A medical review of the documentary Down to Earth with Zac Efron

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A medical review of the documentary Down to Earth with Zac Efron

Down to Earth with Zac Efron

Billed as a travel show that explores healthy, sustainable ways to live, this documentary series seems more like a meandering bromance travelogue. It brims with edible and psychogenic plants, mystic wellness centers, gratuitous adrenalin, and sporadic fangirl shrieks. Yet, they manage to punctuate each episode with enough emotional heft to keep you clicking through to the end.

Zac Efron and Darin Olien are exactly the sort of folks you would expect to populate Los Angeles, a former teen superstar looking for deeper meaning and a self-proclaimed superfood guru with a podcast offering exactly that. Zac reached out to Darin, cue magic, and off they go, traveling the world on a quest to explore healthy living. Their chemistry is endearing even if the science bends and sways a bit.

Here’s the breakdown by episode:

Iceland

Zac and Darin learn about renewable energy but also do a bit of sightseeing and have a fire and ice massage, which is definitely not just an excuse to look at these guys shirtless. At one point, the guys go to a fancy restaurant that serves traditional, contemporary Icelandic dishes where Zac is disturbed that his food is “dung smoked.” No one bothers to explain why, but pre-modern Icelanders didn’t do it for flavor. Back in the day, they used dung as a fuel source because the early Viking settlers had cleared the forests for cattle and charcoal production.

In terms of accessing renewable energy, modern Iceland has come a long way. As recently as the 1970s, Iceland was dependent on imported coal and oil. Now they get all their energy needs from four geothermal plants and ten hydroelectric plants. In 2017, Iceland used 0% fossil fuels (coal, petroleum, natural gas, etc.) for their energy needs compared to 63% in the US.

Iceland is more of an inspiration to the world than a specific example others might follow. Damming too many rivers causes ecological damage, and not everyone lives on top of an active volcano (or, you know, would want to). But Iceland demonstrates that if a country prioritizes clean energy and works together towards that goal, over time it can be successful and reap the ecological, financial, and health benefits.

France

In how many ways can the French drink water differently than Americans? Answer: Many, many, many. To me, the most interesting part was how Eau de Paris, the publicly owned company tasked to distribute tap water to all of Paris, kills microbes in water using ozone and UV light instead of chlorine. Yes, I would also like to drink chlorine-free tap water. Let’s all do that.

In an awkwardly bizarre moment, Darin dives headlong into psychobabble by exhorting Zac to walk barefoot in the dirt to “get the electromagnetic connection to the earth.” Were they wearing iron shoes? Um, ‘cause otherwise that makes no scientific sense. “It’ll help your circadian rhythm,” Darin continues. Maybe. Probably not. But going barefoot can put you at risk for fungus, MRSA, and parasites like hookworm and jiggers (depending on where in the world you stick your bare feet). A harsh reminder to listen to podcasts at your own risk.

Costa Rica

Living the pura vida (pure life) in Costa Rica is a huge population of ex-pats (AKA immigrants), including 50-70 thousand Americans. They probably didn’t all buy huge swaths of land to form communal off-grid utopias, but the people we meet sure did. The first group consists of 44 families from multiple countries who live a lifestyle described as sustainable but clearly began with a massive influx of money. Even Zac can’t believe how nice the houses are.

Still, this rich echo-village is pretty sweet. It must be amazing to be a child growing up here, cloistered within a landscape of food and a methane digester. At least until you come of age and realize how completely disconnected you are to the reality of the modern world. Not that reality is so great. “Please enroll me for a few semesters,” Zac jokes.

The other group consists of mostly twenty-something hippies and involves herbalism, superfoods, and – I assume – plenty of sex. I kept waiting for them to drag Zac away to a private hut. Zac would have been into it (“There’s like a bunch of chicks just walking out!”), but either it didn’t happen or they spared us that scene.

On a more serious note, the Jaguar Rescue Center is impressive. Watching how the staff rescues and rehabilitates wildlife, I felt brief waves of hope for humanity wash over me.

Sardinia, Italy

Sardinia is a Blue Zone, one of the five regions of the world with the highest concentration of centenarians. I’ve cared for several patients over 100-years-old in my career to date, and I’m not convinced this is a thing anyone should strive for. But it does bring up interesting issues of nutrition and genetics.

Statistically speaking, should we accept universal health conclusions based on extreme outliers? This is a complex issue (check out this article if you get excited by esoteric math or Gaussian distributions), which Zac and Darin ignore. Still, no one can argue with their conclusion: live a low-stress, active lifestyle. Sold! Where can I get one of those?

Zac concludes that he needs to get far away from California. While he is talking specifically about Hollywood, he doesn’t need to go as far as Sardinia. Early in the episode, they show a map of the five Blue Zones and one of them is in California. Loma Linda is an hour and a half drive from LA. Zac can zip over there any time he wants. Maybe I should start a podcast so Zac can reach out to me. I’d even let him keep his shoes on.

