
People are motivated to try a vegetarian diet for different reasons – from ethical and religious, to potential health and environmental benefits. But many people have a hard time sticking with it. In fact studies show many self-reported vegetarians actually do consume some animal products.
"A lot of people who want to be vegetarian are perhaps not able to," says Dr. Nabeel Yaseen, of Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine. "We wanted to know if genetics is part of the reason," he says.