Why the Vegan Twin Study Got it Wrong

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Today, we're zooming in on a groundbreaking study that comes from Stanford University and was recently published in JAMA Network Open. The researchers put a vegan diet head-to-head with an omnivorous diet in twenty-two pairs of identical twins. The buzz around this study has been immense, sparking conversations everywhere—from social media to professional circles. Adding to the excitement, this research forms the basis of a new Netflix documentary called "You Are What You Eat: A Twin Experiment." 

In this episode of my Health Bites series, I discuss the many conflicts of interest, funding sources, and hidden agendas that were not fully disclosed but could have had a major hand in clouding the study's conclusions and real-world applications. We’ll also get into the Netflix docuseries itself—what they got right vs. what they got wrong, as well as the Functional Medicine approach to diet and how we can feed our bodies to create health while taking care of the planet in a healthy, sustainable, and ethical way.

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In this episode, I discuss (audio version / Apple Subscriber version):

• Why nutrition research is so confusing (7:26 / 5:36)
• Overview of the Stanford study design and findings (11:57 / 10:07)
• Issues with the study design (27:10 / 24:10)
• Conflicts of interest and ethical considerations with this study (38:19 / 35:19)
• Other research on vegan diets (44:44 / 41:44)
• What the Netflix documentary got right and wrong (1:00:23 / 57:23)
• How to eat for your health and the environment (1:08:43 / 1:05:43)

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