So the game changer has just dropped on Netflix two days ago and everybody's talking about it, is it accurate is it all hype
Let's find out
So this is the new big documentary on diet and it's produced by James Cameron
So inevitably we're gonna have debates on social media for a while
The vegan camp is gonna say it's perfect. And the meat camp is gonna say it's all vegan propaganda
So let's try to leave ideology to the side and go through the main points of the movie infect check do the claims
Actually match the science
So the movie follows this guy James Wilkes a former MMA fighter and his discovery of the effects of different diets
That's probably pretty smart storytelling because instead of just dumping a bunch of facts on that. It's like some documentaries do here
It feels like we're actually following a real flesh-and-blood human being and his actual journey in the opening scene
We see him teaching fighting techniques to a bunch of army guys. We get it. He's a badass as we start following James's journey
We're told about Roman gladiators who allegedly were mostly vegetarian now. I honestly don't know how convincing this point is
They bring out a forensic researcher from Vienna Fabien Kant's and he tells us that from old bones
They can measure levels of this element called strontium and deduced the composition of the diet
But some of consus own studies point to a few caveats
He writes that the simple idea of strontium has experienced a major correction, and he's goes on to say that another problem
Is that elements in the bones can change with time and measurements have nitrogen another element?
Indicates some variation high consumption of legumes in some gladiators more animal products in others
They conclude in that paper that the individuals from the gladiator cemetery were a very heterogeneous group who consumed different kind of foods
So all in all it feels a little fuzzy. I wouldn't bet my life savings on this gladiator claim
It seems pretty clear that plant foods like barley and wheat were common staples for these gladiators
but whether they were
Mostly vegetarian or all of them were vegetarian is a little less clear at least based in these studies
And this is a trend I saw throughout the movie
They do a really good job of
Squashing myths like you need a ton of meat to be strong and athletic and stuff like that
But they sometimes try to stretch things to suggest an advantage of plants that they don't always justify very well
I am NOT that eating plants doesn't have advantages. Don't get me wrong if you've seen any of my previous videos
You know, I'm all about it. What I'm saying is some of the claims that they chose to focus on the angle
They chose the approach they chose. It's not necessarily the easiest one to prove, but we'll come back to this point later for now
Let's just keep moving what gladiators ate 2000 years ago is not that relevant for our dietary choices in 2019
And it's not that crucial for the movies storyline either
So moving on next they introduced us to this runner Scott Jurek who's gearing up to run?
2,200 miles in
46 days basically two marathons a day
Every day for a month and a half. I don't care what you're eating. That's incredible
I didn't even know that was vehemently possible. This dude is amazing
The movie also introduces us to several other very impressive plant-based athletes a speed runner a power lifter a strongman
Etc. Etc. All really impressive really successful Olympians record holders you name it? So this is one of the strongest points in the movie
They introduce you to elite athletes who are plant-based
So this myth that you need meat to perform to be fit, whatever
They do a really good job of squashing that on the other hand
They're weaker point is the implication that these athletes are not just great which they clearly are, but that they are better
Because of the diet which is a really tough claim to prove by just asking them
Athlete after athlete they tell us they feel stronger and faster and thinner on plants
I don't doubt it, but the problem is basing our decision on subjective reports
And the problem with that is that you can always find another subjective report from somebody else who felt better
After eating a ton of meat or cotton candy all day or starving or whatever crazy fad
These are anecdotes and the problem with leaning on these too much
sympathetic as I am to plant-based diets is
That you open the door to all kinds of nonsense because then anything goes as long as you find somebody who felt better doing X
That's not evidence
And we shouldn't base life-and-death decisions on arguments like that
Especially since there are so many amazing reasons to eat more plants that are well documented with scientific evidence
But we'll come back to this at this point the movie cuts to a more hardcore science segment
where they tackled the obligatory issue of protein
They go over some of the basics like you can get plenty of protein from plants. All the essential amino acids, etc
These are well established facts
and I've actually done identical videos before maybe James Cameron saw my protein videos and he was like damn this guy's got some
Filmmaking skills. Let me make a whole movie based on this
That's my story and I'm choosing to believe it the movie also shows us some short experiments with athletes
These are some of the most talked-about scenes in the movie. The first one is about blood lipid levels and endothelial function
The endothelium is basically the inner lining of your arteries any wanted working. Well, it's very important to prevent cardiovascular disease
Now the point they try to make is that animal fat impairs endothelial function
But plant fat doesn't now there is support for this in studies
This study for example shows that saturated fat in this case from butter cuts your endothelial reactivity in half
But bland fats don't have that effect
But there's also evidence that some plant fats like oils for example also hinder endothelial function
So it's not that simple. It's not just animal versus plant
It's the actual food you're eating and this is another issue I have with a movie it focuses so hard on this question of plant
Versus animal products which is very relevant, but it tends to oversimplify things a bit now. Maybe this is an unfair criticism
Maybe getting people used to the idea of cutting back on meat is enough of a hurdle
So maybe they had to focus on this and not complicate things too much
if on top of telling people to cut back on the meat you start telling them to not eat oils and salt and
processed food and whatever else
Maybe you're just gonna turn off everybody
What am I supposed to eat twigs all day on the other hand some previous documentaries like Forks Over knives, for example
Were very effective at communicating this they explained that it's not just about cutting back on all the animal products
But it's about whole plants
So maybe it's not that complicated after all maybe we shouldn't underestimate
People maybe you should just tell them the truth and let them make their own decisions
The second experiment of the movie is the famous erection scene that everybody's talking about on social media
They measure the number and the intensity of erections
After eating animal versus plant foods now as the doctor explains to the movie that scene doesn't constitute a proper scientific experiment
but we do know that men with high cholesterol are at higher risk for erectile dysfunction and
