People who never got over an aversion to broccoli or an addiction to potato chips may place some of the blame on their genes, a preliminary study suggests, UPI reported.

The study, which involved more than 6,200 adults, found a correlation between certain genes related to taste and people's preferences for certain food groups.

According to researcher Julie Jervis, a doctoral student at the Human Nutrition Research Center at Tufts University in Boston, diet is influenced by a variety of factors, from culture to economics.

But, she said, the findings highlight the role of taste-related genes in food choices.

People often don't know why they have trouble eating things they know are good for them, such as green vegetables. Understanding the influence of genes can shed light on this issue.

Eventually, Jervis notes, nutritionists will be able to use genetic information to more accurately counsel people on nutrition.

For the new study, Jervis and her colleagues used data from past genetic studies to find gene variants that have been linked to each of the five major tastes: bitter, salty, spicy, sour and sweet. They then developed a "polygenetic" scoring system that evaluated the combined effect of many different gene variants on a person's sensitivity to a particular taste.

Overall, the researchers found that people with high "bitter" taste scores tended to eat fewer whole grains than people with low scores. Similarly, people with genetic sensitivity to salty tastes ate fewer vegetables, especially reds and oranges.

Surprisingly, according to Jervis, high rates of sweet taste perception were not associated with any single food group. The reasons for this are not yet clear to scientists.