The Dreaded Food Question

 “You Are What You Eat” a documentary by Louis Psihoyos, 2024

This documentary is ostensibly about an identical twins-study of 21 pairs of twins on two diets – an omnivore diet and a vegan diet. Both are to be accompanied by a robust exercise routine and are normally healthy people in their 20s-40s. The highlighted twins in the documentary are two somewhat overweight Filipino women, two young, in-shape African-American men; two chubby South-African women and two tall Euro-American male cheese eaters. The 8 are all subjected to very detailed before-and-after tests of their blood, body mass, fat locations, mental acuity, microbiome, biological age and for the women, sexual arousal.

What is most emotionally telling is that each twin who was assigned to eat vegan food felt like they were being punished. One high-school boy in an interview said it best – “I just like to eat what tastes good.” He reflects what the majority thinks, even though tastes change, what tastes good can be toxic, while some foods are addictive such as the ‘high’ linked to cheese.

But the documentary is also an advertisement for veganism and vegan businesses, hosting plant-based meat companies like Impossible; cheese and butter substitute companies like Miyokos and starter plant-based meat businesses hot-housed at UC Berkeley. It features anti-CAFO and anti-farm raised fish and anti-industrial fishing advocates, along with testimonials by Eric Adams and Cory Booker. It visits Detroit vegetable farmers who have changed that city, along with a former North Carolina chicken grower who is now a mushroom farmer. One sequence is the fraught conversion of a top NYC restaurant Eleven Madison Park to vegan food, which regained its 3 Michelin stars eventually, though after a barrage of hostility. The documentary shows common fecal contamination of chicken; interviews with scientists, environmentalists, health advocates, vegan athletes and bodybuilders - and lots of negative information about cows. Every burger you eat kills a tree in the Amazon!

One of the most startling claims is that African-Americans are the biggest growth group for veganism in the U.S. This is perhaps because of the dire legacy of poverty, food deserts, fast food and unhealthy versions of ‘soul’ food in that community.

The documentary was attacked for making too-broad or vague claims and for being funded by vegans, so there is that. Much of the attacks were centered on the health claims, not the environmental, animal or social claims. This documentary was based on a Stanford University Medicine study. Opponents seem to confuse the Stanford study with the one in the documentary, which is more extensive for just these 4 couples, though the documentary includes both. At least that is how I saw it, but the extra tests might have applied to everyone. At the end it is surprising to see an auditorium full of 21 twins while the results are read out. Obviously this kind of thing is controversial in the present food empire controlled by unsustainable corporate agriculture, a captured USDA and fast food / ultra-high processed food (UPF) dominance.

The study lasted for only 8 weeks: for the first 4 weeks the food was provided, for the second 4 the participants chose the food for their diet. Nor is one study deliberative. The other issue is that the omnivore diet provided was healthier than many real ones.

Scientists who have looked at the results in the Stanford study confirm that the LDL bad cholesterol did go down for vegans, as did weight levels and fasting insulin levels. The documentary itself reported – I think just for their sample? - that mental acuity did not change. For the vegans bad cholesterol LDL and TMAO (inflammation) levels dropped, while the microbiome improved, biological age dropped and sexual response was way up. Regarding fat and muscle, ‘bad fat’ around the organs went down for vegans, which is good, but so did overall muscle, which is not good. The 8 individual participants all reduced the amount of red meat, cheese and animal products in their diet after the study.

Welcome to the Farm

Substitutes for Meat and Dairy

It is clear more twin’s studies are needed. Nearly every larger study not based on twins according to science advocates like YouTuber Mic the Vegan, shows that vegan diets are healthier in almost every aspect. Vegans have to take B12 supplements daily, along with possible needs for other minerals like zinc, iron or vegan algae Omega, based on exactly what kind of vegan diet is being pursued. Yet as the documentary points out, the food issue is not limited to individual health by any means.

Mic reports that millions in corporate money is flowing into non-animal food production. Biological bio-mass creation of edible proteins, fats and vitamins, called precision fermentation using microbes, could replace animal sources. Insulin, formerly from animal sources, is now produced through precise fermentation. Rennet for cheese is now made from this fermentation, when originally it was directly from animals too. Honey, silk, palm oil, ice cream, whey and casein are now also being produced this way. Precision fermentation uses far less water, energy, drugs, chemicals and insecticides for all of these products, while having a minimal impact on the environment, such as no shit lagoons, slaughter houses, CAFOs, deforestation or methane-burping cows. Production facilities look like brewpubs or breweries full of large, stainless steel vats. These vats seem to be the solar panels, batteries and wind energy of the food future. Cultivated meat and fermented foods like these could replace the dairy and meat industries in 10 years according to him, so the Big Ag lobbies are going bonkers. Of course, there is no plan for a just transition, as this is still capitalism. (Source: Mic the Vegan - Fermentation)

Mic the Vegan has covered the follow-up to this Twins study, which was even more detailed, especially on epigenetic biological age. Epigenetic means that gene effects can be altered based in environmental influences. Biology is not always destiny: Twins FU - Mic

Prior blogspot reviews, use blog search box, upper left, to search our 17 year archive, using these terms: “Vegan Freak,” “The September 21 March and Actions in USA on the Environment,” “Hunger,” “The Potlikker Papers,” “John Oliver – Meatpacking,” “The Playbook,” “A Foodie’s Guide to Capitalism,” “Seaspiracy,” “Animal, Vegetable, Junk.”

The Cultural Marxist / September 24, 2024