Game Changers, or Game Players? Investigating the Documentary.

If I had a dollar for every time I have heard people talking about Game Changers documentary these days, I’d be sitting on the beach sipping a nice fruity, vegan smoothie right now. Now, if you have not seen the Game Changers documentary, whose goal is to convince people to switch to plant based diets, this article may be a tad confusing. You can watch the documentary on Netflix.

I have nothing against what people choose when it comes to dietary lifestyles. If being vegan suits you, GREAT! If you are a Ketogenic die hard, good for you! If you are paleo, like I am, that’s awesome! Honestly the only diet I have a real problem with is the standard American diet full of processed, deep fried food and sugar. This diet is the leading cause of obesity and obesity related disease. What I also don’t like is when information is misrepresented or is wrong or cherry picked. Fear mongering to bully people into choosing a diet that follows an agenda is wrong, and doing this can lead to impressionable people becoming malnourished and sick. Animal produce is the best source of bio-available nutrients, and removing them can cause higher amounts of malnutrition. Getting enough calories does not mean one is getting ample nutrition. I have watched the documentary, I have read many reviews, and I am here to give you my take on Game Changers.

And by the way, I have a degree in biology with environmental science option, and am an ex-medical research scientist. I pride myself if researching information, triple checking information, and attempting to give that information in the most correct form possible. I have put in over 25 hours of research to put this post together. Please read my legal page, and know this post is for entertainment purposes only, and enjoy!

JAMES SITTING ON THE FENCE

The documentary is is led by James Wilks, an ex-UFC fighter who had a terrible injury and is unable to train for 6 months. In a quest to heal quickly, he spends 1,000 hours researching nutrition. Quick math on this says that he would have had to spend 5.55 hours a day for the entire 180 days doing nothing but reading about nutrition, or more hours each day if he had a life and took days off. As dedicated as that is, you think he would have noticed that there is a huge void of scientifically valid nutrition studies available, and what is there has not been repeated.

Anyway, with his research, he seems to have come to the conclusion that a plant based lifestyle is best. He positions himself perfectly as a person just interested in the best nutrition he can get to accelerate his healing. So as he makes the many surprising discoveries throughout the film, it makes it easier to trust him because he is in the same place as you, right? He is so darn relatable!

ABOUT THOSE STUDIES….

Many of the studies used in this film, as well as nutrition studies available in general, rely on food reporting. You can’t lock people up in a room for days, months or years and force them to eat what you tell them. Scientists rely on single day dietary recall interviews, frequency questionnaires (most common), and even 7 day dietary recall interviews. The biggest problem with these studies is inaccuracy of diet reporting. People underestimate, overestimate, forget and even consciously leave out what they eat (who wants to fess up to those 7 cupcakes!)

THEY SAY PLANT BASED NOT VEGAN

The producers use the phrase plant based instead of vegan. So, is this even important? Yes it is! By calling it plant based and not vegan, the producers give themselves the freedom to use information from sources that are not vegan, but vegetarian or even omnivore with a higher percentage of plants.

So what does plant based even really mean? Is is mostly plants? Or is it 100% plants? Assuming how they bashed meat eating in the documentary, I am assuming it is 100% plant based, which is vegan, so I am assuming they are the same.

So let’s define vegan and vegetarian, just for some clarification. Vegans do not consume meat, eggs, milk, honey or any food that is derived from animals. Vegetarians do not eat meat or fish. Some do consume dairy and some vegetarians consume eggs. Lacto-vegetarians eat dairy products. Ovo-vegetarians eat eggs. Vegetarians do not eat gelatin or other animal by products.

BUT GLADIATORS ONLY ATE PLANTS

What better way to make you think plant based will make you big and strong than to make you believe ancient gladiators were vegan? The documentary referenced this article. But I am including some parts of that same article that were conveniently left out of the documentary. Here is one.

“They turned up some surprising results. Compared to the average inhabitant of Ephesus, gladiators ate more plants and very little animal protein.”

So, they ate very little animal protein, but they ate it. And, they ate the way they did because, well, they needed to be fat. They were not the lean, ripped athletes with six packs we think they were. Here is another part left out of the documentary.

