Diet, lifestyle and genetic susceptibility

Every day, each Dane consumes an average of 3 kilograms of food and fluids, which amounts to a ton each year. Food consumption habits have both health and environmental consequences. In the research group, we study associations between diet, lifestyle and health. The main outcomes we focus on are obesity, cardiovascular disease and cancer, both in one generation and across generations in families. Increasingly, we also study the interplay between food consumption, environmental impact, and health.

Research areas

Applying novel methods to assess associations between diet and health
Modelled substitution of foods
Socioeconomic determinants of food and drink habits
Associations between diet, lifestyle and obesity exposures in one generation, and health outcomes in the next
Environmentally sustainable foods or dietary habits and health
The interplay between genetic variation, diet, and health

Recent publications

Publications

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SCORE2 working group and ESC Cardiovascular risk collaboration (Christina Dahm and Kim Overvad; members) (2021). SCORE2 risk prediction algorithms: new models to estimate 10-year risk of cardiovascular disease in Europe. European Heart Journal, 42(25), 2439-2454. https://doi.org/10.1093/eurheartj/ehab309

Emerging Risk Factors Collaboration/EPIC-CVD/Vitamin D Studies Collaboration (2021). Estimating dose-response relationships for vitamin D with coronary heart disease, stroke, and all-cause mortality: observational and Mendelian randomisation analyses. The Lancet Diabetes & Endocrinology, 9(12), 837-846. https://doi.org/10.1016/S2213-8587(21)00263-1

NCD Risk Factor Collaboration (NCD-RisC) (2024). Worldwide trends in underweight and obesity from 1990 to 2022: a pooled analysis of 3663 population-representative studies with 222 million children, adolescents, and adults. Lancet, 403(10431), 1027-1050. https://doi.org/10.1016/S0140-6736(23)02750-2

Zilhao, N. R., Zhang, J., Boomsma, D. I., Sørensen, T. I. A. & Dahm, C. C. (2026). Deviation From Genetically Predicted BMI and All-Cause Mortality: A Cohort Study in the UK Biobank. Obesity, 34(1), 228-236. https://doi.org/10.1002/oby.70042

Zheng, J.-S., Sharp, S. J., Imamura, F., Koulman, A., Schulze, M. B., Ye, Z., Griffin, J., Guevara, M., Huerta, J. M., Kröger, J., Sluijs, I., Agudo, A., Barricarte, A., Boeing, H., Colorado-Yohar, S., Dow, C., Dorronsoro, M., Dinesen, P. T., Fagherazzi, G. ... Wareham, N. J. (2017). Association between plasma phospholipid saturated fatty acids and metabolic markers of lipid, hepatic, inflammation and glycaemic pathways in eight European countries: a cross-sectional analysis in the EPIC-InterAct study. B M C Medicine, 15(1), 203. Article 203. https://doi.org/10.1186/s12916-017-0968-4

Zheng, J.-S., Luan, J., Sofianopoulou, E., Sharp, S. J., Day, F. R., Imamura, F., Gundersen, T. E., Lotta, L. A., Sluijs, I., Stewart, I. D., Shah, R. L., van der Schouw, Y. T., Wheeler, E., Ardanaz, E., Boeing, H., Dorronsoro, M., Dahm, C. C., Dimou, N., El-Fatouhi, D. ... Wareham, N. J. (2020). The association between circulating 25-hydroxyvitamin D metabolites and type 2 diabetes in European populations: A meta-analysis and Mendelian randomisation analysis. PLOS Medicine, 17(10), Article e1003394. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pmed.1003394

Zheng, J.-S., Luan, J., Sofianopoulou, E., Imamura, F., Stewart, I. D., Day, F. R., Pietzner, M., Wheeler, E., Lotta, L. A., Gundersen, T. E., Amiano, P., Ardanaz, E., Chirlaque, M.-D., Fagherazzi, G., Franks, P. W., Kaaks, R., Laouali, N., Mancini, F. R., Nilsson, P. M. ... Wareham, N. J. (2021). Plasma Vitamin C and Type 2 Diabetes: Genome-Wide Association Study and Mendelian Randomization Analysis in European Populations. Diabetes Care, 44(1), 98-106. https://doi.org/10.2337/dc20-1328

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Revised 22.01.2026

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