An identical twin has revealed that there is something that sets her apart from her sister: her weight.
Since hitting puberty, Ashley has generally weighed 20 to 30lbs more than her sister Kelly despite being 99.9 percent similar, genetically speaking.
The twins – who do not reveal their last names and both still live at home with their parents – say that they eat the exact same diet and go everywhere together doing the same activities.
Studies show that even identical twins react differently to food because weight gain is more to do with gut bacteria rather than genetics.
Ashley admits she holds a slight resentment towards her sister because she is constantly branded the ‘fatter twin’ by other people.
In a clip on their shared YouTube channel, where the pair talk about what it is like being an identical twin and their home life, Ashley says the weight difference is ‘unfair when she’s doing nothing different than me.’
Along with their weight, the only other slight difference is that Ashley is two minutes younger than Kelly and 2in taller.
Ashley says that she doesn’t mind being the taller and fatter twin, but sometimes she finds that way people comment on it, especially on social media, gets her down.
Ashley (LEFT), who does not reveal her last name and runs a YouTube channel called @sistercore, says she has always been fatter than her identical twin Kelly (RIGHT)
In one of their videos, the twins call out a commenter who remarked: ‘One girl’s face is way fatter than the other. If it gets any worse, they are not going to look alike.’
Ashley says in response to the comment: ‘This is definitely offensive.’
The twins also have an older lookalike sister called Jamie, and they often say people confuse them for being triplets.
Professor Tim Spector from King’s College London previously ran a study which revealed how individual responses to the same foods are unique, even between identical twins.
Researchers tracked about 1,100 US and UK adults, including 240 pairs of twins, for two weeks.
During this time, they measured how blood levels of markers such as sugar, insulin and fat changed in response to specific meals.
The results of his investigation revealed a wide variation in blood responses to the same meals, whether they contained carbohydrates or fat.
For example, some participants had rapid and prolonged increases in blood sugar and insulin, which are linked to weight gain and diabetes.
Others had fat levels that peaked and lingered in the bloodstream hours after a meal, raising the risk of developing heart disease.
When it comes to their favorite foods, Ashley (LEFT) says she loves baking cakes, while Kelly (RIGHT) says pizza is her top choice on the savory side and ice cream is her favorite dessert
These variations could only be partly explained by their genes – identical twins who share all their genes and experience the same environment often had different responses to identical foods.
Dr Spector believes that the colony of microbes living in the gut gut varies from person to person, so diets need to be highly personalized.
His research found that in identical twins only had about 37 percent had an overlap in gut microbes – compared to 35 percent for unrelated individuals – which may explain why twins such as Ashley and Kelly respond to foods differently.
Because of this, Dr Spector says food choices need to be tailored around gut bacteria and it’s not correct to blame being fat on your genes.
When it comes to their favorite foods, Ashley says she loves baking cakes, while Kelly says pizza is her top choice on the savory side and ice cream is her favorite dessert.
