Can Multivitamins Slow Ageing? Obesity Myths & Brain Boosts

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1:02Welcome to The Wellness Scoop, your weekly dose of health and wellness inspiration. And as always, we're both here as your hosts. I'm Ella Mills. And I'm Rhianna Lambert. And after a decade in the wellness industry, we know how overwhelming and confusing health advice can be. So that's why we're here with this podcast to cut through the noise and make healthy living simple, fun and personal.

1:30I have to say I'm a little bit coldy today so if I sound a bit bunged up I apologize in advance. It's the season I mean I always find when you cross over to spring there's always little remnants of those winter bugs. I had sinusitis last week so between us we are we're just getting over everything really. We are indeed. Marie how are you though? Yeah good thank you just honestly just taking it really easy at the moment. I've got a few big corporate nutrition talks you know I love going into offices. If anyone wants me to come into their office, just email info at nutrition.com. I'll be there to talk about nutrition and fiber.

2:08But honestly, Ella, I have been really taking a leaf out of your book and just prioritizing rest at the moment. How about you? I love it. Congratulations. Yeah. Other than being a little snotty in rank, I am absolutely excellent. I discovered a new meditation app. You know, I'm with my like zen flow these days and I actually listened to an interview with the founder on Dr Chatterdry's podcast which is a really brilliant show I always think and it's a guy called Henry Shookman and the app's called The Way oh my gosh it's so good I think in the last five days I've done 158 minutes of meditation so I'm like really good vibes this morning.

2:46So do you sit on the train just for all of us like myself who find it hard to get into and do you put headphones in and just kind of do it? I actually try and do it first thing in the morning I say try I mean my kids end up waking me up I'm like an insomniac at the moment to not to dig grass they keep waking me up at two in the morning and now my body thinks two in the morning's the morning we've been having night terrors from my little one as well at the moment it's not been a good sleep stage for us has it yeah and now I just think it's the morning at 2am every day and so you meditate like two to four I do but I try and wake up at like 5.45, 6 and get half an hour of time in before my kids wake up, their early risers.

3:25So I do try and do that, but I've now been trying to do evening as well. And I sit with them while they start going to sleep. So I do it then. Anyway, I'm feeling really good for it. But Rhi, what have we got coming up in today's show? We've got loads of good stuff. Today's show is a big one. So we've got the biology of obesity and why it's about far more than willpower, which I think is such an important thing to discuss today. Can a daily multivitamin really slow aging? The new study that's been making the headlines the last week or two. The 15-minute exercise brain boost scientists are really starting to get excited about.

4:00And the bold campaign calling for a social media ban for under-16s. And finally, the surge of sunbed misinformation online, despite the fact we know the clear cancer risks. That one was wild to me when I was reading about it so I'm excited to talk about it. Me too, it's like a thing of the past and it's back. So let's delve in Ella to the headlines that matter.

4:25Now headline one we have reserved for Rhi, it was World Obesity Day two weeks ago now. Rhi did a big focus on obesity when she was studying nutrition. She is actually an expert, has an MSC in obesity risk and prevention. But you were doing some different talks and public health work on obesity over World Obesity Day. There were obviously lots of headlines as well on it. So we thought actually it would be really helpful to use this slot because it's such a kind of cultural conversation at the moment. So as far as I'm aware, the most recent government stats we have are 2023 to 2024 in the UK. And that shows that now we've got 64.5 % of adults in England who are estimated to be overweight or living with obesity and just over a quarter specifically living with obesity.

5:19So there's been a general upward trend, particularly since 2015, and nearly two in three adults are overweight or obese in this country. So it's an incredibly important topic. And Rhi has taught me so much just generally. she's an oracle and a goddess all around but when it comes to obesity because I think one of the things that's so important is the way that you talk about it with understanding and compassion and the complexities and nuances which is so important to bring to light so we've got a kind of little bit of a Q &A situation going on around this. Yeah we do I thought it would be first of all the reason that I really wanted and Ella suggested actually that we deep dive into this topic is because we all know somebody living with obesity who's impacted by this.

