Mendelian randomization

Myopia, commonly called ‘nearsightedness’ because of the difficulty focusing on distant objects is a leading cause of visual disability and has a rapidly growing prevalence – 30-50% of Western adults and up to 80 or 90% among high school students

In the ongoing battle over the benefits or risk of drinking coffee, a study reported in JAMA Internal Medicine has enlisted a new variable into the fray, genetics. The study makes use of genotype data on 500,000 Brits contained in the UK Biobank.