Desire to eat cheese may come from genetic wiring

Swiss cheese cubes
Credit: Wikimedia.org

According to a new study, [you may want to eat lots of cheese] not just because you’re a glutton, it could in fact all be down to your DNA.

Scientists at the University of Cambridge have found that those with a gene already linked to obesity have a predisposition for high-fat foods, but less of a preference for high-sugar foods. The gene in question is called MC4R and is thought to affect about one in every 1,000 people.

Researchers found that while there was no real difference in the amount eaten between the individuals, the 14 people with MC4R unknowingly ate a significantly higher proportion of the high-fat korma; 95% more than the lean participants and 65% more than those with obesity.

Professor Sadaf Farooqi, neuroscientist and co-author of the study [stated]: “People couldn’t tell the food apart and that was the key thing. They [participants with the MC4R defect] still ate a lot more of the high fat and a lot less of the high sugar which suggests that the brain has ways of picking up levels of nutrients.”

The GLP aggregated and excerpted this blog/article to reflect the diversity of news, opinion, and analysis. Read full, original post: Why you love cheese – the scientific explanation

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