Scientists discover evidence that being a vegetarian may be written in your genes

Vegetarianism has been practiced for millennia in different societies and cultures, but today only a small minority of people forgo eating meat.

People turn to a meatless diet for ethical reasons, such as animal well-being or reducing carbon prints. But could it be hereditary?

A team of researchers believes they have discovered evidence that opting for a plant-based diet could actually be influenced by our genetics.

A team led by Nabeel Yaseen, a pathology professor at Northwestern University in the US screened the UK Biobank, a large-scale biomedical database. They compared genomes from 5,324 strict vegetarians to 329,455 non-vegetarians aged between 40 and 69.

They tried "to identify loci associated with strict vegetarianism". In genetics, a loci designates the position of a gene on the chromosome.

"We identified three genes that are significantly associated with vegetarianism as well as 31 other genes that are possibly associated with vegetarianism," Yaseen told Euronews Next.

The team’s findings were published in PLoS ONE.

"The mechanisms by which genetic variants influence dietary choices involve an interplay between metabolism, physiologic effects, and taste perception. The levels of liking and consumption of dietary items are influenced by taste perception," the study noted.

The team’s discovery opens new avenues of inquiry requiring further study to fully understand the relationship between genetics and vegetarianism.

"Based on the functions of some of these genes, we speculate that lipid (fat) metabolism and its effects on brain function may play a role," Yaseen said.

"At this time, we can only speculate: one possibility is that meat may contain unique fatty components that vegetarians are able to adequately synthesise