“The vegetarian diet had nothing to do with poverty or animal rights. Gladiators, it seems, were fat. Consuming a lot of simple carbohydrates, such as barley, and legumes, like beans, was designed for survival in the arena. Packing in the carbs also packed on the pounds. “Gladiators needed subcutaneous fat,” Grossschmidt explains. “A fat cushion protects you from cut wounds and shields nerves and blood vessels in a fight.” Not only would a lean gladiator have been dead meat, he would have made for a bad show. Surface wounds “look more spectacular,” says Grossschmidt. “If I get wounded but just in the fatty layer, I can fight on,” he adds. “It doesn’t hurt much, and it looks great for the spectators.“”

Also, the documentary mentions how dense the gladiator’s bones were. Well, turns out they knew that the way they ate made them deficient. This information from the article was also left out of the documentary.

“But a diet of barley and vegetables would have left the fighters with a serious calcium deficit. To keep their bones strong, historical accounts say, they downed vile brews of charred wood or bone ash, both of which are rich in calcium. Whatever the exact formula, the stuff worked. Grossschmidt says that the calcium levels in the gladiator bones were “exorbitant” compared to the general population. “Many athletes today have to take calcium supplements,” he says. “They knew that then, too.””

So they had great bones, but not because they were vegan. They supplemented with calcium. As a matter of fact, a large study concluded that compared to meat eaters, vegans don’t fare so well when it comes to fracture risk…so their bones are not strong.  Here is the study.

Picture Credit

BUT WHAT ABOUT THE FLAME TEST ON GLADIATOR BONES

This was one of the many instances of falsely presenting information. The researcher grinds up gladiator bones and explains that strontium, which is a mineral found in high concentrations in plants, would be in high enough concentrations in bones for his test. If strontium level is low (meat eater), when you put the ground bone into a flame, the flame will remain blue. If the strontium level is high (plant eater), the flame will turn red. Of course, the flame turns red! Amazing, gladiators were vegan!

Only this is wrong. There are carnivores (eat only meat), omnivores (eat meat and plants) and herbivores (eat only plants). Strontium levels would be low in carnivores, such as an apex predator who eats only meat. Omnivores actually consume a moderate amounts of strontium from plants in comparison. Here are what the actual levels of strontium from the different types of diet are.

Herbivore (400-500ppm)

Omnivore (150-400ppm)

Carnivore (100-300 ppm)

So as you can see, there is a significant amount of overlap between the different diets. Did gladiators eat a lot of plants? Yes, they did. Did they eat only plants? No they didn’t. I guess the filmmakers  thought no one would look this up?

The flame test itself also has problems. It has been shown that like plants, mollusks and other shellfish have high amounts of strontium. The flame would burn red on bones tested from meat eating populations that include these food sources. Here is the study.

BUT WHAT ABOUT THOSE MODERN DAY ELITE ATHLETES

Moving on from the gladiators, we now have a fight from 2016 in which Conor McGregor (meat eater) is defeated by Nate Diaz (plant eater). No information was given on the exact daily diets of the two fighters, and so it seems Conor eats way too much meat, and not enough carbs. He says he sometimes eats steaks for breakfast, lunch and dinner…roar!!! Nate supposedly eats a plant based diet, which is high in carbs.

Nate is painted as the underdog, as he is given 11 days notice after the fighter who was supposed to fight Conor broke a foot. But guess what? Conor had to go up two weight classes to fight Nate, who was as much as 20 pounds heavier than Conor. In the strength world, this is a HUGE difference! Weight classes exist for a reason. Nate had a huge weight advantage.

Oh, and another thing, Nate has actually gone on the record saying that he

“eats eggs and a little bit of seafood from time to time”

Well, ain’t that a big OOPSIE! Read it for yourself here.

Also, maybe Nate just got a lucky punch? Was he a more skilled fighter? How long and hard did they look for a fight that fit their agenda for the documentary? How many meat eaters beat plant eaters? How many meat eaters beat other meat eaters, how many plant eaters beat other plant eaters…and does what a person eats totally negate their talent and ability as a fighter? Could I beat Conor if I ate plants for a week? We don’t know!

WHAT ABOUT THE CYCLING TEAM

In this section of the documentary, a vegetarian (not vegan by the way) cycling team was victorious over two “regular” (assuming not vegetarian) teams. James cites a paper, here is the link.

I am going to post a photo of the conclusions of this paper. You can see there were many concerns pointed out about the problems that occur with a vegetarian diet imposed upon athletes. CHO stands for carbohydrates. So as you can see, they cherry picked the information they shared in the documentary.

