Love for fish, tofu, tea and other products is genetically determined: research by Japanese scientists

Researchers at the RIKEN Center for Integrative Medical Sciences (IMS) in Japan and colleagues at Osaka University have found genetic variations in humans related to specific dietary habits. The genome-wide association study found 9 gene locations associated with eating and drinking foods like meat, tofu, cheese, tea, and coffee. Among them, three were also related to having particular diseases such as cancer or diabetes.

Using genetic data from over 160,000 Japanese people who had filled out a food-frequency questionnaire, they found 9 genetic loci--positions on chromosomes--that were associated with consuming coffee, tea, alcohol, yogurt, cheese, natto (fermented soy beans), tofu, fish, vegetables, or meat. 

“This study confirms the thesis that the love for tofu is genetic, or rather the love for tofu/fish depends on the perception of a particular taste by the taste buds. Fish, tofu, and seafood have a specific taste, which is referred to as "umami". And not everyone is able to feel it,” Ksenia Fedulova, the clinical pharmacologist, explained.

Overall, the study found 10 diet-genome associations that have never been reported before; four related to coffee and three related to alcohol.

As the expert explains the contribution of genetics to nutrition habits cannot be assessed accurately.

“Our eating habits are another example of the interaction of environment and genes. If you are a Russian and tofu and natto are not your traditional products which are familiar from childhood , you will not love the taste of these products. And if you do not perceive the taste of umami you will never love products that taste like this. The diverse the taste sensations from childhood gives us more chances to eat more diverse in adulthood.”

In order to determine whether any of the SNPs associated with diet were also related to diseases, the researchers performed a phenome-wide association study. The results indicated that six of the SNPs were related to at least one disease phenotype, including several types of cancer as well as type-2 diabetes.