6:04And I think there's such a lack of kindness and compassion. And that is one of the biggest barriers for access to help or support. And it impacts people's lives. It's good to understand it's not a choice. So, Ella, yes, let's start breaking down all the different misconceptions that we have, because it's multifactorial here. Exactly that. And I think, obviously, we've seen this enormous shift in our lifestyles, in kind of sedentary behaviour, in the food environment. It's such a complex world out there when it comes to our health and our weight being a part of that as we always talk about. But actually specifically with obesity, what have you found Rhea, the kind of biggest misconceptions that we collectively have?

6:47Because it is obviously so much more complicated than simply just eat less, move more. But those are the lines that are so often peddled. And also So I think it's important to say like there have been lots of campaigns. Remember Michelle Obama did a big campaign around this when she came into office. You know, we've seen both in the UK and abroad lots of campaigns around basically eat less, move more. And it's also just not working. So, you know, obviously it's more complicated than that. But also that messaging just hasn't had a cut through, has it? No, 100%. And I think it's important to add as well that childhood obesity rates are also rising massively as well.

7:21and it's now become, I would say it's almost the norm in our society to be obese or overweight. And I think we have to understand the weight on the scales isn't always indicative of health, but we know that there are so many misconceptions. And the reason eat less, move more just doesn't work is for many different factors. So first of all, the science shows the complexity that body weight is influenced by our genetics, our hormones. And I remember a time actually, Ella, when many people would say, oh, it's a load of nonsense. It's not your genetics. But we do have the OB. Some people can have the OB gene and that has been researched and studied.

7:57And Professor Giles Yeo at Cambridge University does a lot around this area speaking about the specific area of genetics. And we're still currently discovering more and more indicators from our genes as to who's more predisposed to always never really be full and have dysregulated peptide hormones and who has that gene that influences us. Early life nutrition plays a role. So whether you were overweight or obese as a child and what type of food you were brought up around, your socioeconomic status, I mean, we cannot get away from the fact that the majority of overweight and obese cases in the UK are in those that have a lower household income.

8:38And I think that's really important to discuss as well. And there's no judgment here. This is all about how we can help one another. Stress, sleep, medications, mental health, the food environment we live in. So it's not just calorie intake. What many people don't understand and what was so interesting at the conference, Ella, was that I had lots of GPs at the end asking me, well, how do I tell people what to eat who come in that want dietary advice? And I said, well, actually, they need more calories. The larger you are, you need more calories. And what's so confusing is that the calorie conversation of restriction has dominated dietary sphere for so many years, hasn't it?

9:17Let's look back at the last 30, 40 years of calorie counting and fitness influences online going on and on about energy in, energy out. It doesn't work when you're living with obesity because you need to have good quality food, but at the correct volume to meet the energy intake that you need. But also what we've seen, and we've had Giles on talking about this before, is that calories just not simply a calorie either so just counting calories as a method has many flaws to your point but it also it's not accurate you know how we process a calorie from it's always the cliche a miles bar versus an avocado but then unfortunately a kind of upf version of the same blt is completely different and that's becoming clearer and clearer and i think that again really kind of undermines this idea of just eat less.

10:09I mean, I get it. It's confusing for people because there will be those that can lose weight eating an unhealthy diet that is calorie controlled, but calories are estimations. And I think that's the first place to start. Remember, they're an estimated number and unit. They're not ever going to be 100 % accurate or calculated. Often on packets, they're 30 to 40 % off anyway. And then the food matrix, you know, how much fat, how much protein, how much resistant starch, carbohydrate are you getting within the food, the fiber that dictates how much of the calories are absorbed. So the fact we live in an ultra processed world pretty much now, and where 70 % of children are consuming UPFs in this country and 60 % of adults, that's directly correlated with rises in obesity.

10:53In my opinion, and many other health professionals' opinion, is that we cannot simply move more and eat less when you're already overweight or obese. That message, eat more, move more, eat less, only really works if you're currently at a healthy weight. But don't eat too much less if you're at a healthy weight. What should you be thinking about instead for listeners that this is something that they've struggled with or they've got family or friends or people they want to support? Yeah. What's the more positive version? Okay, so the more positive version for somebody is start thinking about what you can add in.

