Now on Netflix: You Are What You Eat: A Twin Experiment
Oh help, I feel it in everything: this is going to be such a hype again. And I mean a hype like Game Changers and Cowspiracy. Just like with those documentaries, I really hope that people will also think critically about this and do their own research, because this kind of documentaries can often give quite a colored picture... But despite that, it is certainly interesting. Although, it would be, in my personal opinion, a bit more interesting with a more complete picture.
You Are What You Eat: A Twin Experiment is about different twins who all follow their own diet and lifestyle for eight weeks to see what the difference will be after those two months. You might guess it already: one half of a twin is going to eat vegan, the other half is not.
And you might guess this too: after those eight weeks, the group that only ate vegan is doing much better than the other group. Their life expectancy is longer, they have less fat and a lower chance of heart disease, and they also have a higher libido. Well, then it seems so clear-cut: vegan lifestyle is the way to go.
Except that this is not entirely true. First of all, and perhaps most importantly, eight weeks is far too short to draw a real scientific conclusion. Moreover, those eight weeks do not provide a realistic picture: both groups were given meals they had to eat during that period, making it a significant change for both when looking at their normal diet.
That a fully vegan diet is a big change is of course logical. But if the other has always eaten fish, meat, and other animal products and is now presented with different meals (that this person normally might not eat at all), then it becomes very difficult to draw conclusions. It would have been better if one group would change their lifestyle (the vegan group) and the other group would simply maintain their current habits. Only then can you – in my opinion – see if there are actually many health benefits (although eight weeks is still far too long).
Starting a study like this, with one group that only eats vegan, but also determining which animal products the other group eats; this way you can certainly keep the outcome quite in your own hands.
And that is why this docuseries feels mainly like propaganda for vegan eating, and that is a shame. Unfortunately, that is the same problem I had with, for example, Game Changers; it gives an unrealistic picture and makes their found conclusions come across as facts.
This documentary misses the most important point: that a varied diet is the most important. It is therefore not surprising that many twins have returned to a mixed diet, so both vegetarian, vegan, and with animal products, and everything in moderation and in balance. But yes, that of course does not make for an exciting and catchy docuseries...
Image: Netflix
