“Some people may be genetically better suited to a vegetarian diet than others.”
If you aspire to a vegetarian lifestyle, it may be in your DNA, scientists say. Giving up meat may be more than just a matter of willpower, according to new research.
A study published recently in PLOS One found that there are four genes associated with how well a person is able to maintain a vegetarian lifestyle, CNN reports.
“At this point, we can say that genetics plays a significant role in vegetarianism and that some people may be genetically better suited to a vegetarian diet than others,” said lead study author Dr. Nabil Yasin, professor emeritus of pathology at Northwestern Feinberg School of Medicine. University.
In addition to religious and cultural practices, health, moral and environmental concerns are among the factors that motivate people to reduce or eliminate meat consumption, but they are not always so successful, says Nabil Yassin .
“Most of those who call themselves vegetarians actually report consuming meat products when answering detailed questionnaires,” the scientist emphasizes. “This suggests that many people who would like to become vegetarians are unable to do so, and our data suggests that genetics is at least part of the reason.”
The study does not was able to determine who will be genetically predisposed to vegetarianism and who will not, but the researchers hope that future work will resolve this issue, says Nabil Yasin.
This could lead to better health information in the future, said Dr. José Ordovas, director of the Division of Nutrition and Genomics and professor of nutrition and genetics at Tufts University in Massachusetts.
“The study highlights the complex relationship between our genes and our dietary choices. nutrition, suggesting that in the future we may have more personalized dietary recommendations based on genetic predisposition,” he said.
The researchers used data from the UK Biobank, a large biomedical database and research resource that follows people over the long term.
According to the study, more than 5,000 strict vegetarians, defined as people who had not eaten animal meat in the past year, were compared with more than 300,000 people in the control group who had eaten meat in the previous year.
The researchers identified three genes that were clearly identified and another 31 that were potentially associated with vegetarianism. Through genetic analysis, the researchers saw that vegetarians were more likely than non-vegetarians to have different variations of these genes.
The reason for this may lie in the way different people process lipids, or fats.
According to Nabil Yassin, several genes that research has shown to be associated with vegetarianism are related to lipid metabolism.
Plants and meat differ in the complexity of the lipids they contain, so perhaps some people genetically need some lipids contained in meat, the scientist added.
“We speculate that this may be related to genetic differences in lipid metabolism and how this affects brain function, but more research is needed to test this hypothesis,” Yasin said.
However, Ordovas said the study had limitations.
All participants in the analysis were white, which Yasin said kept the sample homogeneous to avoid cultural bias. But it also doesn't allow the data to be used for the entire population, Ordovas said. While the study may not provide a definitive answer, it is an important insight into nutrition, he said.
“This study sheds light on a relatively little-studied area of research: the genetics underlying dietary preferences,” Ordovas emphasizes. “The association of genetic variants with long-term veganism suggests a biological basis for these dietary choices that goes beyond simply cultural, ethical or environmental considerations.”