Show Notes
Could your gut microbiome influence how many calories you absorb from the same food? Karen Corbin explains the science behind energy absorption, faecal calorie loss, and why feeding your microbes may support metabolic health.
We also cover practical diet upgrades, the reality on probiotics, and where microbiome research is heading next, including metabolite signatures and gut–brain links.
What We Cover
How the microbiome may change calorie absorption and energy balance
Why fibre and resistant starch matter, and how to increase them
Where “lost” calories go, and what microbial biomass could mean
Probiotics vs prebiotics: what is worth your time and money
How fast microbiome changes can happen with diet
The future: metabolites, objective diet measures, and brain health research
Thanks for listening. If you enjoyed it, share the episode and subscribe for more evidence-based conversations.
You can keep up with Dr Karen Corbin’s latest research by connecting with her on LinkedIn and exploring her profile at the AdventHealth Research Institute.
Intro (00:00)
Can the Gut Microbiome Increase or Reduce Calorie Absorption? (01:02)
Karen Corbin’s Microbiome Research Journey in Nutrition Science (04:17)
New Microbiome Experiments That Could Change How We Eat (11:17)
Energy Balance Explained: Calories, Metabolism, and Weight Gain (18:28)
How Scientists Study the Gut Microbiome (29:19)
Is the Gut Microbiome Causing Obesity and Metabolic Disease? (38:54)
How Medications Like Metformin Affect the Gut Microbiome (43:31)
Can a High-Fiber Microbiome Diet Reduce Hunger and Cravings? (45:06)
Liver Fat, Type 2 Diabetes, and Metabolic Dysfunction Explained (50:44)
Best Diet and Nutrition Strategies for Fatty Liver Disease (56:01)
How Diet Changes the Gut Microbiome and Metabolism (1:02:27)
Probiotics vs Prebiotics: What Actually Improves Gut Health? (1:07:08)
GLP-1 Weight Loss Drugs and Their Effects on the Microbiome (1:13:07)
Gut Microbiome Metabolites and How They Impact Health (1:16:28)
Gut-Brain Connection: How the Microbiome Affects the Brain (1:21:57)
Future of Gut Microbiome Research and Personalized Nutrition (1:30:24)
This episode is brought to you by:
38TERA
Consider 38TERA's DMN prebiotic supplement a daily multivitamin for your gut. Formulated by yours truly and gastroenterologist Dr Will Bulsiewicz. Use code THEPROOF for a discount at checkout.
IM8
With 92 nutrients, including Vitamin B12, Iodine, Selenium and Vitamin D, in highly absorbable forms, IM8 Daily Essentials is the perfect all-in-one daily multi-vitamin to ensure you meet your daily micronutrient needs. IM8 is offering an exclusive 10% off your first order with a free welcome kit when you enter the promo code SIMON at checkout on im8health.com
Eight Sleep
Upgrade your sleep with the Pod 5 Ultra by Eight Sleep. Clinically validated to deliver up to 1 extra hour of quality sleep per night through temperature control and biometric tracking. Use code THEPROOF for $350 off at eightsleep.com/theproof. Try it risk-free for 30 days, with worldwide shipping.
Function Health
Take charge of your health with advanced blood testing and personalised insights. Function Health offers a practical way to track key health markers such as cholesterol, blood sugar, and more. Learn more and join at functionhealth.com/simonhill for a $25 credit toward your membership. Only available to those living in the United States.
Shopify
Shopify, the world's leading e-commerce platform, helps you turn browsers into buyers with the internet’s best-converting check out–up to 36% better compared to other leading e-commerce platforms. To boost your conversion rate, and grow your business, sign up for a one-dollar-per-month trial period at shopify.com/proof.
Momentous
My go-to supplement brand for protein and creatine is Momentous. Use code THEPROOF for up to 35% off your first order at livemomentous.com.
More from The Proof with Simon Hill
Practising registered dietitian and senior research fellow at the University of Oxford, Dr Nicola Guess, returns to the show to discuss a new study whose findings were interpreted in quite different ways the week it came out. Dr Samuel Klein’s group at Washington University assigned people with prediabetes to one of three diets, carefully controlled their weight loss, and found that the arm labelled ketogenic reduced liver fat by 67%.
This is Christopher Gardner's eighth appearance on the show. Christopher is a nutrition scientist at Stanford, director of the Stanford Nutrition Studies Research Group, and the author of a new book, Food Sense: What to Eat and Why. He has run more than 20 human diet trials over three decades.
A few weeks ago I published my own heart scans, and one number travelled further than the rest: a 48% drop in plaque over 16 and a half months. The question underneath that video was the obvious one. How? This episode is the answer, and it is also the part I could easily have left out.
Howard Luks is an orthopaedic surgeon with almost 30 years of experience, and a good deal of his week is spent telling people they do not need an operation. We work through the joints that bring most people into a clinic, knees, shoulders, Achilles tendons and ankles, and separate what a scan is actually telling you from what it is being used to justify.
This is part two of my conversation with Dr Federica Amati, Head Nutritionist at ZOE and author of the Sunday Times bestseller Every Body Should Know This. In part one we covered preconception, fertility, and pregnancy nutrition. Here we follow the first 1,000 days through to the end: birth, breastfeeding, weaning, and the environmental exposures behind all of it.