HOW quickly you burn calories and fight infection may be down to genes inherited from Neanderthals, experts say.
Modern humans lived alongside their ancient cousins 50,000 years ago and interbred.
The short, stocky Neanderthals died off thousands of years later, but up to four per cent of their genetic code is still in human DNA.
Experts used genetic data from 300,000 British people from the UK Biobank to see which traits still exist.
The team, from Cornell University, New York, found 47 genetic areas inherited from Neanderthals which still affect us today, including those which influence digestion and natural immunity.
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Senior investigator Sriram Sankararaman, an associate professor at the University of California, Los Angeles said: “Examination of these variants reveals their substantial impact on genes that are important for the immune system, development, and metabolism.
“For scientists studying human evolution interested in understanding how interbreeding with archaic humans tens of thousands of years ago still shapes the biology of many present-day humans, this study can fill in some of those blanks.
“More broadly, our findings can also provide new insights for evolutionary biologists looking at how the echoes of these types of events may have both beneficial and detrimental consequences.”
Study co-lead author April Wei said: "We have made our custom software available for free download and use by anyone interested in further research.
“Interestingly, we found that several of the identified genes involved in modern human immune, metabolic and developmental systems might have influenced human evolution after the ancestors’ migration out of Africa.”
