Ask HN: Is old belief that you acquire traits of animals you eat true?

I am no scientist but habitually follow lot of research and read few studies daily. Much better than news for mental health.

It makes for great thinking material when you have free time...

here goes....

- RNA might carry memories (1)

- Food we eat contains RNA (meat specifically)

- Some of it survives digestive system (2)

- RNA can transfer blood barrier (? i can't find it now)

- parents can pass memories to children (3)

(1) https://www.statnews.com/2018/05/14/memory-transfer-between-snails-challenges-standard-theory/

(2) https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3728338/

https://academic.oup.com/jid/article/216/1/105/3814252

(3) https://www.extremetech.com/extreme/171990-scientists-prove-that-fears-and-memories-can-be-inherited-via-sperm

now it does make you think if this is a possibility. clearly genetic material carries memory in some form and if it can reach to brain, it shouldn't be out of realm of possibility that this may create new memories. hmmm

something else related :) https://www.deccanchronicle.com/lifestyle/sex-and-relationship/270617/find-out-how-women-keep-dna-from-men-she-has-had-sex-with.html

EDIT: this is different that eating has effect on your mood. it's well known eating fruits improves mood. but this is not what i'm asking. not hormonal changes but rather changes in brain.