Michael Mosley's son reveals the 1 thing that's helped family through their grief

Days before they lost their father Michael Mosley in sudden, tragic circumstances, each of his four children spoke to him at length on the phone. None could have imagined it would be the last time they heard the voice of the hugely popular medical expert and broadcaster, who died on holiday in Greece last June - but in hindsight it feels like serendipity.

"He made a lot of effort to speak to us regularly, but it was something of a coincidence that we all had really long conversations with him a few days before he passed away," says son Jack, 32.

Jack is the only one of Michael and his wife Dr Clare Bailey's four children - the others being Alex, 34, Dan 30, and Kate, 25 - to follow them into medicine.

Referring to Michael's popular BBC Radio 4 health series about the simple changes that can boost health, Jack continues: "He was telling me about his latest 'Just One Things', including one on Nordic walking. It was a lovely, warm, funny, fun conversation. He was very affectionate in the way he supported us. None of us would be where we are today without him."

Michael, famous for popularising intermittent fasting for weight loss and for subjecting himself to crazy stunts in the name of promoting good health, died aged 67 while walking in searing temperatures on the island of Symi.

His body was found after a five-day search. Coroners said the cause of death may have been heatstroke.

As he follows in his father's broadcasting footsteps, Jack is comforted by the fact that the family were so close that nothing had been left unsaid between them.

Speaking ahead of next month's sad one-year anniversary, he said: "It was an awful time and such a shock when it happened."

Jack qualified as a doctor in 2018 and after two years working in Australia is currently a GP registrar in the north-west.

"When someone dies suddenly, we were just so lucky that there were no outstanding problems or fights between the family," he explains. "My brothers and sister and I got on with our dad so well and we had such a good relationship."

And he is grateful that his father knew before his death that Jack had found lasting happiness with his long-term girlfriend Heather, a dentist.

"We got engaged a year ago, before my dad passed away," says Jack.

"Something that he was so happy about is that by the time he died, we were all quite settled in very good relationships and in our careers as well."

However, he admits that he and Heather have postponed their wedding plans since his father's death and everyone in the family is still dealing with their grief.

"It's been such a difficult time," he says. "I think we were already very close as a family, but I think if you could say one good thing to come out of it - and something that my dad would have liked to see - is that it has brought us even closer as a family. Everyone has been very supportive of each other."

Jack is doing his late father proud by following in his footsteps to write his first book Food Noise, about how to navigate drugs like Ozempic and Mounjaro.

"I wrote it to give people information to make an informed decision about these new drugs," says Jack.

"At the moment it's a Wild West of online pharmacies out there.

"People are not being provided with much information about how these drugs work, their risks and rewards, managing their side effects and how to come off them."

The book title refers to people's persistent and often intrusive thoughts about food. Used correctly, weight-loss jabs can silence that noise, but Jack warns there can be consequences if people do not eat nutritious food or take sensible exercise while taking them. He also looks at how to "come off" the jabs safely.

"I could see there was a lot of downstream consequences of these drugs - malnutrition, muscle loss and the fact that

people regain weight when they stop taking them," he explains. "I wanted to provide people with a bit more of a roadmap as to what to eat and the lifestyle to follow when you're on and off them - for example, how to eat a healthy, nutritious diet while you're on them and how to ingrain habits such as strength training and exercise into your life."

He smiles: "It's also for people who just want to understand their food noise, like their cravings, whether they're on the drugs or not."

In an emotional foreword to the book, Jack's mother Clare expresses pride in Jack continuing his father's work.

She writes: "Jack has stepped into some big shoes and I couldn't be more proud."

Jack says being able to continue some of his father's messages has made a huge difference to him because of the outpouring of grief following Michael's death.

"You could see how much difference he had made to so many people's lives, whether it was through Just One Thing, The Fast 800 [diet] and sending countless people's diabetes into remission," he says.

After reversing his own Type 2 diabetes, Michael promoted intermittent fasting and better food choices to help sufferers.

Jack describes Michael as a loving dad with a mischievous streak.

"One of my brother's early memories is of us roller skating behind the car around London while he drove," he says. "And we would have the occasional camera crew coming to the house and feeding us snake or some weird thing like that. I can't remember what programme it was for."

A "famous Mosley story" occurred when Jack was nine and chocoholic Michael gobbled all his children's Easter eggs the night before Easter Sunday.

"We all inherited our dad's sweet tooth," laughs Jack. "We raced down the stairs on Easter morning, very excited about grabbing our chocolate Easter eggs, and to our shock, they were gone.

"I'm pretty sure we blamed my sister at first, and then eventually my dad confessed he had polished them all off.

"If that's not an addiction I don't know what is. I don't think he was very proud of that moment. My memory is that we almost certainly demanded new eggs instantly."

Jack also remembers his dad experimenting on himself for his science documentaries such as "Michael Mosley: Infested! Living with Parasites."

"He did all sorts of slightly crazy, wacky things. He swallowed three large tapeworms which grew inside of him, which my mum wasn't so pleased about. He had leeches put on him, he went caving despite being terrified of caving, and bungee jumping.

"All these things he was actually pretty terrified of - but did in the name of science. He was a real maverick."

Jack's favourite memory is a very recent one. In 2023 Jack was still working in Australia when he and Heather were joined by Michael and Clare for a holiday.

On a boat trip on the west coast to spot manta rays, their guide spotted a 4m tiger shark and encouraged the passengers to try to swim with it. "So we all jumped in," recalls Jack, 32. "My mum swam the wrong way and Heather and I swam towards the shark, but my dad just powered after it.

"I think he either couldn't hear the boat guide shouting 'Come back!' or he didn't want to hear, but he was just chasing down this tiger shark at full speed.

"It probably was getting to the point where it might have been a little bit dangerous to swim so far.

"But I think my dad's view was, 'This is probably the only time I go swimming with a tiger shark,' so he powered on. It was such an entertaining moment."

He breaks into a huge smile. "His sense of danger was probably less than your average person and I think that's what made him who he was. He was very bold, a maverick and a very unique person."

Food Noise: How Weight Loss Medications & Smart Nutrition Can Silence Your Cravings by Dr Jack Mosley (Short Books, £16.99)