Serum cholesterol levels are closely related to consumption of animal products. Also lowering cholesterol improves erectile dysfunction
We also know that a diet rich in fruits
Vegetables nuts whole grains and fish but low in red and processed meat and refined carbohydrates is more common in people without IDI
Also in clinical trials this type of plant heavy dietary pattern is effective in improving IDI
There's also some mechanistic understanding with plants like leafy greens for example being a great source of nitric oxide
Which triggers vasodilation which is how erection happens and it's also how viagra works not that I would know anything about viagra
So all in all there's some good basis for this idea that eating more plants helps with sexual function
You could say there's some hard science behind it
Luckily the doctor in the scene wasn't too stiff and they don't stretch things too long
Before the athletes rise up to the challenge and we get to the happy ending so immature
Alright moving on next the movie introduces us to Scott stole one of the doctors for the USA Olympic team
And he makes a crucial point the protein package concept animal protein comes with cholesterol and saturated fats
But also with pro-inflammatory and pro-oxidant molecules things like he Myron neu5gc
Production of TMAO all things we want to minimize plant protein on the other hand comes with fiber vitamins antioxidants and phytonutrients
This is possibly the number one difference between eating plants and eating animals. You can get protein from either one
You can get amino acids. You can build muscle not a problem
But the price tag in terms of metabolic side effects is hugely different the movie then switches gears
We meet James's father who's suffering from heart disease and the movie pivots to talking about the effects of plant diets on disease
This is probably the strongest part of the movie at least science wise because the evidence is so overwhelming here
We're not hearing anecdotes anymore
They explain the mechanistic aspects and they tell us about heart disease reversal want plant predominant diets
The movie also does a really good job of showing pictures of the actual studies and citing their claims right there on the screen
I think this is a general trend where people are getting savvy er about the science behind these claims and I for one couldn't be
Happier to see that then the movie pivots again
And we need a series of great characters a 60 year old trainer who is ripped to shreds
What's the big deal my body? Totally looks like that?
Then the governador makes a cameo and he tells us that these blood lipids look better now that he's plant-based. Yeah
He probably told his cholesterol to get down then the movie gets into this question of what our ancestors ate now
I think it's legitimate to address this question since it's something that people tend to hang on to so much
But I've made videos about this before in my opinions largely a distraction
our ancestors ate what they had available and
What allowed them to survive to pass on their genes that tells me very little about what's gonna get me through ninety or a hundred
And what's gonna help me dodge a heart attack or Alzheimer's what I want to know is health effects of different diets after
60 70 80 years what cavemen were eating a hundred thousand years ago
Not that relevant
Okay
moving on then we check in with Superman who has already run across five states and has another four to go or something unreal like
that you could have done a whole documentary just on this news run seriously next the movie touches on the
Confusion around nutrition and all the pseudoscience and how the media and the food industry try to capitalize on it
You'll actually find a striking consensus in nutrition science around plant predominant diets. I've said this almost verbatim in previous videos
So I obviously agree with that and more importantly so does every major organization issuing dietary recommendations all over the world?
So let's move on close to the end of the movie
They do a quick pass over the environmental issues the impact of animal agriculture now. I'm not a climate scientist
My background is in medicine and biology
I do try to read as much as I can on climate research
But that doesn't make somebody an expert what matters is professional experience in the field
so I'll only say that from what I've read there does seem to be
widespread agreement that animal products have a much bigger footprint as far as water and land use and
greenhouse gas emissions which seems intuitive to grow animals
You need to grow plants first to feed the animals and you can keep doing that for months or years
until the animals reach adult size
So if we eat the plants directly it stands to reason that should be more
Energetically efficient and the science seems to bear that out
now one of the last scenes in my opinion is one of the most
impactful we see a group of firefighters going through a workshop on healthy eating and
Checking their labs a week later some drop over a hundred points off their cholesterol
This is a really poignant scene in my opinion because this is such a well-established
Affect in the literature that you can get these impressive results fast
Just with the right dietary change many studies have shown this drop in cholesterol of 30% in seven days
And I've made a number of videos about it before so that's the number one cause of death in the world
largely prevented in seven days
Hard to overstate that and to their credit
They don't milk the scene excessively
Really important scene there in my opinion then they wrap up over the credits by hammering home this point that you can have vegan meatballs
Pizza Nuggets all this stuff so said this before this one's a little tricky for me because it's
Suggesting to people that if they eat this way this vegan junk food
They're still gonna reap the benefits of eating plants
And the truth is the science doesn't really support that the evidence indicates that refined carbohydrates artificial foods
Even if made from plants aren't much better than the animal stuff. The key is whole plants
That's what nutrition science keeps telling us over and over again. Not this vegan no matter what you eat story
So it's a little misleading and it's a choice they made in terms of communication
They maybe they wanted to appear more appealing or less threatening and I get that but I can't entirely agree with that message
At the end of the day so bottom line. I think the movie is well done. It makes some important points
Let's move on from this nonsense of we need meat and real men eat slabs of meat
It's 2019 almost 2020
we're past this but I also have some pet peeves with them leaving out the crucial point of whole plants and
Featuring a lot of junky plant foods throughout the movie as well as that over reliance on anecdotes
There's massive evidence behind the benefits of eating whole plants. We really don't need to rely on he-said she-said
The movie is obviously generating a ton of buzz
Apparently it's the best-selling documentary of all time on itunes and social media has also been abuzz
People deciding to cut back on meat after watching it and that's a good thing
So I hope overall the impact is positive for health environment and animal welfare. So that's my opinion
Let me know how you feel in the comments below. Do you agree with me?
Do you think they should have been more hardcore science? Do you think they struck a good balance?
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