One twin is vegan, the other eats meat: their bodies respond differently to their diets
Is following a vegan diet good for our bodies? Leading a vegan diet means eliminating meat, dairy products and any other product of animal origin from our diets. This has been an ongoing, lingering question and one which more and more scholars are trying to answer. There are definite certain answers however, because not everyone reacts the same to the consumption and digestion of certain foods. To contribute to the science around this subject, and try to give answers more closely linked to reliable data, the Turner twins decided to make themselves test subjects and undertake an experiment in which they measured the effects of two types of diet on their systems: vegan and meat-based. Being identical twins helped to make the experiment's results much more accurate and reliable than usual.
So what were the results after 12 weeks of "dieting"?
Hugo and Ross Turner are identical twins. For the experiment, Hugo went vegan, while Ross pursued a meat-based diet. During the experiment, the twins did regular physical exercise - and there is no doubt that the two of them are very well-trained athletes. The whole study lasted 12 weeks and was conducted and monitored by a team of researchers from King's College, London.
"We wanted to use the homozygous twin model to test the effects on the twins of following different diets, but also following the same exercise regimen and then determining how the twins responded to the different types of food," explained epidemiologist Professor Tim Spector, who led the research at the college.
So what were the results of the research? Between the two diets, it cannot be said that there was a drastic difference in the outcomes. Notwithstanding this, the vegan diet certainly demonstrated some improvements to the test subject (Hugo). First of all, Hugo, having completely eliminated meat and products of animal origin - like eggs and diary - experienced a sharp drop in his cholesterol levels and an increase in resistance to Type-2 diabetes. On the other hand, the levels of his bacterial flora (gut bacteria) dropped significantly.
His brother, Ross, on the other hand, certainly had no problems from an intestinal point of view, but he did experience more dramatic peaks and troughs in his energy levels during the day. Additionally, he also experienced an increase in cholesterol and fat levels in the blood.
In short, there are no definitive answers that identify which diet is best, but this experiment seems to be an excellent starting point for continuing to investigate this subject.