And, that same paper says this:

“The ancient Greek athletes were heavy meat eaters. Mio of Crotona, the legendary wrestler who was never once brought to his knees over five Olympiads (532–516 BC), supposedly consumed gargantuan amounts of meat”

Again, cherry picking. What this says to me is if you want to be lean and strong, eat meat. If you want to put on a show like a gladiator, and protect the nerves and blood vessels with fat as you get sliced, eat high carbs.

THE RUNNERS, THE SPRINTERS, THE CYCLISTS…OH MY!

The documentary talks about athletes in these fields. All of these sports require huge amounts of carbs! We are never told what these athletes ate before they converted to being vegan. So maybe they hardly ate carbs at all, so adding more carbs (plants) would indeed improve their athletic ability.

AND THEN THE BIG BOYS WALKED IN

The documentary also needed to try to convince you that strength sports also benefit from plant based diets, right? So they bring in the big boys. This is where they documentary proves it is biased towards men.

A repeated omission in this documentary is exactly what these athletes were eating before they became vegan. I did hear a lot of talk about fried chicken. If diets of these athletes were full of low quality fast food before they switched to a diet full of whole foods, of course things will improve.

Baboumian claims he gained weight and strength after switching to a vegan diet, We do not know how he ate before, so it is very likely he increased calories and nutritional value after the switch, which would result in weight gain. And is he strong? Yes he is. Is he the strongest strongman? Not really, he does really well in only a couple strongman events. There are much much much stronger strongmen than him who are meat eaters.  And in case you think he gets all his nutrients from plants, take a look at how heavily he supplements his diet. Here is the link.

PLANT VS. MEAT PROTEIN

The documentary claims plant protein is higher quality, but what does the science actually say? First, what is a complete protein? A complete protein contains all of the essential amino acids. Incomplete proteins are missing essential amino acids. Animal proteins have all of the essential amino acids you need in the correct amounts. Plants don’t, and you have to combine plants to make sure you are getting all of the essential amino acids in the correct amounts.

James points out in the documentary that

“one cup of cooked lentils or a peanut butter sandwich has about as much protein as three ounces of beef or 3 large eggs.”

First off, who the heck eats 3 oz of beef? Is there some rationing going on here because that is tiny! I need at least 8oz!

Here is a chart showing the amino acid profile of lentils vs. chicken and beef. You can see chicken and beef win every time.  Chart credit link here.

When you rate quality of protein, you look at bio-availability. This is your body’s ability to digest the protein. Eggs are a pretty perfect protein rating at 100%.  Fish is 83%, beef is 80%. For the vegans,  soy is only 59%, beans are 49% and peanuts are 43%. So you have to eat much more to get the protein, which can include  more fat, more carbs, and more calories! You ARE NOT getting 100% of the protein, and your gut will likely let you know, probably the next day..if you know what I mean.

BUT THAT BLOOD TEST WAS SO CONVINCING!

This part of the documentary fed burritos to three Miami Dolphins players. One was chicken, one was beef, and one was beans and avocado. All three were in a bread wrap. Then blood was taken from all three and separated in a centrifuge. Those who ate meat burritos had a cloudy top layer of blood, the bean burrito eater a had clear top layer. The next day, all three were given the bean and avocado burrito. As expected, all three had a clear top layer of blood.

The researchers say that the cloudy blood is a sign of poor endothelial function. Well, I did some research and it turns out it is much more complicated to assess endothelial function than visually inspecting the top layer of blood. Maybe we should tell the doctors of the world that all they have to do is spin down a tube of blood and hold it up to the light to assess endothelial function? No…I don’t think so. There are many invasive, and non-invasive ways to measure it, but non of them are as easy as this documentary would lead you to believe. Here is a study explaining the methods.

The reality is what your blood looks like reflects what you ate recently, if you exercise, your metabolic status, your activity level and much more. If you have recently eaten fats in addition to carbs, your body will burn the fuel of choice, the carbs. SO this means the triglycerides will be in the blood for longer as your body is transporting that energy source to adipose tissue.

If you eat a high fat high protein meat meal with little to no carbs, your body will use the fat and protein as the energy source and your triglycerides will not be elevated in your blood for long, and your blood would be clear, just like it was with the veggie burrito. But as you see in the documentary, the meat burritos had what looked like a conglomerate of veggies, meat, and cheese in a bread wrap. The bean burrito only had beans and avocados. There was very little fat in the veggie burrito, so the body used the carb source and did not elevate triglycerides in the blood. The meat burritos had a carb source and a fat source, so the body chose to use the carb source and transport the fat source.  This has to do with the Randle cycle, and nothing to do with endothelial function.

