Popular

Genetic factors are known to influence aspects of diet, such as whether people like coffee or alcohol. To see if genes also affect vegetarianism, Yaseen and his team turned to data on about 5300 people who said they were strict vegetarians and 330,000 people who were meat eaters in the Uk Biobank study, for which people filled in lifestyle surveys and had their DNA sequenced.

Three gene variants were more popular in vegetarians. Two called NPC1 and RMC1, are involved in the transport and metabolism of cholesterol and other fatty molecules called glycolipids. The third gene, called RIOK3 has various functions, including affecting the immune system.
–New Scientist