A chef is a pleasure-seeking food lover.

A neurotic person is prone to experiencing negative feelings like anxiety, depression, and emotional instability. Psychologists have defined neuroticism as one of the five psychological traits (the “Big 5”) forming the basis of personality.

Peanut allergy ranks as one of the top three food allergies, along with allergies to egg white and cow’s milk. Most people find out whether they have a peanut allergy through general life experience. However, some people don’t develop a food allergy until later in life, or they outgrow an allergy, only to have it come back again later in adulthood. We can’t explain these phenomena yet, as a mechanistic understanding of allergy development and the immune system is still very limited.

Besides diet, lifestyle, and other environmental factors, genetics also plays a part in determining what food allergies you have and how serious they are. While shrimp allergy is certainly not as common as peanut, milk, or egg allergy in the West, shellfish (a classification that contains shrimp) is the most common food allergen in Asia, in part due to the abundance of seafood in this region.

Carbohydrate intake, dictated by diet choice, varies substantially between individuals. There is evidence that this variation may in part be attributed to genetic variation, and contributes to differential risk in chronic diseases such as obesity and diabetes.

Egg allergy is an immune hypersensitivity to proteins found in eggs and it is a heritable trait. Our understanding of the immune system’s reaction to allergies is still very limited -- the immune system is very complex; environmental and genetic contributions are difficult to isolate and study. Furthermore, allergic reactions span a wide range in severity -- lots of people don’t even notice they have an egg allergy!

Besides diet, lifestyle, and other environmental factors, genetics also plays a part in determining what food allergies you have and how serious they are. Peach allergy can manifest as an allergic reaction to the actual peach, or to birch-pollen, which is a type of pollen that has a protein similar in shape to a protein found in peaches. This allergy is found to be more common in children and in females of European descent.

Dietary patterns characterized by high consumption of saturated fats and simple sugars play a crucial role in obesity progression. The tendency of selecting high-energy-dense palatable foods more often is due, in part, to how pleasurable and rewarding they are to consume. Unhealthy food behaviors and obesity have been associated with the functionality of the Taq1A polymorphism in the DRD2 gene which plays a crucial role in the brain reward system.

Are you an early bird or a night owl? Age plays a big role -- teenagers tend toward a night owl lifestyle, while senior people are usually up at the crack of dawn. Besides your age, genetics also influences the time of day you tend to be more active and alert.