A joint research study in Scotland and Italy revealed a link between a person’s genetic makeup and the type of food they prefer.
The study, which was conducted at the University of Edinburgh in Scotland and the Human Technopol Institute for Human Studies in Milan, Italy, included more than 150,000 people, and their craving for about 137 different types of food and drinks.
As part of the study, which was published in the scientific journal Nature Communications, the researchers detected 401 genetic variations that affect the preferred foods of the participants in the experiment.
The study team also conducted questionnaires and genetic analyzes of volunteers in the experiment to develop what they called a “food map”, through which it is possible to determine the type of food preferred by each person and the extent to which it is related to the presence, or absence, of certain genes in its genetic makeup.
Experts believe that understanding people’s different food choices and the factors that control them can help create and develop better tasting, healthier food products, which can help treat health problems such as obesity, for example.
The website “Medical Express”, which specializes in medical research, quoted researcher Nicola Pirasto, one of the participants in the experiment, as saying: “One of the important messages conveyed by this study is that despite the importance of human taste sensors in determining the preferred foods of each person, the processes of What is done in the human brain is what controls his food choices.