11:28even if you are living with obesity, it's about the quality of your diet because the changes that your microbiome will then embark upon with getting more fiber. Remember, this also ties into the fiber conversation with 4 % of us getting 30 grams a day. We're just eating foods that are highly refined and just don't contain the roughage that we all need to feel full, to feel satiated. And one of those arguments is volume filling your plate. Have a lot more brown rice on your plate, Build a bigger, healthy meal from scratch, a curry and things like that make such a difference. And we've got that study that came out last year that compared ready meals with identical calories to home-cooked meals of identical calories.

12:08And those that ate the home-cooked meals lost twice as much weight. And it's purely because of the way whole foods are built. So try and celebrate. Instead of thinking I'm going on a diet, and it's a long process. That's what's so difficult about it, Ella, that there's no magic pill is that it's a long process of habit shifting. If you've never cooked, imagine if you're overweight already or obese, you're struggling in the kitchen, you're tired, your joints are hurting. There's so many other factors, which is why there's so much kindness and compassion needed here. To get in the kitchen and to be confident to make a meal when your whole life you've lived in a different way can be very challenging.

12:43So try and think I'm going to embrace whole foods first and try and make a movement in that direction. It's about adding more in. But again, in an ideal world, we'd all have a psychologist, a dietitian or registered nutritionist and your GP supporting you. And I feel that we're all kind of left on our own. That's why we're here to give you as much info as we can. That was really helpful. I think one of the other things though, is it's so difficult here. And I think, to be honest, I don't think this is isolated and curious what our listeners think to people living with obesity, but I think with so many health conditions, I know it's how I felt when I was very unwell in my early 20s, I think there's a lot of shame and uncomfortableness with feeling like you're maybe different to the norm and not wanting necessarily to open up to people about the various different challenges that come with all sorts of different health conditions.

13:32And obesity is no different, I imagine, in that sense. But in that one, there's a huge amount, or with people struggling there, there can be a huge amount of fat shaming. And obviously, we've also talked about recently the kind of return of the lollipop and the size zero and the shrinking of Hollywood and celebrity culture. And, you know, that I think undoubtedly puts a kind of very strange pressure on our culture again. But you're pretty clear here that that's incredibly counterproductive. Oh, it's so damaging. It's so damaging. Look, kindness is not detracting from your concern about someone's health.

14:07You can be kind and help somebody. And in fact, a lot of patients we've had in the retreating clinic and somebody that was speaking on the day who'd lived with obesity and spoke about she tried to commit suicide. She had had such severe negative mental health from such a young age she was bullied. And I think that we have to remember that it is a hard world to live in when you are not fitting into what people consider the norm. You're stigmatized from day dot and that can really impact your mental health, your perhaps disordered eating patterns, avoidance of seeking out health because actually you're less likely to seek medical support when you are shamed about your body size, when you don't feel that someone understands or is just showing an act of kindness.

14:51And I think that there's just so much to be said for just being a nice person because higher stress hormones doesn't help here either. There's so many elements, Ella, but I think one of the biggest barriers for so many people is a fear of being judged and the kindness. And you know what, if you go on Instagram, there just doesn't seem to be much kindness in the fitness world towards people that are living with obesity or overweight. There are some accounts out there which are fantastic, but you can see how alienating is just not acceptable. I don't think there's a lack of compassion. Yeah. As you said, I think there's always this sense that it's just poor willpower, which is such a oversimplification as that's infuriating.

15:34No one chooses to be obese like I honestly the willpower conversation if you have been as a child or had a negative experience you've turned to food it's psychological and I think one of the most difficult things is the lack of understanding that's linked to food behaviors and your psychology what's going on in your head your mental health those things are so closely interlinked that's why it's such a delicate conversation and also it's not a choice some people are born in what some authors and scientists have described as food deserts. They're born without parental guidance or support or care or anybody to turn to.

16:10And I think we just have to remember a privilege. It's a privilege to have a safe food environment and home. It's quite a deep emotive topic, but that's why I'm so glad we're covering it. I totally agree. It's so important. One in five children now in this country will leave primary school with obesity. So there's a kind of collective responsibility I certainly believe that we we have to change this a hundred percent and I guess as a kind of closing to this obviously we talk a lot about the food environment and how difficult it is for everybody to navigate and you know we are just kind of overwhelmed by ultra processed rubbish at the moment everywhere you look it's like just donuts galore and there's nothing wrong with a donut but it's just it's like McDonald's donuts sweets chocolate like it's just not we don't live in a kind of healthy food culture in this country and people often call it an obesogenic environment i think that would just be an interesting place to kind of wrap up this topic it's also deceptive what's marketed as healthy these days and i think that's why the obesogenic is so deceptive like you said high protein doesn't mean it's healthy that's what's so confusing for people because remember there were all these high protein i can't say anything so I can't remember which one it was, but kind of the like Mars Snickers type of bars.

