Lots of factors influence what we eat, everything from our taste preferences, to our budgets to our culture. So, the idea that food choice is also influenced by genetics is not surprising, Yaseen says.

But this is just the first step. He says more research is needed to determine which genes – and which variants – may be critical.

Yaseen points out the current study is limited to white Caucasian participants. "Ethnicity is a confounding factor," he says. For example, if the study had included people from India, where vegetarianism is more common, you might see genes or SNPs that are associated with being Indian rather than being a vegetarian.