Also, this was a single point, unscientific show and tell, and not real science. No other factors related to the men’s life were taken into consideration. What did they eat the rest of the day? That is kind of important to know. The part of the test that had them all eat bean burritos was done in the morning, after a night of fasting.

My theory is that if I drank a can of coconut milk, which is high in saturated fat, along with a sweet potato, high in carbs, my blood would be just as cloudy as the meat eating burritos guys blood was. I may have to find a lab and put this to the test! Below is a great video I found explaining what I just discussed. Click here to watch the video.

BUT BEET ROOT GIVES ME SUPER POWERS

I have actually know about beet root as a pre-workout for years, but had actually stopped using it. The documentary claims that you would improve your bench press a whopping 19% with just some beet root juice. Well folks, why in the heck are all these muscle men in the world taking steroids when all they need is a teeny tiny glass of beet root juice? 19% is a HUGE gain! Well folks, that is because it is wrong. Beet root has benefits for your workout, but not 19% worth of benefits, that’s for sure!

And here is a news flash. You can definitely take advantage of any benefits of beet root, and not be a vegan. I know it is hard to believe that non-vegans also eat other things besides meat, but have an open mind here. After the documentary, I bought some beet root and put it to the test and added it to my pre-workout. Guess what? I had a new PR that day with my deadlift. It was not anywhere near 19%, it was only 3%. And my bench press? Well, no new PR there, so that one was 0%. Do I attribute my deadlift PR to the beet root, or to the chicken and sweet potatoes I had the day before? I just don’t know.  I do feel the beet root gives me energy, but I most definitely do not need to be vegan to enjoy the benefits of it. And it gives me energy, not super powers.

ICEBERG LETTUCE HAS MORE ANTIOXIDANTS THAN SALMON

Well, uhm…yeah! This comparison is like saying pork has more protein than a banana.  Most antioxidants are vitamins and minerals, which are more abundant in plants. Micro-nutrients like these are degraded in digestive tracts of animals. The documentary cited a study that shows eating a plant based diet reduces the inflammation marker, c-reactive protein . But, another news flash, eating meat does not negate the benefits of eating plants. Adding plants to a balanced diet that includes meat is a great way to reduce inflammation.

BUT DOESN’T B-12 COMES FROM SOIL?

James claims that B-12 actually comes from bacteria in the soil, and is not made by animals. He claims the animals consume the B-12 made by bacteria in soil and water in streams and that animals are just the middlemen. And he also claims that with industrial farming and pesticides, antibiotics and chlorine, the bacteria are killed and the animals lack B-12, and that farm animals have to be supplemented. This is just wrong. B-12 is made by bacteria, but it is made by bacteria in the animals gut. They don’t get the B-12 from the soil. In the ruminant animals such as cows, cobalt from the grass they consume is used by bacteria in the rumen (a chamber of the stomach) to make B-12, known as cobalamin. They are foregut fermenters and can then absorb the B-12 and utilize it themselves. We as humans, like chimps and gorillas, also have bacteria that make B-12. But we are hindgut fermenters and cannot absorb the B-12 our gut bacteria makes. Chimps and gorillas eat their own poop, so they do get the B-12 made in their gut. I don’t recommend this type of B-12 supplementation.

The only soil that would have B-12 would be soil rich in manure. There is also not evidence that B-12 is fed to cattle, and there is also no evidence that humans have ever been able to meet their B-12 needs from consuming soil and water. Yes, animals do get the bacteria necessary for B-12 production through the soil, but is is the symbiotic relationship with the bacteria in the digestive tract of the animal that produces the B-12. Here is a great research paper on the available sources of B-12. Click here to read it.

Homocysteine, a sticky inflammatory protein associated with heart disease and dementia, is also higher in vegans, and is a result of B-12 deficiency. Here is a study. Vegans also have other brain nutrient deficiencies, here is a good summary of those.

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PLANTS RAISE TESTOSTERONE AND DECREASE CORTISOL, DON’T THEY?

