[{"command":"settings","settings":{"ajaxPageState":{"theme":"hm_theme","theme_token":"0HdIhlMulWUfoKUZ-4L6boxWjKcmu25mazfgiwRtjE8","libraries":"eJwDAAAAAAE"},"ajaxTrustedUrl":{"form_action_p_pvdeGsVG5zNF_XLGPTvYSKCf43t8qZYSwcfZl2uzM":true},"pluralDelimiter":"\u0003","user":{"uid":0,"permissionsHash":"2af85631393b514cbde3779a1f71d92618d53b94b54ea1960d28b2e2d121ff12"}},"merge":true},{"command":"openDialog","selector":"#drupal-modal","settings":null,"data":"\u003Cdiv id=\u0022republish_modal_form\u0022\u003E\u003Cform class=\u0022modal-form-example-modal-form ecl-form\u0022 data-drupal-selector=\u0022modal-form-example-modal-form\u0022 action=\u0022\/en\/article\/modal\/10854\u0022 method=\u0022post\u0022 id=\u0022modal-form-example-modal-form\u0022 accept-charset=\u0022UTF-8\u0022\u003E\u003Cp\u003EHorizon articles can be republished for free under the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0) licence.\u003C\/p\u003E\n \u003Cp\u003EYou must give appropriate credit. We ask you to do this by:\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n 1) Using the original journalist\u0027s byline\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n 2) Linking back to our original story\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n 3) Using the following text in the footer: This article was originally published in \u003Ca href=\u0027#\u0027\u003EHorizon, the EU Research and Innovation magazine\u003C\/a\u003E\u003C\/p\u003E\n \u003Cp\u003ESee our full republication guidelines \u003Ca href=\u0027\/horizon-magazine\/republish-our-stories\u0027\u003Ehere\u003C\/a\u003E\u003C\/p\u003E\n \u003Cp\u003EHTML for this article, including the attribution and page view counter, is below:\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cdiv class=\u0022js-form-item form-item js-form-type-textarea form-item-body-content js-form-item-body-content ecl-form-group ecl-form-group--text-area form-no-label ecl-u-mv-m\u0022\u003E\n \n\u003Cdiv\u003E\n \u003Ctextarea data-drupal-selector=\u0022edit-body-content\u0022 aria-describedby=\u0022edit-body-content--description\u0022 id=\u0022edit-body-content\u0022 name=\u0022body_content\u0022 rows=\u00225\u0022 cols=\u002260\u0022 class=\u0022form-textarea ecl-text-area\u0022\u003E\u003Ch2\u003EFrom womb to tomb: tackling diseases by knowing the surrounding influences\u003C\/h2\u003E\u003Cp\u003EThree decades ago, Professor Martine Vrijheid was investigating the prevalence of birth defects near hazardous waste sites across Europe as part of her PhD work. She found that there was indeed an increased risk close to dumps.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EHer study, done at the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine in the UK, raised more questions.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003EChild focus\u003C\/strong\u003E\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u2018One of the big questions I was asked when we published these results was: \u201cWhat would you do if you were pregnant?\u201d,\u2019 said Vrijheid, a Dutch native who is now a professor of environmental and child health at the Barcelona Institute for Global Health in Spain. \u2018I couldn\u2019t really answer that question and so I thought we really need much better data to give better recommendations to women during their pregnancy.\u2019\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EEver since then, Vrijheid has focused on how the environment in which children grow up can damage their health.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EThe combination of environmental influences and how the body reacts to them is called the exposome. It factors in what people eat and do, where they live and work and how they interact with their physical surroundings.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EEverything from exposure to toxic chemicals to weather changes is included. The environment accounts for an estimated 70% of the chronic disease burden on people, with air pollution from fossil fuels burned by factories, power plants, cars and buildings being a leading cause.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EFor example, a third of childhood asthma cases in Europe can be attributed to polluted air, according to the Barcelona Institute for Global Health, also known as \u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/www.isglobal.org\/-\/air-pollution-and-children-key-facts\u0022\u003EISGlobal\u003C\/a\u003E.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u2018We know that, for a large proportion of our non-communicable or chronic diseases, there are preventable causes in the environment,\u2019 Vrijheid said.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EShe coordinates a research project that received EU funding to quantify how the exposome affects the health of people in Europe during their first 20 years of life. Called \u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/cordis.europa.eu\/project\/id\/874583\u0022\u003EATHLETE\u003C\/a\u003E, the five-year project runs until the end of 2024.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003EEarly signals\u003C\/strong\u003E\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EATHLETE focuses on young people in order to reduce their overall chances of getting sick.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u2018It\u2019s much more efficient to start prevention in children or pregnancy than to address risk factors when people are older and already on the way to becoming ill,\u2019 said Vrijheid. \u2018Anything that happens in those very early years can have consequences later in life.