Many years ago, be vegetarian for non-religious reasons it was practically seen as eccentricity. However, over time the situation became much more normalized. Activism from those who have already done it, awareness of the environmental benefits, and new evidence about how it improves health has motivated many people I want to be a vegetarian. However, there are those who try, but they fail. In fact, it’s so common that it has given rise to a new concept: flexitarianism. You are almost always a vegetarian, but don’t mind making exceptions. So what’s this all about?
A team of scientists from Northwestern University This question was recently asked and the possibility was raised that there is something in the genes that prevents some people from becoming vegetarians. This is a hypothesis that has been flirted with before, but never explored to the depth of this study.
It has now been proven that there really is a connection between certain genes and a tendency to vegetarian diet. However, what these scientists discovered is simply a correlation. They lack a cause-and-effect relationship, and to do this they will have to continue investigating, although they already have a hypothesis.
Being a vegetarian isn’t easy
There are more and more vegetarians in the world, although their percentage remains low. For example, in Spain it is estimated that in 2021 there were approximately 5 million vegetarians, vegans or flexitarians.
This figure is rising as it represents 13% of the population, up from 9.9% in 2019 and 7.9% in 2017.
If we focus only on vegetarians, then this figure would logically be somewhat lower, approximately 4% in the United States. However, in the UK they appear to be lower, around 2.3%.
But there are people for whom this is very difficult. In fact, according to a just-released study, when Americans were asked about their diet, from 48% to 64% of those who called themselves vegetarians admitted that at some point after switching to this diet they ate fish, poultry or red meat.
This can be due to a variety of reasons, from lack of will to difficulty accessing meat substitutes or vegetarian options in food establishments. According to a recently published study, genes may also have a lot to say in this regard.
Genes vegetables
To conduct the study, its authors used data UK Biobank. It is a collection of biological samples, accompanied by data about the individuals from whom they were taken, that can be used for both diagnostic and research purposes.
In this case, they compared DNA 5324 vegetarians with 329,455 people following an omnivorous diet. All participants were Caucasian Caucasians, so the sample was homogeneous and there were no differences by ethnicity.
Comparing the genetic sequence of both, it was clear that there are 3 Genes Closely Linked to a Vegetarian Diet and 31 more potentially related. That is, the first 3 are found in a significant part of vegetarians, but not in the rest. For the remaining 31, the correlation was not as clear, but it was high enough to attract the researchers’ attention.
By analyzing the role of these genes, they discovered something interesting. And the fact is that 2 of the 3 most associated genes and several of the remaining 31 were associated with lipid metabolism. That is, they interfere with how the body uses fats.
It is known that the complex lipids of meat are very different from those that can be obtained from plant foods. For this reason, as one of the study authors explained in a statement, Nabil Yassin, Perhaps people with a genetic tendency towards vegetarianism are able to synthesize endogenous some lipids needed by the body that would otherwise have to be obtained from meat.
Said very roughthose who try and fail to become vegetarians may find that their bodies require certain fats that they cannot get through a plant-based diet.
Why do you need this information?
It’s still speculation. We’ll have to study more to find out if the cause is what its authors suspect. But if confirmed, we may be faced with a decisive trick to get better tolerated meat substitutes for those who have certain difficulties with becoming vegetarians.
In any case, what is clear is that a diet based predominantly on plant foods and with very little meat will be sufficient to Please not for our genes vegetables and will provide many of the known benefits for the environment and our health. Moreover, if we all did this, it would help reduce livestock farms. Our genes may make us seek a middle ground, but that’s not such a bad term.
Source: Hiper Textual
