Carbohydrate Preference

Your result, the one DNA position behind it, and what the research says.

6/10 confidence.

About Carbohydrate Preference

PPP1R3B sets how readily the liver packs glucose away as glycogen, the body's short-term carbohydrate store. Studies of what proportion of daily energy people take as carbohydrate rather than fat or protein have picked this position up. It is a proportion rather than an amount, so it describes the shape of a diet rather than its size, and it is a small effect on top of everything culture and habit decide.

Good to know: This is about the share of energy from carbohydrate, not the amount eaten. Only about a fifth of readers carry a copy of the less common version, so most get the same answer. What is on your plate is decided by culture and habit far more than by this.

Fun fact: The liver holds only around a hundred grams of glycogen, and a long run runs it down. The muscles hold roughly four times as much, and it is that muscle store carbohydrate loading is aimed at.

Discovery: Macronutrient proportions were mapped in genome-wide dietary studies.

The Variant

The single variant behind this trait

Gene: PPP1R3B

Variant (rsID): rs2126259

Location: Chr 8:9,327,636

dbSNP rs2126259

The studies

Genetic analysis of dietary intake identifies new loci and functional links with metabolic traits (Merino J et al., Nature human behaviour, 2022)

Other lifestyle traits

Cheese Preference: A change near an appetite-related gene, linked in a very large survey to how much cheese people report eating.

Orange Liking: A change in the gene for the receptor of a gut hormone released after eating, linked in a large survey to liking for oranges.

Protein Preference: A change in the regulator of the enzyme that starts glucose breakdown, linked to the share of energy people take as protein.

Back to All Traits

Content updated September 2026.

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