Subscription Box May 28, 2021

Zoe Test Kit Review

Sophie Diego

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Table of Contents

About ZOE

ZOE believes that “everyone has a right to understand their body”. This online testing kit looks at your metabolic health to gauge how genetics, food timing, blood chemistry, and other key factors impact overall wellbeing.

Designed to help others lead a healthy life, ZOE is backed by a certified scientific advisory board that conducts research.

With an impressive following of 26.8K on Instagram, this startup brand has also gained the attention of news outlets including The New York Times, Wired, and The Wall Street Journal.

Ready to start eating right? Perhaps this company could lend a helping hand. Stay tuned, as this ZOE test kit review provides in-depth commentary on the brand, the kit itself, customer ratings, promotions, and more.

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Overview of ZOE

We all know what you’re thinking, and the answer is no. ZOE is not a person. In fact, it’s a Greek term that means “life”. Founded by Tim Spector, Jonathan Wolf, and George Hadjigeorgiou, this health and wellness brand started in 2017.

With an interest in learning more about the interactions of genes and gut microbes, Spector took a microscopic view on the cell biology of 13,000 twins.

He was surprised to find out that identical siblings had different reactions to food, despite sharing the same genetic pattern. Inspired by the findings, Spector teamed up with Wolf and Hadjigeorgiou to put their backgrounds in technology to good use.

Harnessing the brainpower from a team of nutrition researchers, ZOE made its official internet debut with headquarters located in London.

Passionate to help others understand more about their health, the brand takes a thorough look into your metabolism and genetic makeup. You might find it easier to make sound decisions at the grocery store afterward. A statement made by ZOE reads:

“We believe the first step to reaching your best health is to discover exactly how your body works and then retrain your biology from the inside out. By avoiding dietary inflammation and improving your gut health, our program can help to unlock energy, manage hunger, manage your weight, and reach your best health naturally.”

Before we get into this ZOE test kit review, let’s go over some initial pros and cons.

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Pros

Users can make efforts to reduce dietary inflammation and increase their overall well-being by using the ZOE online test
Tests backed by the latest advancements in technology and cutting edge science
Designed to be accessible and discreet
Customers can monitor their eating habits in order to track their gut health by using their mobile app
Members are assigned to a ZOE coach to help guide them through their results

Cons

Their online testing kit is quite pricey, but they are working on lowering costs
Only available to certain states
All orders are final sale
Currently backlogged so you need to request access

What is the ZOE test?

An apple a day keeps the doctor away, right? According to ZOE, it’s not that simple. Genetics aside, we all have unpredictable responses to food. More specifically, our gut microbe is responsible for ensuring a healthy heart, brain, and immune system.

If we don’t take care of our metabolic health, conditions like diabetes and chronic heart disease may start to creep up. While most nutritional experts point their fingers at weight being the final culprit, ZOE believes that it’s all about our inner biology.

Through deep shotgun sequencing, ZOE takes a magnifying glass at your microbial health to give you a heads up and what to look for in terms of eating habits.

By differentiating between “good” and “bad” gut bugs, members are able to switch up their diet to improve their inner system.

Users can purchase one of their online ZOE health tests in order to get started. If you’d like to know more about what this subscription entails, keep reading this ZOE review.

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How Does the ZOE Test Kit Work?

Our relationship to dieting is quite complex. While most of us have a general understanding of the food pyramid, there’s a good chance that discussions of microbial health are often shoved aside.

Instead, we tinker with rejecting or accepting carbs, proteins, and products that are high in vitamins and minerals. ZOE helps you re-evaluate the core of your eating habits in order to lead a more fruitful (pun intended) life.

ZOE offers an at-home test, which analyzes your gut microbiome, blood sugar levels, and percentage of body fat. How do they do this? By utilizing the power of muffins, of course!

Carefully formulated to integrate the right amount of carbs, proteins, calories, and oils, the brand will send you a batch of their baked goods in the name of science.

Hype aside, their recipe calls for plain vanilla. As a side note, users are advised not to throw in extra toppings like blueberries and nuts into the mix—as it will blur their overall findings.

Afterward, subscribers are instructed to use a continuous glucose monitor (better known as a CGM), which pricks your skin to get a blood sample.

Don’t worry, it’s entirely painless and only lasts for a few seconds. It monitors your sugar levels for a total of 14 days to get a better understanding of how your system handles carb intakes.

Now it’s time to test your gut microbiome. ZOE needs to collect a poop sample to find out what kinds of bugs are residing in your stool. By using shotgun metagenomics, they are able to identify the essential bacteria from the destructive.

Once the samples have reached the ZOE lab, members are expected to wait 6 weeks to receive their personalized insights report. Think of it as a report card, but for your health. This record will detail your microbial health and how the body responds to certain foods.

It will also disclose dietary sensitivity levels as well as scores for meals for those muffins you ate. Lastly, it will compare your findings with others within the ZOE database.

The most important feature of your personalized insights report is the microbiome health score.

All included in their easy-to-use app, users can view their gut bacteria, a recommended list of foods to increase metabolic health, as well as a guide of what not to eat to ensure the absence of harmful microorganisms.

If you find yourself overwhelmed with where to start, there’s no need to sweat. All members are assigned to a personal ZOE coach, which can walk you through those results.

Based on your findings, ZOE will tailor a 4-week plan dedicated to improving your metabolic and gut health. For those familiar with the Weight Watchers subscription program, it works relatively the same way.

Each food listed in their app is attributed to a certain grade, which can be used to increase your ZOE microbiome score.

The cool thing about this feature is that users can see how each meal affects their blood sugar and fat levels. As a final touch, members will have access to video coaching sessions and advice from their personal coach.

