A new study of UK Biobank participants has found that preferences for certain foods may be linked to long-term mortality risk, adding to a growing body of nutrition research focused on how everyday eating patterns relate to health outcomes. Published in Scientific Reports on 17 April 2026, the analysis examined food preferences rather than reported intake, offering a different way to assess dietary behaviour.
Researchers analysed 177,148 UK Biobank participants who completed a food preference questionnaire, with a mean follow-up of 3.4 years covering 607,779 person-years and 3,355 deaths. The study tested high versus low preference for 140 food items using Cox regression with Holm adjustment, and sensitivity analyses were also carried out to test the stability of the findings.
Vegetable and olive oil preferences linked to lower risk
Higher preference for asparagus, aubergine, black pepper, broccoli, butternut squash and extra virgin olive oil was linked to lower all-cause mortality across the analyses. The study reported hazard ratios of 0.69 for asparagus and broccoli, 0.79 for aubergine, 0.72 for black pepper, 0.75 for butternut squash and 0.67 for extra virgin olive oil.
By contrast, a higher preference for regular fizzy drinks was associated with a higher mortality risk, with a hazard ratio of 1.38. The authors said specific food preferences may complement conventional dietary assessments, especially because preference questionnaires may capture behaviour in a different way from standard food frequency tools.
What the findings could mean for nutrition research
The study suggests that food preference may be a useful proxy for dietary behaviour in large population studies. The authors noted that this approach could help researchers better understand how dietary patterns relate to mortality and, in future work, to metabolic and cardiovascular outcomes.
At the same time, the researchers cautioned that self-reported food preferences can introduce misclassification bias, which may affect the results. The findings therefore add an important signal to nutrition research, but they do not establish cause and effect.
For UK health researchers and clinicians, the results are another reminder that diet quality is shaped not only by what people eat, but also by what they consistently prefer. The study was published in Scientific Reports and is available through Nature’s website. Scientific Reports study
Earlier Nature coverage has also highlighted how eating can influence immune function, underlining the broader scientific interest in diet and health mechanisms. Nature news report
As researchers continue to refine nutritional methods, studies like this may help identify dietary patterns that are easier to study and potentially more informative than intake data alone. For now, the evidence points to a familiar message: more plant-forward choices and fewer sugary drinks remain strongly associated with better health profiles.
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