17:25Yeah, I remember them. They were called Quest bars. No, no. Like the original versions became high protein. Oh, you mean of the actual chocolate bar? Yeah, they have. Which says everything you need to know. Like a Snickers didn't get healthy. No. Oh yeah. Snickers protein bar. There you go. See, and this is the thing. And it's not even that. I mean, things that are packaged up like salads that appear healthy, but they're not as well because they're laden with extra sugary dressings and things. And it's very, it's just an absolute minefield. And the obesogenic environment really is something that has been studied for years.

17:57And when I was doing my master's degree, it was led by Michael Patterson, who was researching peptide hormones. And we were discussing GLP-1s before. Obviously, now they're a thing, but they weren't a thing back then. They were just an idea. It was just the idea that we were looking at peptide hormones, PYY, and different things that were potentially going to influence appetite. And of course, what we have to remember is the biology of being overweight and obese. The more body fat you possess, the more that you hold, your hormone interactions are changing they're not going to be as effective your leptin your ghrelin what makes you hungry what makes you full your microbiota changes all the bugs in your belly everything gets dysregulated and discombobulated when you are overweight and it's not a simple case of eat this food you'll feel more full and one thing that hasn't helped ella just to end the environment is i see a lot of people now jumping on oh this food will help you release glp1 natural GLP-1s.

18:49I mean, yeah. Outrageous, outrageous. And also GLP-1 only lingers for around like a minute or two minutes, that kind of peptide hormone in your body when you're eating a certain food anyway, you just can't replace it. So please be so wary. That is poor nutritional advice if anyone's telling you to eat a lemon because it contains GLP-1. I mean, honestly, there's things like, you know, overnight oats with, you know, healthy fats and proteins and things in which you can make and that will keep you full and that's great but i have to say sorry just on the confusing environment i'm on amazon and looking at the snickers high protein low sugar 20 grams of protein and one gram of sugar i mean this is why the world is so confusing i mean what a lie and there are so many ingredients in here well artificial sweeteners must be like outrageous i think there's one real food which is roasted peanuts 11 everything else is like maltadol condensed milk sorbitol mono and diglycerizer fatty acids natural flavoring color glycerol oligofructose vegetable fat flavorings etc i mean there's there's no food in here the 11 peanuts that's it and it says protein power craving snickers now you can get the iconic taste you love with a protein boost dark chocolate low sugar high protein bar delivers 20 grams of protein with one gram sugar i'm sorry shouldn't that be illegal i'm gonna get sued but I actually think it should be illegal because sell a normal one because no one thinks normal one's healthy.

20:22But this is so naughty because you're making people think this is healthy because you're giving them 20 grams of protein and one gram quote unquote sugar because you've just filled with artificial sugars, which, as we know, aren't better for you. I mean, they would argue I could just see it in their heads. Oh, it's for type two diabetics or something. You could just see the arguments developing now in a court of law, can't you? Oh, this product does have a place. When I get sued, guys. Yeah, she's not going to get sued. But in all seriousness, I hope what everyone takes away from this is that we need more kindness, we need more compassion.

20:52But I also want to bring up one study that I really looked at university, which was based on the Barker hypothesis, which is the fact that, you know, once a baby is born or overweight or to somebody that was overweight or obese in pregnancy, it can influence how certain systems in our body develop. and that's why it's a vicious cycle as well it's difficult so that insulin metabolism you know regulation later in life can be impacted and i think the modern food environment we don't need any more guilt shaming in this world because the food environment has to sort itself out government has got that 10-year plan do you remember we discussed it last year didn't we but they have to take things like this off the shelf i mean there's also a new in around all i don't know it's actually still new.

