5 . You are what you eat and what you eat may be encoded (编码) in your DNA. Studies have indicated that your genes play a role in determining the foods you find delicious or disgusting. But exactly how big a role they play has been difficult to figure out. “Everything has a genetic component even if it’s small,” says Joanne Cole, a geneticist at the University of Colorado School of Medicine. “We know that there is some genetic contribution to why we eat the foods we eat . Can we take the next step and actually locate the regions in the genome (基因)?”

New research led by Cole has gotten a step closer. Through a large-scale genomics analysis, her team has identified 481 genome regions that were directly linked to dietary patterns (模式) and food preferences. The findings, which have not yet been peer-reviewed, were presented last month at the American Society for Nutrition’s annual conference.

The team based the new study on a 2020 Nature Communications study. This previous study, conducted by Cole and her colleagues used data from the U. K. Biobank, a public database of the genetic and health information of 500,000 participants. By scanning genomes, the new analysis was able to identify 194 regions associated with dietary patterns and 287 linked to specific foods such as fruit, cheese, fish, tea and alcohol. Further understanding how genetics impact how we eat could reveal differences in nutritional needs or disease risks.

“One of the problems with a lot of these genomics studies is that they’re very small. They don’t have enough people to really be able to identify genes in ways that are credible (可靠的). This study had a huge group of people, so it’s really powerful.” says Monica Dus, a geneticist at the University of Michigan. “The other thing that I thought was really great is that there are so many different features that they’re measuring related to diet including cholesterol (胆固醇), the body and socioeconomic backgrounds.” As the research advances, Dus says, such genome analysis could potentially assist health care providers and even policymakers to address larger issues that affect food access and health.

It’s definitely true that it may contribute to making sure there aren’t food deserts-areas which have limited access to fresh, healthy and affordable food or to making sure that there’s a higher minimum wage so that everyone can afford to eat, although the journey ahead remains lengthy and challenging.