You Are What You Eat: A Twin Experiment accused of “bias”

The documentary series You Are What You Eat: A Twin Experiment on Netflix has captured attention, though certain viewers have raised concerns about potential “bias” in the study.

Based on the recent Stanford University study of identical twins, Netflix’s You Are What You Eat: A Twin Experiment sees four sets of twins embark on an experiment and documentary to see the impact of two different diets: vegan and omnivore. 

The results are surprising: after just eight weeks, the participants on the plant-based diet experienced an increase in their life expectancy, reduced visceral fat, reduced risk of heart disease, and a heightened sex drive.

While these results suggest a vegan diet is the healthier option compared to those eating meat, cheese, and other animal products, some believe there are flaws in the research. 

You Are What You Eat: A Twin Experiment accused of “bias”

A number of viewers took to social media to accuse the documentary of “bias,” while others felt eight weeks was not enough time to properly assess the results of any given diet. 

Taking to Reddit, one user said You Are What You Eat: A Twin Experiment “was like I was watching vegan propaganda,” adding: “I’m not knocking that there has to be benefits to a more plant-based diet. 

“But the twin experiment literally shows most people lost muscle on the vegan diet vs their twin on the omnivore diet, which was explained to be extremely important to have the muscle mass. 

“It completely glosses over the fact that having a balanced diet and exercise is probably far more obtainable to the average person than a strict vegan diet.”

Another wrote: “I’m not denying what the series says about meat and dairy. I’m annoyed that they acted like this series was about a clinical study when in reality it was a pro-vegan persuasive doc.”

“The SHOW was extremely biased and spent the majority of the time talking about how great being vegan is for you and did not critically look at both diets,” added a third. “It didn’t even try to be unbiased before they gave the results.”

And a fourth chimed in: “I’m vegan and I thought the documentary was terrible. Eight weeks on any dietary study isn’t long enough to get any real results. Plus I suspect most of the ones who chose vegan probably cheated. Not to mention the crap pre packaged food they gave to both the omni and vegans looked processed and gross.”

Not everyone agrees with this opinion, however, including a Redditor who pointed out that the series was based on a study conducted by Stanford University researchers. “This is a clearly controlled high quality study using twins,” they said. “You don’t get better data than that.”

Who funded the You Are What You Eat Stanford study?

The study – conducted by Stanford Medicine researchers and involving 22 pairs of identical twins – was funded by the Vogt Foundation, a private foundation that supports Oceanic Preservation Society among other causes.

It was also funded by the Stanford Clinical and Translational Science Award program, as well as the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute. But it’s the first organization that has drawn attention from viewers of the Netflix doc. 

Netflix

“You Are What You Eat documentary in association with the Vogt Foundation is so annoying,” said one on X. “15 minutes is interesting science, everything else is straight propaganda. The government-funded processed food we have sucks. Propaganda also sucks.”

Another shared a LinkedIn profile of the Vogt Foundation’s secretary-treasurer, who states that their goal is to promote the organization’s mission to “assist plant-based development and protect all animals while supporting organizations that produce animal alternative products or protect animals.”

If you’d like to form your own opinion on the matter, You Are What You Eat: A Twin Experiment is available to stream on Netflix now. You can also check out some riveting true crime series coming to streaming platforms, and