A pair of identical twins who went on a separate carb and fat diets have revealed the surprising impacts they had on their body.
Hugo and Ross Turner went on separate fat and carb diets in a study in partnership with Loughborough University in the UK.
The 12 week programme saw Ross take on a strict carbohydrates diet, while twin Hugo took on the fat meal plan.
While they were taking on different diets, there were a lot of similarities between what the identical twins were consuming.
They both ate around 3,500 calories every single day, supplied in part by Frive – a ‘delivery service that provides healthy, chef-prepared meals’.
On top of this, the pair had 350 calories of protein shakes and other snacks, which ultimately saw them hit the 3,500 calorie mark.
There was only a 500 calorie difference between the twins’ allowance, with Hugo eating 500 calories from fat and Ross getting his final calories on the board through carbs.
Results published on Wednesday (January 22) found Hugo’s strength had increased by 59 percent thanks to the fat diet, while Ross’ increased by 56 percent.
As you’d probably expect, Hugo’s body mass increased by 2.7kg, versus the 0.2kg seen with Ross’ carb diet.
“In summary, both diets across the 12 week training case study saw physiological improvements in metabolic, cardiac and efficiency markers although VO2max wasn’t improved,” the study’s authors said.
In conclusive thoughts, they added: “A higher carb diet is more beneficial for higher intensity running, lifting and exercise (CrossFit, 10k, half marathon etc.), whereas the higher fat diet is better for lower intensity but longer forms of exercise (walking, hiking, jogging). This backs up the general hypothesis for a higher carbohydrate diet and a higher fat diet.”
To the twins’ surprise, the skin fold test conducted for the experiment saw a drop in both Hugo and Ross’ body fat, but with the use of Bodystat machine, an increase in Hugo’s body fat was recorded.
Previously, Hugo and Ross had gone on separate vegan and meat diets over the course of 12 weeks, and the results were certainly interesting.
Hugo revealed he felt more energetic during the day while Ross said his gym performances were ‘up and down a little bit more’ due to his meat-eating diet.
On the heath side of things, Hugo discovered that the diversity of his gut bacteria had dropped ‘severely’, while his brother’s stayed the same – meaning Ross was less likely to pick up illnesses.
