Epidemiologi: Kost, miljögifter och hälsa – Agneta Åkesson forskargrupp

Vi bedriver epidemiologisk forskning med syfte att öka kunskapen om sjukdomsetiologi och prevention inom ett brett spektrum av folkhälsorelaterade utfall. Stort fokus ligger på kopplingen mellan kost, livsstil och hälsa, inklusive aspekter av hållbarhet och konsekvenser av miljögiftsexponering i mat och dricksvatten. Vi använder omfattande kohort-, biomarkör-, omics- och hälsoregisterdata och utför mendelska randomiseringsstudier.

En del av:

Publikationer

Utvalda publikationer

Finansiering

Forskningsbidrag

  • Swedish Research Council for Environment Agricultural Sciences and Spatial Planning
    1 January 2024 - 31 December 2026
    Access to safe drinking water is a necessity for health and a human right. Per- and polyfluoroalkyl (PFAS) is a group of persistent environmental chemical contaminants that are widespread in the environment, including drinking water and sometimes at alarmingly high concentrations. PFAS exposure has been linked to a multitude of adverse outcomes, including immunotoxic effects such as decreased antibody response following vaccination. Data on infections, which are the clinically relevant endpoints of a decreased antibody response, are however scarce. Because most people in Sweden consume drinking water daily, and that the knowledge on drinking water production and distribution is high, Sweden is ideal for assessing drinking water-related health effects. The overall aim of this research proposal is to generate new knowledge on immune related health effects of PFAS in drinking water in women and children. The project comprises: i) a large scale register-based study assessing the association of PFAS in drinking water and the risk of infectious disease among pregnant women in Sweden, ii) a survey on children age 18 months and 4 years, evaluating the association of PFAS in food and drinking water as well as in biological specimens with risk of infections, and iii) a large register-based cohort of children (0-5 years, 2012-2022), assessing the association of toxico-kinetically modeled prenatal PFAS exposure and risk of subsequent infectious disease.
  • Swedish Research Council
    1 January 2023 - 31 December 2025
    The hypothesis we will test is whether the prevalent exposure to the most widespread and persistent contaminants in food and drinking water compromise our health and contribute to the development of diseases of high public health relevance. These diseases include metabolic disturbances, cardiovascular disease (CVD), and cancer, as well as effects on prenatal development. Because accumulated data demonstrate that all these selected contaminants  are involved in various adverse pathophysiological processes, it is imperative to corroborate the indications of compromised health to correctly inform and tailor only the relevant preventive efforts. We will use a set of prospective study designs, nation-wide registers as well as cohorts and national infrastructures with biobanks of men and women and the specific research questions are: i) What are the associations between exposure to perfluorinated (PFAS)-contaminated public drinking water and child and maternal health? A Medial Birth Register-based study including &gt
    300 000 births. ii) What are the associations between biomarkers of acrylamide and glycidol exposure and cancer of the breast, endometrium and colorectum in a case-cohort study? iii) What are the persistent organochlorine, PFAS, acrylamide and glycidol exposure-affected OMICS signatures (genomics, proteomics, metabolomics and lipidomics) and molecular pathways underlying disease development (myocardial infarction, stroke, and breast-, endometrial and colorectal cancer)?
  • Swedish Research Council for Environment Agricultural Sciences and Spatial Planning
    1 January 2021 - 31 December 2023
  • Prolonged exposure to drinking water purification by-products and risk of bladder and bowel cancer
    Swedish Cancer Society
    1 January 2018
    Drinking water is one of our most important and most consumed foods. Drinking water can, however, be a source of substances that can have negative health effects. Studies have indicated a link between drinking water chlorination by-products and the risk of colorectal and bladder cancer, but with conflicting results. Chlorination is a cost-effective way to reduce pathogens, but today there are more cost-effective methods that do not add harmful substances. Increasing knowledge about possible health effects from chlorination would therefore contribute to change in the drinking water preparation and thus reduce the drinking water's contribution to ill health. The aim of the project is to study the connection between by-products from the drinking water chlorination and the risk of cancer in the adult population in Sweden. This will be done through a large-scale population-based study, in which cohort data from over 50,000 Swedish men and women will be linked to administrative registers and databases with drinking water analyzes. In the study, we have the opportunity to consider relevant risk factors at the individual level, and to map historical exposure by linking the individuals' migration patterns, drinking water analyzes and information on changes in the drinking water preparation. Previous studies in the field have shown contradictory results and the studies have also shown deficiencies, primarily with regard to the classification of exposure and that relevant risk factors for cancer have not been taken into account. With the proposed study, we therefore hope to be able to increase the knowledge of the connection between by-products from the drinking water chlorination and the risk of cancer. The possibility of connecting individual data via Swedish personal identification numbers means that we have a unique chance to consider relevant risk factors and historical exposure in a way that has not previously been possible. The study will be the largest of its kind.
  • Swedish Research Council
    1 January 2018 - 31 December 2021
  • Swedish Research Council for Environment Agricultural Sciences and Spatial Planning
    1 January 2016 - 31 December 2018

Medarbetare och kontakt

Gruppledare

Alla medarbetare i gruppen

Andra personer med koppling till gruppen

  • Wolk, Alicja
  • Yuan, Shuai

Besöksadress

Karolinska Institutet, Institute of Environmental Medicine, Nobels väg 13, Stockholm, Sweden

Postadress

Karolinska Institutet, Institute of Environmental Medicine, Box 210, Stockholm, 17177, Sweden

Nyckelord:
Arbetsmedicin och miljömedicin Biomarkörer Dricksvatten Epidemiologi Epidemiologi Visa alla
Anna Persson
2025-09-04