“Separated by Diet: The Shocking Transformation of Twins Who Dared to Defy Fat and Sugar!”

Have you ever thought about how identical twins would fare on completely different diets? It sounds like the premise of a quirky reality show, but it’s reality for brothers Chris and Xand Van Tulleken, who decided to put their medical expertise to the test! These British doctors embarked on a month-long journey to experience firsthand the effects of a no-fat diet versus a no-carb and sugar plan. Documented in the BBC series Sugar vs Fat, their experiment sheds light on a fascinating question: which diet would come out on top? Spoiler alert—it turns out the results were startling and maybe even a little shocking! Let’s dig into their experience and see what they learned about health, sustainability, and the complexities of nutrition. LEARN MORE

Have you ever wondered how it would be for twins to go on separate diets and compare results? Well regardless of your answer, we have the results for you.

The Brits are sort-of identical twins, but decided to go on two completely different diets to compare the results, which were later revealed on a CNN news segment.

Brothers Chris and Xand Van Tulleken, who are also both doctors, took it upon themselves to carry out the experiment over the course of a month, with the former going on a no-fat diet, while the latter went on a no-carbs and sugar diet.

It was all documented as part of a BBC Horizon series back in 2014, Sugar vs Fat.

Doctors and brothers, Chris and Xand Van Tulleken, decided to compare the changes in their bodies after a month (BBC)

The brothers decided to see which was actually worse for them, regardless of what health experts may initially think, with the results coming as a shock.

Describing the act of eating without fat as a ‘joyless experience’, Chris didn’t seem to thrilled when looking back at the month-long challenge, while Xand said that he ‘lived on meat, cheese and eggs’ as part of his ‘no-sugar’ diet.

They even went as far to measure the ratio of fat to muscle in a specialised machine, where Chris found out that he has 22 percent body fat, while Xand had more at 26.7 percent.

During the course of the month, while Xand said that he enjoyed ‘eating steak most nights’ and even ‘felt good’, his energy levels were low though consistent through the day, with no spikes.

And though Chris said his ‘food looked normal’, neither really advocated for their respective diets come the end of the experiment.

The pair found that their diets were not sustainable (YouTube/CNN)

The pair revealed just how much weight they lost too, as Xand said that he’d lost eight lbs (3.6kg), while Chris, on the fat-free diet, lost just two pounds (0.9kg).

Chris pointed out that Xand actually wanted to stay on the diet as he had lost weight, but ‘by every other measure’, the diet was not good for his twin.

In fact, it turned out that Xand ended up slightly pre-diabetic, as he explained: “You would think that if you cut out sugar, you would move away from diabetes, there would be less stress on your pancreas, your insulin system, all of that.”

Instead, his body had to work hard to deal with any fat coming in, since most of his calories were from fat.

He also highlighted that fruits and vegetables were off the table in his diet.

Xand found that he was much worse at processing sugar by the end of the diet, calling it ‘unsustainable’ in the long-term.

Chris then explained that trying to ‘vilify’ one macro-nutrient was not the way to go to lead a healthy diet, as it will cause problems, as ‘diet is a complicated subject, trying to seek a simple solution is difficult’.

Their main takeaway was that the rising rate of obesity wasn’t due to fat or sugar, but it’s because of the processed foods, which is hard to stop eating, while highlighting the importance of exercise.