Identical twins present the “perfect way to tell nature from nurture” explains epidemiologist Tim Spector (co-founder of nutrition app Zoe, which has worked on a milk-based gut shot with M&S) in You Are What You Eat: A Twin Experiment (Netflix, available now).
The alike genetics of the twins make them the perfect subjects for dietary experiments. And their matching mannerisms make great entertainment too. The series picked some highly likeable sets to profile as they took part in a Stanford University study comparing the impact of vegan and omnivore diets on various health markers.
The twins were assigned different meals, delivered to them for a period of four weeks, after which they shopped and cooked for themselves – “more like the real world” explained study lead Christopher Gardner – while remaining vegan or omnivorous. Both diets have their deficiencies, we learned, or, as one twin joked: “So they’re both lousy diets”.
An interesting premise that fell victim to the Netflix curse: extreme padding out of content, which meant a solid 30 minutes was spread thin across four 50-minute episodes. The filler was all starkly anti-meat: covering the environmental devastation of US cattle farms and the cruelty of intensive livestock rearing. Which ultimately overwhelmed what the show claimed to be about.
The results showed improvements in health across the board, with the slight edge enjoyed by the vegan assigned twin. An outcome that many would have guessed hours of viewing earlier.
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