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ZOE Testing Kit Review

Customers can choose from two of their testing kits. This includes the ZOE Premium Plan and the ZOE Plus Program. Both of these options contain:

Gut microbiome test
Blood sugar and fat test (muffins and CGM) included
The ZOE app with microbiome score
Personalized 4-week program

The ZOE Premium Plan offers 8 hours of coaching, which provides direct support and assistance in helping you achieve your gut health goals.

Currently, the brand is only available in the contiguous United States, excluding New York, New Jersey, or Rhode Island. However, they do have a waitlist for those excited to sign up.

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How Much is ZOE?

This ZOE symptom tracker review will provide the pricing details for both of their plans down below:

ZOE premium: $149 per month for 6 installments ($894 in total)
ZOE plus: $59 per month for 6 installments ($354 in total)

Customers also have the option to settle their bill as a one-off payment. It is worth noting that both programs are not FSA eligible. However, ZOE is looking to expand on this moving forward.

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ZOE Reviews: What Do Customers Think?

Let’s put all the scientific jargon aside. It’s time to learn what the masses have to say about ZOE. From our understanding, this health and wellness startup seems to be worth the splurge.

The brand dedicates a separate category on the website dedicated to sharing success stories.

To give readers an estimate of how impactful their testing kits are, this ZOE symptom tracker review will detail a list of findings down below:

88% of members did not experience insatiable hunger around 12 weeks after following the ZOE app
57% of participants reported an increase in energy levels
Others reported a significant drop in weight loss

Here’s a statement that one ZOE member shared on their website: “Because the ZOE plan is so personalized, I have really been able to feel the impact it’s had on me. I’ve lost weight, but even more important to me, I’m healthier and feel a whole lot better!”

ZOE’s Facebook page lists an impressive total of 134 comments with a grand score of 5/5. Trustpilot only holds 58 reviews, but it seems to be on a good track so far—as the brand earns an overall rank of 4/5 stars.

Customers on both websites reported that their mobile app was easy to use. A majority of subscribers found their program to be comprehensive, insightful, and helpful in improving their health. As one Trustpilot reviewer commented:

“Today I start my third week on Zoe, and I can’t believe the difference I’m feeling already. After the first week I noticed an increase in energy, improved digestion, falling asleep easier, weight loss, less bloating, and better moods. I appreciate learning how increasing fiber can balance foods that score lower.”

Media outlets, such as CNET and The Guardian, ranked ZOE with two thumbs up. Both authors seemed to be impressed with the brand’s plethora of information from one simple blood or stool sample.

By using their at-home kits, writers were able to better understand how their microbial environment worked. As an article from The Guardian commented:

“I am chuffed to discover that my gut microbiome richness is relatively high…Indeed I have been geekily making an effort to feed my microbes in recent years, even fermenting my own sauerkraut, so this is encouraging news.”

This ZOE symptom tracker review found a few red flags that customers should be aware of. On Trustpilot, some customers experienced long wait times for their results. Others found their report to be quite confusing in terms of eating the correct foods.

“Have been waiting months for my results/ I have daily chats asking what the problem is, have been told repeatedly that they are “looking into it” and will get back to me…still nothing! All the while I have paid for this program, and have nothing to show for it,” one Trustpilot reviewer wrote.

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Is ZOE Worth It?

For those in the midst of a diet slump, this ZOE symptom tracker review recommends that you give them a try.

Within our culture, we’re expected to cross our fingers and hope for the best when it comes to eating foods we consider nutritious. Eliminating or incorporating the right ones makes all the difference.

Let’s face it; all of us are in a blind spot. Unless you’re a health expert, we have no way of knowing how our bodies react to certain types of food before it enters the system.

Fortunately, ZOE shines a light on our microbial health to paint a personalized, detailed picture of what meals we should be eating.

While it may seem like an unnecessary expense at first, members have a chance to better their wellbeing, increase their energy, and possibly lose weight. In comparison, this seems miles ahead of unhelpful nutritional advice and costly dieting programs.

If you find yourself frustrated with your relationship with dieting and meal planning, ZOE’s experts can be your informative counselor. And hey, engaging in this entire process by trying out scientific muffins— you can’t beat that.

The brand also has the ZOE COVID symptom checker for customers to download on Apple or GooglePlay. This program helps researchers get a better understanding of cases found in the United Kingdom by analyzing your information.

We recommend heading over to their website for more specifics on the ZOE covid symptom tracker. But, as for knowing how to best treat your body and give it what it needs, we recommend trying out this program.

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ZOE Promotions & Discounts

This ZOE symptom tracker review found out that they have a referral program. Members will receive an extra month for free for their subscription plan with every successful referral.

Additionally, each friend will receive $30 off their final order. As of lately, we haven’t come across any other ZOE health science sales or discounts.

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Sign up for ZOE

Customers can request an at-home test by clicking the Request Access tab on their landing page at JoinZOE.com. Unfortunately, ZOE is only available in select states.

However, those interested can sign up with their email to be notified of any updates. As a side note, this brand is in no way affiliated with the ZOE health center.

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FAQ

How do I cancel my ZOE subscription?

Within our understanding, customers cannot cancel their ZOE subscription unless their order has not been processed yet.

According to the brand, “Preparation typically occurs within 24–48 hours after order completion.” Those who’ve signed up for a research study are free to leave at any time.

What is ZOE’s Shipping Policy?

This ZOE symptom tracker review found no information related to shipping on their website. However, we do know that there are instructions listed in their sample kits.

If you have any questions pertaining to the ZOE health cost, delivery, or locations, we suggest getting in contact with their customer service team directly.

What is ZOE’s Return Policy?

All at-home testing kits are considered final sale. This means they do not offer refunds. If you receive a defective sampling kit, ZOE encourages you to reach out to their customer service team to arrange a solution.