Department of Public Health

 Department of Public Health Research Research areas Epidemiology, Environment and Biostatistics Diet, lifestyle and genetic susceptibility

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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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
Howe, L. J., Nivard, M. G., Morris, T. T., Hansen, A. F., Rasheed, H., Cho, Y., Chittoor, G., Ahlskog, R., Lind, P. A., Palviainen, T., van der Zee, M. D., Cheesman, R., Mangino, M., Wang, Y., Li, S., Klaric, L., Ratliff, S. M., Bielak, L. F., Nygaard, M. ... Within Family Consortium (Christina Dahm; member) (2022). Within-sibship genome-wide association analyses decrease bias in estimates of direct genetic effects. Nature Genetics, 54(5), 581-592. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41588-022-01062-7
Johnsen, N. F., Frederiksen, K., Christensen, J., Skeie, G., Lund, E., Landberg, R., Johansson, I., Nilsson, L. M., Halkjær, J., Olsen, A., Overvad, K. & Tjønneland, A. (2015). Whole-grain products and whole-grain types are associated with lower all-cause and cause-specific mortality in the Scandinavian HELGA cohort. British Journal of Nutrition, 114(4), 608-23. https://doi.org/10.1017/S0007114515001701
Eriksen, A. K., Grand, M. K., Kyrø, C., Wohlfahrt, J., Overvad, K., Tjønneland, A. & Olsen, A. (2024). Whole-grain intake in mid-life and healthy ageing in the Danish Diet, Cancer and Health cohort. European Journal of Nutrition, 63(5), 1581-1591. https://doi.org/10.1007/s00394-024-03357-3
Skeie, G., Braaten, T., Olsen, A., Kyrø, C., Tjønneland, A., Nilsson, L. M., Landberg, R. & Lund, E. (2014). Whole grain intake and survival among scandinavian colorectal cancer patients. Nutrition and Cancer, 66(1), 6-13. https://doi.org/10.1080/01635581.2014.847472
Schacht, S. R., Olsen, A., Dragsted, L. O., Overvad, K., Tjønneland, A. & Kyrø, C. (2021). Whole-Grain Intake and Pancreatic Cancer Risk-The Danish, Diet, Cancer and Health Cohort. The Journal of Nutrition, 151(3), 666-674. https://doi.org/10.1093/jn/nxaa385
Aarestrup, J., Kyrø, C., Christensen, J., Kristensen, M., Lund Würtz, A. M., Johnsen, N. F., Overvad, K., Tjønneland, A. & Olsen, A. (2012). Whole grain, dietary fiber, and incidence of endometrial cancer in a danish cohort study. Nutrition and Cancer, 64(8), 1160-8. https://doi.org/10.1080/01635581.2012.723786

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Revised 22.01.2026
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