Around 500 genes appear to "directly influence" people's diets, new research has found. — FABIAN SOMMER/dpa
WHILE income, geography, social status and culture all determine the type and quality of food people eat, genes could also play a part, new research has found.
Around 500 genes appear to “directly influence” people’s diets, according to the University of Colorado School of Medicine, who combed health, social and economic information in the UK Biobank’s database of over 500,000 people.
They concluded that there appear to be 300 genes “directly associated” with eating certain foods and close to 200 genes linked to diet habits around food groups such as fish or fruit.
”Some genes we identified are related to sensory pathways - including those for taste, smell, and texture - and may also increase the reward response in the brain,” said the university’s Joanne Cole, who presented the findings at the American Society for Nutrition annual conference in Boston.
”Because genetics plays a much smaller role in influencing dietary intake than all the environmental factors, we need to study hundreds of thousands of individuals to detect genetic influences amid the environmental factors,” Cole said.
The discovery of the links between genes and food types could, in time, help with tailoring diets and weight loss programmes.
A possible next step, according to the researchers, could be to figure out “whether using a person’s genetics to adapt the flavour profile of a diet designed for weight loss could improve adherence.” – dpa
