A mummified man found in the mountains of Italy on a nutrition science podcast? Have we gone completely off track?

We haven’t - we promise.

This unfortunate soul could be the key that unlocks an entirely new understanding of human health.

This mummy, discovered in an alpine snow drift by two hikers, gives us a remarkable glimpse into the surprising dietary choices of our ancestors.

In today’s episode, Jonathan discovers some secrets held by our ancestors by speaking to two outstanding guests:


Frank Maixner works at the Institute for Mummy Studies in Italy and travels the world uncovering the secrets of our ancestors.
Tim Spector is a co-founder at ZOE and one of the top 100 most cited scientists in the world.

If you want to uncover the right foods for your body, head to joinzoe.com/podcast and get 10% off your personalized nutrition program.

Timecodes:
00:00 - Intro
00:10 - Topic Introduction
01:39 - What happened thirty years ago high in the mounts on the border between Italy and Austria
03:01 - Who was the Iceman?
03:42 - What happened to him, and what did we discover about him?
05:29 - How old was he, and what do we know about his lifestyle?
06:33 - What was he eating?
10:27 - What’s surprising about his health?
13:46 - The Iceman & mushrooms
15:15 - Iceman’s microbiome
16:29 - The most surprising information about the Iceman’s microbiome
17:55 - What’s microbiome diversity?
20:22 - Iceman’s origins
20:52 - The start of a new academic discipline
22:48 - Finding out about salt miners
24:26 - What did these salt miners eat?
26:55 - How plant-based was their diet?
27:35 - Did they eat dairy?
29:20 - Their diet diversity
31:11 - What do their microbiomes tell us?
38:01 - What does this mean for us? What is the actionable advice?
42:21 - Summary
44:26 - Goodbyes
44:53 - Outro

Episode transcripts are available here: https://joinzoe.com/learn/category/nu...

Follow Frank:   / frankmaixner  

Follow Tim:   / timspector  

Follow ZOE on Instagram:   / zoe  

This podcast was produced by Fascinate Productions.