A health docu with strong pro-vegan themes; references porn.
Parents Need to Know
Why Age 13+?
Any Positive Content?
Sex, Romance & Nudity
some
Sexual arousal in women when on a plant-based diet is studied. Images of vaginas are blurred. Pornography is referenced, and on occasion suggestive moaning is heard from behind doors.
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Stanford University and TruDiagnostic are featured as part of the study. Impossible Foods and other vegan brands are featured frequently, often in a way that feels promotional.
Violence & Scariness
a little
Some potentially disturbing footage in factory farm settings.
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The history of meat and dairy in the U.S., (issues with deforestation, economics, etc.), but from point of view that eating a plant-based diet is best. Information about fat loss, muscle, and nutrition.
Positive Role Models
a little
Lots of experts interviewed throughout, including scientists, economists, nutritionists, sports trainers, and others offering information about the benefits of a plant-based diet. Some briefly mention the limitations of it. The twin participants are open-minded and supportive of each other.
Parents Need to Know
Parents need to know that You Are What You Eat: A Twin Experiment is a docuseries featuring sets of adult identical twins participating in a scientific nutritional study. The series overtly promotes plant-based diet messages, and discusses the consumption of meat and dairy within nutritional, economic, and environmental contexts. Expect potentially disturbing footage from factory farms. Part of the experiment includes examining female genitalia and arousal, and pornography is referenced, but nothing inappropriate is shown. It also prominently features Stanford University, TruDiagnostic, Impossible Foods, and others.
Didn't even control calories, protein or exercise. Propaganda
Leaving aside the complete propaganda and set of advertisement segments that others have already commented on (ie, skip all episodes except some of the last episode), this was scientifically flawed.
It should have done this as an absolute minimum :
Prescribed equal amounts of calories to the two groups.
Prescribed equal amounts of protein to the two groups.
And this as a desirable :
A control group that only does exercise but eats what they like.
The fact that it was picked up that they all ate different amounts of calories and did different amounts of exercise (proving they're not genetically identical anyway) was a total giveaway. The varying results about muscle mass, again, were partly exercise dependent. There was no dramatic or consistent fat loss result.
Having said that, the improvement in vascular health (not referring to cholesterol, but other markers) was interesting. The common sense take on that is that it's vegetables that improve things, not a lack of meat that improve things. Meat is good in other ways.
When they measured lean mass and it shrunk - a lot of that is the heart and liver, not a good thing. Hence the blanket idea that we eat too much meat or protein being silly. It's an individual thing.
The true points for enquiry here would be an exploration of how insignificant or significant diet is compared to the effect of getting extremely fit, and how individual diets can sustain that.
The talomeres aspect was also very interesting and it was potentially credible - but without the controls on calories, protein, and exercise intensity, as well as stepped up exercise (they could have used one of the two gym goers for that), it was pretty meaningless.
Why didn't they experiment with male arousal as well as female? Bizarre and another example of begging for criticism.
I loved the premise of this series and was truly interested in the outcome. Yet, as i watched, it was so biased and almost like propaganda . So, I know the outcome without having to watch the series. Too bad.. they should have been objective and just conducted the experiement and gave the conclustion. I didn't finish the series it was too biased and i wouldn't trust the findings.
What's the Story?
YOU ARE WHAT YOU EAT: A TWIN EXPERIMENT, an installment of the You Are What You Eat franchise, features adult identical twins as test subjects in a short-term research study to evaluate the impact of eliminating animal-based foods from the human diet. The show focuses on four sets of twins who participated in a Stanford University-sponsored study known as the "Twins Nutrition Study (TwiNS)," which, in part, is designed to determine potential connections between diet and aging. Profiles that record behaviors and environments that impact how each participant's genes work are created with the help of a DNA lab, noting the amount of overall fat, visceral fat, muscle, and, in the case of women, level of sexual arousal each person has. Over an eight-week period, one member of each twin pair eats a prescribed healthy omnivorous diet, and the other is assigned a prescribed vegan one. After two months of following this eating regimen and exercising, epigenetic data is again collected to determine if the amount of fat, muscle, and sexual arousal has changed. Throughout it all, the impact that meat has on the body, the economy, and the environment is discussed, as are the benefits of a vegan diet. Some of the efforts being made to provide viable and good-tasting options for plant-based meals are also highlighted.
The decidedly pro-vegan docuseries contextualizes the call for a plant-based diet by using a science experiment, and by showing the negative impact eating meat and dairy has on our bodies and our planet. It discusses how the U.S. population has been conditioned to believe that meat and dairy products are necessary food staples, and how increased consumption of them has led to health epidemics, deforestation, and other environmental calamities. However, it does not spend a lot of time discussing what vegan diets may lack, or other genetic factors that can play a part in our health. It also glosses over the fact that the director of the Twins Nutrition Study (TwiNS) runs a plant-based initiative, and that the study is being funded by a vegan food company. Nonetheless, if you can get past these conflicts of interest, it does offer some interesting information about vegan vs. omnivore diets, and how to think about weight gain, fat, and muscle. Of course, seeing how the test subjects fared is entertaining. You Are What You Eat: A Twin Experiment shouldn't be a source of medical or nutritional advice, but it may get you thinking more about some of the foods you're consuming.
Talk to Your Kids About ...
Families can talk about the amount of animal-based foods they eat compared to the amount of plant-based foods. How can healthy eating habits be improved without eliminating meat? Or can they?
What is the purpose behind You Are What You Eat: A Twin Experiment? Do the results of the study support this goal? Should there even be a goal?
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By Melissa Camacho
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