New Study
According to the study, which was published on Wednesday in PLOS One, there are four genes connected to how well a person can maintain a vegetarian lifestyle. The lead study author, Dr. Nabeel Yaseen, is an emeritus professor of pathology at Northwestern University’s Feinberg School of Medicine. “At this time we can say is that genetics plays a significant role in vegetarianism. And that some people may be genetically better suited for a vegetarian diet than others,” he said. Health, moral, and environmental considerations are among the things that influence individuals. To cut back or stop eating meat in addition to religious and cultural practises, but they don’t always succeed, according to Yaseen.
When asked specific questions, a sizable ratio of self-described vegetarians admitted to eating meat, he added. “Our data shows that genetics is at least partially to blame for the fact that many people. Who would like to be vegetarians are unable to become one, as suggested by this finding.” Researchers believe that future research will address the topic of who would or would not be genetically predisposed to vegetarianism.
Brain function and Metabolism
Researchers made use of information from the UK Biobank. A sizable biomedical database and research tool that tracks individuals over time. The study contrasted more than 5,000 severe vegetarians. Who were classified as individuals who had not ate any animal flesh in the previous year. With more than 300,000 individuals in a control group who had eat meat in the preceding year. Researchers discovered three genes that are highly linked with vegetarianism and another 31 that may be. Researchers discovered through a genomic investigation that vegetarians are more likely than non-vegetarians to have distinct versions of these genes. The cause of it can be related to how various individuals digest lipids or fats.
According to Yaseen, the study discovered several genes that were involved in the metabolism of lipids and were linked to vegetarianism. He said that because the complexity of the lipids in plants and meat differs. It’s possible that some people have a genetic requirement for some of the lipids found in meat. We hypothesize that this may be related to genetic variations in lipid metabolism. And how they impact brain function, but further study is required to verify this theory, according to Yaseen.
Genes Influence
Yaseen and his team concentrated their investigation on individuals who they regarded as strict vegetarians — those who had abstained from eating animal flesh or meat products for at least a year. Based on two surveys that participants completed for the U.K. Biobank, they decided who was eligible. The first, which was given to participants four times between 2006 and 2019, asked them to self-report whether they had consumed meat in the previous year. The second survey, which was conducted five times between 2009 and 2012, asked participants to list every meal they had consumed in the previous 24 hours. It is not novel nor surprising that our genes affect our preferences for food.
According to a study from last year, people’s food likings may be depends by their genes in addition to environmental factors. For instance, it is generally accepted that certain people have a particular gene variant.