Gender and genes affect food choices
Your support helps us to tell the story
From reproductive rights to climate change to Big Tech, The Independent is on the ground when the story is developing. Whether it's investigating the financials of Elon Musk's pro-Trump PAC or producing our latest documentary, 'The A Word', which shines a light on the American women fighting for reproductive rights, we know how important it is to parse out the facts from the messaging.
At such a critical moment in US history, we need reporters on the ground. Your donation allows us to keep sending journalists to speak to both sides of the story.
The Independent is trusted by Americans across the entire political spectrum. And unlike many other quality news outlets, we choose not to lock Americans out of our reporting and analysis with paywalls. We believe quality journalism should be available to everyone, paid for by those who can afford it.
Your support makes all the difference.Scientists used to say "you are what you eat". Then they said, "you are what your mother ate". Now, they have concluded that "you eat what you are"; genes play a key role in shaping our dietary preferences.
Scientists from the University of Copenhagen Hospital, Denmark, studied 600 sets of twins to try to disentangle the influence of heredity from environment. They found controlling influences on food preference were different in men and women. If one female twin liked either juice or eggs, her sister was more likely to share her preference if she was identical, but the same correlation did not hold true for male twins. And a liking for fruit, vegetables, potatoes, fish, poultry and sweets was more likely to be shared by twins raised together.
The researchers say almost half of dietary preferences are inherited, while a childhood environment shared by siblings also influenced fondness for certain foods. But the results also show that eating habits can be influenced by factors that are neither inherited nor originate in the childhood home. The findings are published in the Journal of the American Society of Nutrition.
Join our commenting forum
Join thought-provoking conversations, follow other Independent readers and see their replies
Comments