“In this randomized clinical trial, we observed cardiometabolic advantages for the healthy vegan vs. the healthy omnivorous diet among healthy, adult identical twins. Clinicians may consider recommending plant-based diets to reduce cardiometabolic risk factors, as well as aligning with environmental benefits.”
Just two of the 22 pairs of twins who took part in this groundbreaking
comparative diet study
“Evidence that disputes the status quo will always be controversial, whether it is true or not, because that’s the very definition of controversy: disagreement over conventional understanding… To downplay scientific evidence because it is controversial is to downplay scientific evidence for the very same, fundamental reason that science is celebrated.”
At the end of November 2023, Stanford nutrition researchers including
Christopher Gardner, PhD, published the findings of a new twin study in the
Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA). Six weeks later, a
four-part documentary series about the study, You Are What You Eat: A Twin
Experiment, debuted on Netflix. Given the attention garnered by the study
and miniseries, I decided to dig into the research, digesting not only the
JAMA paper but also the paper’s lengthy supplements, which offer much
greater detail on the study design and include all the data published to
date.
The eight-week clinical study is, in many respects, a perfect natural
experiment. Researchers randomly assigned half of each identical twin pair
to a “healthy vegan diet” and the other half to a “healthy omnivorous diet,”
thus automatically eliminating the confounding influences of age, sex, and
genetic factors on clinical outcomes and allowing the differential impact of
the two diets to be measured. Differences in clinical outcomes were found as
early as four weeks into the study. By the end of the eight-week study,
researchers found that the twins consuming a “healthy vegan diet showed
significantly improved low-density lipoprotein cholesterol (LDL-C)
concentration, fasting insulin level, and weight loss compared with twins
consuming a healthy omnivorous diet.”
The authors conclude their paper by summarizing their observations and
offering a somewhat timid recommendation for clinicians: “In this randomized
clinical trial, we observed cardiometabolic advantages for the healthy vegan
vs. the healthy omnivorous diet among healthy, adult identical twins.
Clinicians may consider recommending plant-based diets to reduce
cardiometabolic risk factors, as well as aligning with environmental
benefits.” Those who haven’t read the study could be forgiven for concluding
that the main message is that people just need to eat more plants, as
opposed to also eliminating animal products. In an interview to publicize
the study’s findings for Stanford Medicine News, Gardner stated, “What’s
more important than going strictly vegan is including more plant-based foods
into your diet.”
I can only speculate as to why Gardner framed the study’s conclusion in this
watered-down fashion. Perhaps he wanted to appeal to the large majority of
the public that would reflexively dismiss the idea of switching to a 100
percent plant-based diet. Perhaps he was also cognizant that his increasing
visibility, as a result of the Netflix documentary, could make him a target
for the ire of authorities in the food industry, especially if he were to
draw attention to the negative impact of overconsumption of animal protein
on cardiometabolic health, let alone recommend the elimination of meat and
dairy products from the nation’s diet.
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