Tim Spector is not asking you to give up chocolate. This is probably the best way to begin a conversation about gut health, a subject that can otherwise feel like an elaborate shopping list of things you shouldn’t eat.
The epidemiologist and co-founder of nutrition company ZOE has become one of Britain’s most recognisable voices on the relationship between food and the trillions of microbes living in our guts. His latest book, Good Mood Food, written with Dr Federica Amati, with recipes by Kathryn Bruton, turns its attention to the gut-brain connection: the growing body of research exploring how what we eat might influence our mood, energy levels and even our brains as we age. The advice more appetising than simply being told to eat another bowl of leaves. More plants, more fibre, a bit of fermentation and, above all, food you actually want to eat.
