Title: Diet and population health in the Anthropocene
Summary:
Human health and planetary health are mutually dependent, and our food systems cause an estimated 30% of all anthropogenic CO2 emissions. Shifting population dietary habits towards more sustainable foods is imperative, if the Paris Agreement target is to be reached. But not all low-carbon emission foods are healthy, and dietary habits are notoriously difficult for individuals to change in the long term. With the prevalence of obesity continuing to rise, and the knowledge that body mass index in parents is correlated with that of their children, an intergenerational perspective to health and dietary habits may provide new knowledge, leading to avenues for change. In this talk, I will present some results of studies on intergenerational transmission of body mass index in the Avon Longitudinal Study of Parents and Children, on associations between one kind of sustainable dietary pattern and health outcomes in the Danish Diet, Cancer and Health study, and some thoughts on future directions.
Biography:
Christina C. Dahm is an Associate Professor in Epidemiology at Aarhus University, Denmark. She studied at Durham University, University of Cambridge, and the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, all in the UK, before moving back to Denmark. Her research focuses on nutritional epidemiology, as well as intergenerational transmission of exposures, in relation to cardiometabolic health outcomes.
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