Dr. Will Cole: Functional medicine practitioner, best-selling author (Gut Feelings, Ketotarian), and wellness expert who runs a telehealth clinic focused on autoimmunity and inflammation.
What this episode covers
Dr. Will Cole joins Steven Bartlett to contrast functional medicine with conventional care, arguing that most chronic illness is lifestyle-driven and rooted in chronic inflammation. He explains the gut-brain axis, the microbiome's role in mood and immunity, and an inflammation spectrum that progresses over years before diagnosis. Cole also explores how chronic stress, shame, and even intergenerational trauma are physically stored in the body and dysregulate the nervous system. He shares practical advice: avoid his 'inflammatory core four plus one' foods, eat gut-supportive soups and stews, and practice 'acts of stillness' like breath work and forest bathing.
The guest's own work
Gut Feelings
Will Cole
“Gut Feelings book you've just finished writing I believe. Um Why did you write a book called Gut Feelings?”— Will Cole
Ketotarian
Will Cole
“my first book was called Keto Terry and it really was that exploration of being that health nerd and trying something new and feeling great”— Will Cole
Also referenced (named, not recommended)
Goop
Goop
“And is a health expert for the world's largest wellness brands such as Goop.”— Steven Bartlett
23andMe
23andMe
“We get raw gene data from something like the different genetic tests that people get, like Ancestry or 23andMe.”— Will Cole
AncestryDNA
Ancestry
“We get raw gene data from something like the different genetic tests that people get, like Ancestry or 23andMe.”— Will Cole
WALL-E
Pixar
“if you remember that Pixar film Wall-E? I think Wall-E's prophetic in many ways of like the path we could go down”— Will Cole
Big reveals from this episode
- Cole cites a study claiming the average conventional doctor would fail a basic nutrition test due to lack of training.
- He describes a three-stage inflammation spectrum, estimating most people sit in stage two or three.
- Trauma from the Ukrainian famine and the Holocaust left measurable methylation gene variants in descendants, evidence for intergenerational trauma.
- His 'inflammatory core four plus one': gluten grains, industrial seed oils, conventional dairy, sugar, plus alcohol.
- Cole reveals he was vegan for ~10 years but quit because it 'didn't love him back', causing fatigue, brain fog, and nutrient deficiencies.
- He has a double MTHFR gene variant making him poor at methylating folic acid, which guided his dietary pivot.
- He admits he is still learning to say no to opportunities to manage rising success and stress.
Worth remembering
- About 95% of serotonin and 50% of dopamine are made in the gut, which researchers call the second brain.
- The gut and brain form from the same fetal tissue and stay linked via the gut-brain axis.
- In a self-compassion study, people practicing self-compassion had the lowest IL-6 inflammation during stressful tasks.
- Forest bathing (shinrin-yoku) is shown to lower inflammation and stress hormones and improve the microbiome.
- The gut microbiome converts 20% of thyroid hormone and is needed to make neurotransmitters and digest food.
- Even small amounts of alcohol a few times a week are linked to lower brain volume and smaller hippocampus.
- The US Surgeon General Dr. Vivek Murthy stated children under 14 shouldn't have social media.
- The US spends more on healthcare than the next 10 top-spending countries combined yet has the most disease and shortest lifespan of industrialized nations.