoe user research

In addition, our consumer research and analysis team surveyed 241 Which? members from our Connect research panel who told us they'd used Zoe in the past two years. 

We asked users a series of questions about their experiences to find out how useful people found it overall (and to be able to put numbers to it), and also gave people space to send us free-form responses with additional detail and their verdict on its impact on their life and eating habits. 

Shefalee followed up with some respondents to our survey for extra insights.

Our surveys are run and checked by our in-house Market Research Society qualified statisticians. For more on how Which? conducts its research see our Which? Testing & research explainer. 

Find out more about how Which? is not influenced by product manufacturers or retailers and how your support helps us to stay editorially independent

Healthy lifestyle changes you can make for free

Plenty of Zoe advocated diet changes are broadly recommended for health, so you don’t need to sign up to benefit. These include:

• Eating diverse plant-foods: The more variety the better, and things like herbs and seeds count. Aim for 30 plant foods a week. Lentils, pulses, legumes and nuts are all good sources of protein and can be used in recipes to reduce meat content. Veg, wholegrains, nuts and seeds contain fibre, which helps gut health.
• Reducing your intake of ultra-processed foods (UPF): While some foods classed as UPFs can still be healthy, such as baked beans and wholemeal bread, it's worth looking at how much of your diet is made up of the less healthy options, such as crisps, sugary drinks and snacks, and aiming to cut back. See more advice in our guide to ultra-processed foods.
• Including fermented foods in your diet: These contain microbes that could be beneficial for your gut. They include kefir, kimchi and kombucha, and everyday foods such as cheese and yoghurt. 
• Lifestyle changes: It’s not just food that affects your gut health. Being active, managing stress, getting enough sleep and managing your mental health also have an impact – so make sure you don’t neglect these areas, either.

You can sign up to Zoe's newsletter for free to get regular advice and healthy eating insights.

It also sells some 'off the shelf' food products including:

• M&S x Zoe 'Gut Shot' – a kefir (fermented yoghurt) drink with added fruit puree and fibre. £2 per 150ml shot or 6 for £10, available from M&S (in-store) and Ocado.
• Daily 30+ supplement – contains a mix of nuts, seeds, herbs and powdered food supplements. £2.25 per sachet, £13.50 for 7-day supply. Currently out of stock at Waitrose but you can sign up to the Zoe Daily30+waitlist here.

These are relatively pricey though. Most supermarkets now offer a variety of kefir yoghurts that are typically cheaper per ml than the Zoe gut shot and offer similar benefits. You can mix up your own nut sprinkle by combining a range of chopped nuts and seeds together and seasoning them with dried herbs.

Best extra virgin olive oil – this is rated as a healthy option, so we asked four olive oil experts to blind-taste and rate supermarket brands to find the best value and most flavoursome olive oil

How does Zoe work?

When you sign up you get sent a starter kit containing a continuous glucose monitor (CGM) and a yellow plaster you wear over it to keep it in place, which you wear for two weeks. 

You also have to eat a test meal (the iconic blue cookie or muffin), noting when your stool turns blue afterwards. You take a stool and blood sample, which gets sent off for lab analysis, and monitor and track your meals on the Zoe app. 

You also complete a survey on your eating habits, work, exercise, sleep and mental health. 

This initial test phase assesses your gut and digestive health and how your body handles carbs and fats, before providing insights and recommendations. 

Step 1: Once all signed up you receive your Zoe kit in the post, including:

• The Zoe Patch (the continuous glucose monitor – CGM)
• Finger-prick blood test kit
• Gut microbiome test kit (stool sample collection)  
• Standardised test meal (muffins/cookies)
• Instructions and tracking materials.

Step 2: You register your kit on the Zoe app with the unique ID from your kit box. 

Step 3: You apply the Zoe patch, the upper arm is recommended. You might feel a slight pinch but it should be relatively painless. This sensor will monitor your blood sugar levels continuously for around two weeks. 

Once it's attached, open the Zoe app and follow instructions to scan the patch using your phone. This app will now track your glucose response to different foods and meals. 

Step 4: Over the next two weeks, you’ll complete a series of tests:

• Eat the 'Standardised Test Meals' – pre-packaged Zoe muffins or cookies – at set times. Log how you feel, when your stool turns blue and any symptoms in the app.
• Track your blood sugar responses. You may need to scan the patch with your phone periodically.
• Complete the finger-prick blood test on the designated test day. Then use the prepaid packaging to send the sample to Zoe’s lab for fat and blood sugar response analysis.
• Submit your gut microbiome test. Follow the instructions to collect a stool sample. Seal and send the sample back using the prepaid envelope. 

How to decide if Zoe is for you

It can be hard to resist when you see adverts and social chatter about a particular product everywhere. You're not alone – FOMO (Fear Of Missing Out) is a real psychological phenomenon.

Ruby Gordon, Which? scientist, with an MSc in Psychology, tells us; 'FOMO is rooted in many marketing techniques, for example, "social proof" uses positive testimonials and reviews to show the benefits of the product and increases the desire to experience it yourself. 

'This effect can be strengthened using influencer endorsements to increase reach, authenticity and desirability. 

'Zoe's marketing highlights benefits such as clinically backed nutrition and gut health insights, available only to its customers, creating a sense of exclusivity. The focus on innovation and positioning itself as the 'future of nutrition' attracts consumers looking for credible, cutting-edge solutions, and creates a fear of being left behind.'

It's compelling stuff, but it's no small investment cost-wise. If you are considering joining, make sure you log in or sign up to Which? first to get insight from our experts on the Zoe app to help you decide if it's right for you.