21:38Mars high protein, low sugar, salted caramel version. This is 18 grams of protein and two grams of sugar. This one contains no actual food. Only UPFs. At least the other one had 11 % peanuts. And then it says it's a great post-workout snack. Great, but is that what it says? Yes. Perfect to carry with you between meals or a great post-workout snack boost. That's the Amazon description. Who needs that after a workout? Like it's just this is my frustration is that sweets. No one thinks that no one's been conned by sweets. No one's been conned by Haribo. And I'm not like endorsing Haribo. I'm just saying I think that like transparency is key for the food industry, which is like we think Apple good, Haribo bad.

22:23Great. And I'm not saying bad, never eat it. It's just you understand the kind of ratio that it should live in your life. It's so straightforward. And my frustration and the thing that I genuinely think there should be so much legislation against is tricking people. and I feel like this is a trick. And to your point, you then create this world where people want to make better choices, but you walk in and you're being told that this is your healthy version of a chocolate bar. And it's just not. A healthy version would be buying like a kind of more plain towards dark chocolate, some nuts to have with it.

22:54Brilliant. It's the moralization of food again. And it's the fact that we've too often the government or I don't know, too often people want to blame an individual and we have to remove the onus from an individual. because like I've said, it's out of so many people's control and we have to start looking as a community. I don't think as a community we should be ignoring one another's health plights. I think it's really important to have an understanding that things aren't easy and if only things could change at the government. Yeah, and you know what, just to kind of add on to that, we'll go to the headline too.

23:26We have so many unbelievable listeners and you guys are really open with us often in our inbox and our messages about health challenges that you are going through or you've been through or that people close to you are going through and they come in every different shape size and you know I've know I've had health challenges and it can be really difficult to be honest and open with the people around you when you feel like you're different from them and when you're going through those hard times and I think one of the things that was always been interesting to me is obviously I shared when I started Delicious Yellow really openly about the health challenges that I had been through and I think as a result people were often really open to me like I remember going to a wedding six months later or something and being in the toilet and this girl I'd never met was a girlfriend of an old friend of mine came up to me she was like oh my gosh I haven't had anyone to talk to I've got this digestive system thing going on and she was just like wanted someone who wouldn't judge her and I think because I'd shared my story she felt comfortable sharing hers but I think I guess just as a as a closer you're probably so likely to not be alone in what you're going through it's just that so often just none of us say it out loud and I think that goes with things that we're struggling with with both our mental health and our physical health you know be that grief loss chronic illness acute illness stress it's unfortunately it's all so common and I think there's just so much about us all being a little bit more taking some of the armor off and being a bit more open about it oh i love that no you're very right thanks hello and i think um everybody in this community wellness group we love how you interact with each other you know i see you reply to each other's spotify comments and you've got each other's back so i feel like we're in a very nice collectively kind community which is great

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27:24Let me know how you get on. Okay we have a very interesting headline for number two. You guys probably saw this everywhere. Taking a multivitamin daily could help to slow biological aging study suggests researchers working to unpick whether daily multivitamins help people stay healthier as they age. And I think the interesting thing here before we delve into what this study actually was for you was that last week we talked a lot about how confusing health headlines can be. We were talking about that research on different types of cancer and some anomalies that had come up and then trying to unpick like where those anomalies come from so that we have like more helpful public health advice.

28:02And we've got such a great example of that again this week. So this study was picked up everywhere, Guardian Times, you name it, and it was all reporting on this new research that suggested taking a daily multivitamin, as per that headline, could help slow biological ageing. But that's really different to very large scale studies that have come beforehand. So, Ree, will you talk us through what's going on here? I know. The minute you sent it to me, I think I replied saying, interesting, we've always been told it shortens lifespan doesn't help elongate. So the studies published in Nature Medicine, it was conducted by scientists at Mass General Brigham in Boston, followed about 958 generally healthy adults with an average age of around 70.

28:47So we're talking of the older generation over a two-year period. So first of all, this straight away doesn't apply to anyone 70 or below. So just take that first of all. Researchers examined the impact of taking a daily multivitamin on five measures of aging hidden within our DNA. These measures, you know, as things change in our lives, they're called epigenetics. So you can switch on a certain gene or switch it off based on what you do, your exercise, your diet, all sorts of things can impact our DNA. And they track these chemical tags that get added or removed from our DNA. And it's called methylation.