Game changer or fame gainer?

The 2018 vegan documentary The Game Changers produced by James Cameron, Jackie Chan and Arnold Schwarzenegger and narrated by James Wilks, a former UFC fighter, has just been released on Netflix. It’s raised quite a stir and dietitians and registered nutritionists have been inundated with questions about their thoughts on the movie. So we’ve collated a few reviews from these experts in the area of human nutrition, to provide a better understanding of the content.

The documentary follows Wilks’ quest to prove the optimal diet for human performance and health is a solely plant-based or vegan diet. The focus is predominantly on male athletes and their strength, endurance, muscle size, performance and yes even virility!

Niki Bezzant: “A compelling narrative”

James Cameron is a proven story-teller and has the skills to pull together information to draw on our emotions, as Niki Bezzant, editor-at-large for Healthy Food Guide, shares in her review “It's a compelling narrative; by the end, if you're someone wondering about changing your diet, you'll be ready to make the switch”.

Julianne Taylor: “One-sided”

New Zealand registered nutritionist, Julianne Taylor, who has been involved in nutrition and diet-related TV programmes, says that The Game Changers film-makers use ‘many techniques of documentary persuasion’ such as using powerful personal stories and anecdotes. She claims, along with many other reviewers, that the documentary is one-sided and only looks for evidence that supports their point of view.

Taylor’s review of the film is very thorough and she lists the documentary researchers and science advisors who she states all have ‘a prior plant-based, anti-meat agenda.’

Kelsey Hutton: “Suffers from Confirmation bias”

Australian sport performance dietitian, Kelsey Hutton, confirms Taylor’s view in her vlog, stating the film has confirmation bias, it endorses something the producer, researchers and host already believe and it only presents ‘the evidence around vegan diets’. It fails to show that ‘athletes who include meat in their diet also do well in their chosen sport.’ Her film review vlog provides some balanced and sensible advice to sports athletes who are looking for ways to improve their performance through nutrition.

Tim Rees: “Cherry-picked data”

For those who like to dig deeper into the many cherry-picked, scientific studies quoted in the film, and there were a lot of them, Tim Rees (registered nutritionist) does this for you. He takes a closer look at the evidence provided in the film, breaking it into three parts – Part 1 looks into the Intro and Protein and Part 2 examines the Anecdotes, theatrics & health resort. Part 3 looks at the evidence: Unforgiveable Spin, Seventh Day Adventists and Arnie out of place. It’s quite the committed read so our advice is put the kettle on for a cuppa and settle in.

Zachary Wenger: “Poor quality of evidence”

So it’s not suggested that we’ve ‘cherry-picked’ our reviewers, college dietetics major and vegan, Zachary Wenger, states the ‘quality of evidence in this film was extremely poor’. He shares the undeniable science regarding the benefits of consuming animal proteins, which he states the film does not discuss. In his review he concludes with “Using fear-mongering tactics on people who are uninformed, is simply not the right way to grow veganism”.

Chantal Cuthers: “don’t go overhaul your life based on 90 minutes”

And finally a sensible voice of reason, Chantal Cuthers, another New Zealand registered nutritionist, reminds her followers the documentary was about ‘high-performance athletes who would have had access to chefs, money, coaches, psychologists, mental health support, supplements, job security, health and medical access, and food security’ that most people do not have access to.

Cuthers provides some sound advice – ‘don’t go overhaul your life based on 90 minutes of the current hit-doco that will be replaced in a year with another one.’

Every nutrition professional will agree with increasing your plant-based foods such as vegetable and fruit intake, but if you are wanting to make any drastic dietary changes whether it be for sport performance or health, seek out the advice of a qualified nutrition expert such as a registered nutritionist or dietitian.