Abstract
Prospective studies have observed differences in risks for several health outcomes when comparing meat-eaters and vegetarians, but the mechanisms underlying these differences remain uncertain. Identifying genetic factors related to vegetarianism may be valuable for assessing causality. We report a genome-wide association study (GWAS) of vegetarianism in 367,198 participants from UK Biobank. We identified one locus, rs10189138, near the vaccinia related kinase 2 (VRK2) gene, significantly associated with vegetarianism (β=0.153, p=3x10-8). The associations between rs10189138 and 40 traits were calculated, and the rs10189138 T allele (MAF=0.12) was found to be significantly associated with greater height, after controlling the false discovery rate (FDR). Correlations between genetically predicted vegetarianism and 855 other genetically predicted traits were also calculated, and vegetarianism had significant positive genetic correlations with fluid intelligence and age at menarche, after controlling the FDR. Future research on an independent sample is needed to see if this GWAS result can be replicated.
Highlights
Vegetarian diets, defined by abstention from consuming meat, meat products, poultry and fish, have been gaining popularity in Western countries
We aimed to identify genetic loci associated with vegetarianism through a genome-wide association study (GWAS) using the UK Biobank cohort
A total of 367,198 participants, including 5,642 vegetarians, and 12,112,810 single-nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) remained for our GWAS
Summary
Vegetarian diets, defined by abstention from consuming meat, meat products, poultry and fish, have been gaining popularity in Western countries. Previous prospective cohort studies have reported lower risks for vegetarians compared to meat-eaters for several conditions, including obesity and ischemic heart disease, but higher risks have been reported for haemorrhagic stroke and some fractures. Understanding factors contributing to a person’s decision to follow a vegetarian diet could be important for understanding the mechanisms that underlie differences in disease risks. Identifying genetic factors related to this behavioural trait may aid in assessing causality through Mendelian randomization methods. The genetic contribution to vegetarianism is largely unknown due to the lack, until recently, of large studies of diet and genetic variants. We aimed to identify genetic loci associated with vegetarianism through a genome-wide association study (GWAS) using the UK Biobank cohort
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