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Lima, Peru

Here we learn about biopiracy (stealing crops from other countries), cryopreservation (doomsday vaults for crops), and genetic engineering of the food supply (GMOs). Back in Costa Rica, the commune boasted of eating “non-GMO foods” and, in a later episode, GMO foods are listed as a reason for the decline of bees. Ignoring all that, in this episode GMOs are good, and we learn how genetically altering the potato to adjust for climate change will fight famine.

This contradiction is not addressed. Zac and Darin never challenge anyone they interview, and it’s another lost opportunity. I would have liked to hear The International Potato Center’s counterargument of the criticisms of GMOs. If the controversy interests you, click the link to read what the World Health Organization has to say.

Puerto Rico

This is an emotionally intense episode as we see the devastation hurricanes Irma and Maria wrought on the island community. The issue of global climate change rears its head again, and not for the last time.

We see examples of hydroponic farming, eco-friendly tourism, and ocean sustainability. Most impressive is World Central Kitchen founded by Chef José Andrés that promotes sustainable farming and foods. They responded to the devastation in Puerto Rico by serving 150,000 meals per day and are still active, awarding Plow to Plate grant funding and operating farmer’s markets. Not discussed is how World Central Kitchen continues to respond to crises within the United States and other locations around the world. Mucho respeto.

Zac and Darin help a family discard detritus left over from the hurricane, but their biggest accomplishment is the entire point of the series: using Zac’s fame to bring attention to health and environmental problems around the world. And sign autographs. And take selfies. Zac has many skills.

London, England

England, the site of the world’s first industrial revolution, is still recovering from self-inflicted pollution and all its adverse health effects, particularly asthma and allergies. While much improved from the smog-choked days of the 1950s, London has a long way to go. We see Thames River cleanups and discuss the problems of single-use plastics. The highlight is watching Darin gush over green walls. He just loves them.

Zac and Darin site fossil fuel-burning vehicles as the main culprit. Fair enough, but considering Darin is a vegan, I kept waiting for him to discuss the environmental impact of meat consumption. They do mention it as a cause of deforestation (in a different episode), but its effect on greenhouse gas emissions, biodiversity loss, acid rain, water degradation, and coral reef degeneration are not discussed. You had eight episodes and you freaking went to the Amazon. Okay, moving on.

Iquitos, Peru

We are off to the rainforest to watch Zac and Darin get attacked by mosquitoes and fire ants. Of all the things to do in the Amazon, they focus on spirituality and medicinal plants. Sure, why not? Ayahuasca is not my thing, but now I really want to eat camu-camu.

Overshadowing the final episode are the LA fires (of 2018), which rage towards Darin’s home in Malibu while they are filming this episode. The effects of global climate change hit home for a jarringly intense ending.

Conclusion

This series is worth watching if only for the fabulous travel views and the banter between the ultra-enthusiastic Zac Efron and Darin Olien. The medical and scientific information was often good, but they made no particular effort to back anything up with studies or data and took everything anyone said at face value without any challenge. The result is a mixed bag: some of the science is accurate and urgent, some biased but close enough, and the remainder requires the disclaimer for entertainment purposes only.

Worst and best Darin quotes:

Worst: “If you keep your hydration up, your brain retains more information … grab some fresh water ‘cause you’ll be smarter and you’ll be able to read more books.”

He says this to a genius 10-year-old boy, who, one can hope, is smart enough to know that drinking extra water does not make you smarter or help you read more books. I truly don’t know where Darin gets this nonsense from.

Best: “We’re all just as exposed to anything happening at any moment.” (quote edited to remove completely warranted profanity)

He’s referring to the environmental effects of global climate change and he is dead on. Anything can happen anywhere in the world, and we are all at risk. Like Darin, I have also been personally affected by global climate change when my family was caught in a flash flood (everybody survived although my car was totaled). This is our present, not some dystopian future. Let’s hope this docuseries contributes to the movement affecting positive change.

Down to Earth with Zac Efron is available for streaming on Netflix.

About the Author

David Z Hirsch, MD is the pen name of the author of the award-winning novels Didn’t Get Frazzled and Jake, Lucid Dreamer, both available for purchase on Amazon or may be read for free with Kindle Unlimited. Didn’t Get Frazzled is also available on Audible.

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He is an internal medicine physician with an active practice in Maryland.

Check out my other reviews:

A medical review of the documentary Cowspiracy

A Medical Review of the documentary End Game

A medical review of the documentary Fed Up

A medical review of the documentary Feel Rich

A medical review of the documentary Forks Over Knives

A medical review of the documentary Heal

A medical review of the documentary In Defense of Food

A medical review of the documentary Sugar Coated

A medical review of the documentary Super Size Me