Chaire Gutenberg obtained by Professor George Dedoussis in 2018 in Genetics and Nutrition
Dietary patterns contributing from health to adiposity and inflammatory biomarkers in Greek and French adolescents. Their role as modifiers of the genetic make-up of both populations.
In the editorial of the latest volume of Nature, we read: "Journalist Earl Wilson has written that snow and adolescence are the only problems that disappear if ignored long enough. In scientific approaches to health, adolescence has been ignored for too long. This has to change. The pathological process of cardiovascular disease (CVD) begins in childhood and the prevalence of CVD risk factors, including overweight, central adiposity, hyperlipidaemia, hypertension and markers of glucose metabolism, increases in children and adolescents. Eating habits in childhood and adolescence contribute to the adoption of eating habits in adulthood, which may affect the risk of non-communicable diseases and obesity. The aim of this study is to disentangle the dietary habits of adolescent populations in Greece and France, with different measures of adiposity, to calculate an ideal cardiovascular health index (ICHI) and to associate it with an inflammatory score based on a published bio-panel. In addition, we want to assess the influence of genetic constitution based on a genetic risk score (GRS) calculated on the ICHI and to evaluate the interactions between all these predictors of health in adolescence. It is a holistic approach to the study of adolescent health in two European populations.
The objectives of the project are:
1. To identify the dietary patterns of adolescents in the French and Greek populations and associate these patterns with markers of adiposity and inflammation.
2. To address the relationship between behavioural and socio-economic factors and dietary patterns.
3. To assess the impact of a GRS on markers of adiposity and inflammation.
4. Calculate the ICHI and assess its impact on inflammation.
5. To assess the modified effect of dietary profiles on GRS score on markers of adiposity and inflammation.
6. To design public health guidelines using the healthy dietary pattern in each population and their interactions with GRS. The two populations that will be used include the TEENAGE study, which is a cross-sectional study of healthy Greek adolescents, and the STANISLAS Family STUDY (SFS), which is a community-based population of 1006 families assumed to be healthy and free of chronic disease.
Our aim is to unravel the dietary patterns that are linked to adiposity and inflammation in adolescence, the possible effects and interactions with a GRS. This strategy will help to identify new potential biomarkers as early prognostic elements of CVD while developing in parallel instructions for a healthy diet in adolescents in Greece and France. We expect to find an inverse association of ICHI with inflammatory status in adolescents. The results of the study will help to better understand the association between lifestyle habits and cardiovascular risk.
The candidate for this fellowship is a recognized researcher in the field of medical genetics, gene-nutrition interactions and nutritional factors affecting chronic diseases. In addition, he/she benefits from a long-standing collaboration with the host laboratory with significant joint scientific output (including joint projects, such as a European Marie Curie project). His expertise can complement the expertise of the host laboratory in the study of genetic and environmental determinants of CVD phenotypes and in the study of gene-environment interactions. This collaboration will allow the development of a new and original joint project both in terms of science and collaboration between the Grand Est region and scientists from other European Union countries. The implementation of this collaboration will lead to the production and dissemination of original results that will be published in high impact journals and will increase the visibility and attractiveness of French research and more specifically of research in the Grand Est region.