As Senior Science Editor at ZOE, Yella Hewings-Martin bridges cutting-edge nutrition research and public health education. Her work focuses on three core areas:
With 15+ years spanning lab research and science communication, Yella brings unique perspective to making population-level findings relevant to individual health decisions. Her work reaches 2.3M monthly readers through ZOE's platforms and academic collaborations.
We trace Yella's journey from biochemistry labs to becoming ZOE's Senior Science Editor through three distinct phases:
"The real challenge lies in making cohort studies with 10,000 participants feel personally relevant to someone making breakfast choices."
This 2023 analysis of ZOE's PREDICT trials revealed how intermittent fasting impacts metabolic responses differently across age groups and BMI categories. Yella's reporting highlighted the study's use of continuous glucose monitors in 5,000 participants, showing how meal timing affects insulin sensitivity more dramatically in women over 40. Her article became a reference point for nutritionists debating one-size-fits-all fasting recommendations.
In this 2024 critique, Yella deconstructed the 200-year history of BMI while presenting ZOE's alternative metrics combining blood fat markers, gut microbiome diversity, and inflammatory markers. The piece featured interviews with 12 epidemiologists and data from 50,000 ZOE app users, arguing for personalized health assessments over simplistic weight-to-height ratios.
Co-authored with UVA Health researchers, this 2025 npj Women's Health study analyzed Flo app data from 4,400 women. Yella's contribution highlighted the 55.4% of women aged 30-35 experiencing moderate-severe perimenopause symptoms, challenging prevailing medical assumptions about symptom onset timelines.
Prioritize research demonstrating multi-year health outcomes, particularly those bridging academic findings and consumer health applications. Her analysis of ZOE's 7-year PREDICT data shows preference for studies revealing actionable insights over purely observational research.
Propose stories examining hormonal changes' impact on metabolism, gut health, and disease risk. Her menopause research emphasizes the need for preventive strategies during perimenopause, a period she's shown to begin earlier than previously recognized.
Highlight innovations making advanced health metrics accessible, like at-home microbiome tests or continuous glucose monitors. Her BMI critique argues for replacing outdated tools with ZOE's app-based assessments combining 42 health markers.
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