Well, this part of the documentary had men eat different burritos and had erectile strength measured as they slept. Based on this unscientific, single point study, you’d think a vegan man would not get much sleep, and would wake with his man parts rather fatigued. Who needs Viagra when you have bean burritos? Anyone know about the 4 hour rule here, and did these guys see a doctor for this?

I have questions. Were other factors taken into consideration? How did those athletes train before the test? Did they train legs? Did they have any alcohol? Were the stressed? Did they eat a lot of salt? Were they dehydrated? Did they load up on sugar with cheesecake? What about medical history and other genetic factors? All of these can affect erectile strength. So can the placebo effect.

But here is some real cherry picking that is concerning and just wrong. James says that “Studies comparing men eating animal protein and men eating plant protein have demonstrated no difference in testosterone levels.”  The documentary claims that vegans actually have higher testosterone than meat-eaters. If you actually read the study they cited, you will see that they outright left out the facts.  Here is the study. They claim that vegans actually have higher testosterone than meat-eaters. But they left out the most important facts here. While some studies found total testosterone to be higher in vegans, sex hormone-binding globulin (SHBG) was also substantially higher in vegans. What does this mean?  SHBG binds to sex hormones (testosterone). So this means that the actual amount of free testosterone was equal between the vegan and meat eating group. How convenient to leave this detail out! Read this study.

The documentary says “Research has shown that people who replace animal foods with high carbohydrate plant foods experience an average drop in cortisol (stress hormone) levels of 27%”. This is not what the study says. The study finds that that the protein/carbohydrate ratio in the human diet alters cortisol and testosterone levels.  It is talking about carbohydrates, of all kinds. It does not say that animal protein should be replaced with plants.  It says more carbohydrates should be consumed in relation to protein to decrease cortisol and increase testosterone. Here is the study.

BUT WEREN’T OUR ANCESTORS PLANT EATERS?

 In this part of the documentary, they claim that because we have flat teeth, color vision, and a long intestinal tract compared to a carnivore that we are not meant to eat meat. Actually they way our teeth are made is the definition of an omnivore.

Yes the early humans ate plants. But we know they were hunter/gatherers. Some cultures survived on mostly meat and animal fat, like the Inuit. So should we only eat meat because some of our ancestors ate mostly meat? NO! We should eat balanced diets. Here is a good article on the history of humans. Read it here.

The documentary also mentions that glucose is our primary fuel source and we are clearly meant to only eat plants since they are the best source of fuel. This process is called glycolysis. The thing is, glucose might be our preferred fuel source, but we also can produce glucose from protein and fat through a process called gluconeogenesis. Why would we have this process if we were not meant to use it? Here is a link explaining the two processes and why both are important. Read it here.

BUT WHO FUNDED THIS DOCUMENTARY

The executive producers of the film, James Cameron and his wife Suzy Amis Cameron are the founders of Verdiant Foods, an organic pea protein company which is part of a “$140 million drive to accelerate the growth of the vegan protein market”. Read it here. Also, all of the doctors interviewed in the documentary sell vegan products. Hmmm, I wonder if doing this film was good for business? I smell a money making agenda..or is that pea protein? Not sure, they are both pretty green.

CONCLUSION

This so called documentary had a lot of information, but much of it was false, cherry picked, or misrepresented. An impressionable person would watch it and be scared into being a vegan in no time, thinking their next bite of a steak will kill them instantly. It seems to me that it was more of a long, paid advertisement than an informative documentary. I have nothing against vegans, but this film is bullying people into changing their diets by means of information that is blatantly wrong and could lead to massive undernourishment. I agree that the meat and egg industry is a problem. They are causing environmental damage, they abuse animals, and the quality is low. I agree people could eat less meat, and choose their meat and egg sources wisely by working with local farmers. I myself get my eggs from a local farmer, and they are way more nutritious.  And I prefer to eat wild game. I don’t agree with making a fear mongering film aimed at increasing your pea protein revenue, and pushing an agenda. I prefer to inform people about real, balanced nutrition that includes plants, eggs and meat. I prefer foods that I could grow, gather or hunt, just like nature intended. I prefer to eliminate processed foods and sugar. So, if you watch this film, do your research before making drastic diet changes that could harm you in the long run. I think the best way to eat is like a vegan, but also including meat, fish and eggs.  And for the record, to the executive producers of the film, I do consume pea protein daily in my smoothies, and have nothing against it’s use. I also eat a ton of plants.