We’re identical twins but one of us went vegan and it made one big health difference
It’s a tale of two twins.
Twins Jevon and John Whittington are identical – down to their height (5’6″), weight and what they eat.
Then they decided to go on a polar opposite diet for science: one went vegan, the other chowed down on meat, seafood, eggs and dairy — and only one came out more trim.
The 23-year-old Buffalo-based, both recent nursing school graduates, volunteered for a Stanford University experiment putting them on the opposing diets, which are featured in the new Netflix show “You Are What You Eat: A Twin Experiment.”
In total 22 pairs took part in the experiment, between May and July 2022, which asked for identical twins because their shared DNA, upbringing and — usually — lifestyles help cut out other genetic and environmental factors which also affect our health.
John and the 22 other vegan twins followed the vegan diet precisely: not just no meat, but no animal products including milk and eggs.
And Jevon and 22 others were put on the omnivore diet, meanwhile, including chicken, fish, eggs, cheese, dairy and other animal products.
Both diets were designed to be healthy with vegetables, legumes, fruits and whole grains and lacking sugar, processed food and refined starches.
It was a major change for the Whittingtons. “We’ve pretty much been eating the same thing our whole lives – our diets growing up was a lot of rice, chicken, fish, crab legs,” John told The Post. “Most people couldn’t tell us a part.”
The pair started shredded thanks to working out since they were 12, thanks to having a pro-body builder for a dad, John Whittington Jr.
“My dad gave us the gift of fit – we liken our affinity for taking care of our bodies to him,” Jevon told The Post.
At the beginning of the vegan diet, John’s body fat was already an admirable 11.1%, he weighed in at 137.2 pounds with 0.37 pounds, almost precisely 6oz, of visceral fat, the sort which develops around the center of the body and is regarded as being dangerous for long-term health.
Jevon, the meat-eater, had nearly identical body fat – 11% at the beginning of the experiment, and weighed just over a pound more at 138.6 with 0.22 pounds of visceral fat.
Within one week, vegan John was already craving his favorites such as lemon pepper chicken wings, but says he satiated the craving with alternative meat products.
“I was trying plant-based meat products like plant-based Cajun chicken and veggie burgers,” he told The Post.
During the experiment the twins worked out doing cardio a few days a week, weight training and high intensity interval training.
By the end of the study, John lost 0.19 pounds of visceral fat from following the vegan diet, leaving him with just 0.03 pounds — less than half an ounce — around his middle.
By comparison, on the omnivore diet Jevon’s visceral fat dropped by one point from 0.22 pounds to 0.21 pounds — meaning he lost less than half an ounce of fat.
But a diet which included meat proved to produce more muscle, with Jevon bulking up an extra 7.1 pounds of muscle after the eight weeks, compared to his brother, who gained 2.3 pounds.
Internally, the vegan diet turned out better: it led to a 20% decline in insulin levels, and a 12% drop in “bad” cholesterol (LDL), along with a decrease in overall body weight — although the omnivore diet did not have any negative effects on health.
“What’s more important than going strictly vegan is including more plant-based foods into your diet,” said Christopher Gardner, Rehnborg Farquhar Professor of Medicine at Stanford University. The study was published in November in the medical journal, “JAMA Network Open.”
Despite the results, the twins reverted back to their meat-eating ways after the study culminated since their results weren’t drastically different from how they started.
“We cut back on red meat and dairy,” Jevon said.
“But it proved to us that we can continue to eat way we’re eating.”