\u2019\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003ETake the organ growth of a foetus. Exposure to certain chemicals during pregnancy can impede organ development.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EResearchers use blood, urine and stool samples to detect biological markers such as metabolites, which are molecules required for the normal functioning of cells. The goal is to join the dots between environmental influences and child health.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EThe project has already found that exposure to pollutants early in life can create changes in the biological markers of children who are otherwise healthy, according to Vrijheid.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u003Cblockquote class=\u0022tw-text-center tw-text-blue tw-font-bold tw-text-2xl lg:tw-w-1\/2 tw-border-2 tw-border-blue tw-p-12 tw-my-8 lg:tw-m-12 lg:tw--ml-16 tw-float-left\u0022\u003E\n \u003Cspan class=\u0022tw-text-5xl tw-rotate-180\u0022\u003E\u201c\u003C\/span\u003E\n \u003Cp class=\u0022tw-font-serif tw-italic\u0022\u003EFor a large proportion of our non-communicable or chronic diseases, there are preventable causes in the environment.\r\n\u003C\/p\u003E\n \u003Cfooter\u003E\n \u003Ccite class=\u0022tw-not-italic tw-font-normal tw-text-sm tw-text-black\u0022\u003EProfessor Martine Vrijheid, ATHLETE\u003C\/cite\u003E\n \u003C\/footer\u003E\n\u003C\/blockquote\u003E\n\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EFor example, child exposure to copper was associated with an inflammation marker. Plausible mechanisms of disease were also found for other pollutants including tobacco smoke and parabens, which are chemicals used as preservatives in cosmetics.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u2018Even if children don\u0027t show any symptoms yet, if you can see that there are changes in their everyday genetics \u2013 or in their protein profiles \u2013 that may tell us something about their future risk of disease,\u2019 Vrijheid said.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EThe overall aim of ATHLETE is to build up data and make the information available to researchers.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EThrough various studies,\u0026nbsp;the project will lead to guidance on priority actions to monitor and limit exposure to pollutants. Part of this work includes developing a guidance \u2018\u2018toolkit\u2019\u2019 for decision-makers and communities.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EDepending on the study results, Vrijheid said recommendations for future policies could also emerge.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003ESets of risks\u003C\/strong\u003E\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EATHLETE is among nine research projects seeking advances in the field as part of the \u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/www.humanexposome.eu\/\u0022\u003EEuropean Human Exposome Network\u003C\/a\u003E, or EHEN, the world\u2019s largest such undertaking with 24 countries.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EThe exposome approach goes beyond tackling environmental pollutants one by one and instead seeks to address them as a whole based on a clearer picture of the interconnections.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EIn the framework of ATHLETE, a study in France is assessing whether changes in women\u2019s personal care products could affect exposure to chemicals such as phthalates that interfere with the hormonal system \u2013 so-called endocrine disruptors.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EIn total, 90 female volunteers aged 18 to 30 years are replacing commonly used cosmetics with alternatives for five days. With the help of urine samples taken before and after the trial, the study aims to show that reducing or changing the use of personal care items can reduce the presence of chemicals in the body.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EIn a further example, ATHLETE is examining the number of chemicals in pesticides, food packaging and other products that are features of everyday life in Europe.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u2018We hope that the exposome framework will help to provide evidence on sets of risk factors that can be tackled at the same time \u2013 for example by tackling mixtures of chemicals rather than one-by-one regulation,\u2019 said Vrijheid.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003EUrban clues\u003C\/strong\u003E\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EAnother of the EHEN projects is the EU-funded \u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/cordis.europa.eu\/project\/id\/874627\u0022\u003EEXPANSE\u003C\/a\u003E, which focuses on urban environments because most people in Europe live there.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EBy the end of the decade, more than 80% of Europe\u2019s population will live in and interact with an urban environment, according to the project.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u003Cblockquote class=\u0022tw-text-center tw-text-blue tw-font-bold tw-text-2xl lg:tw-w-1\/2 tw-border-2 tw-border-blue tw-p-12 tw-my-8 lg:tw-m-12 lg:tw--ml-16 tw-float-left\u0022\u003E\n \u003Cspan class=\u0022tw-text-5xl tw-rotate-180\u0022\u003E\u201c\u003C\/span\u003E\n \u003Cp class=\u0022tw-font-serif tw-italic\u0022\u003EWe really need to have a global effort to understand environmental exposures.\r\n\u003C\/p\u003E\n \u003Cfooter\u003E\n \u003Ccite class=\u0022tw-not-italic tw-font-normal tw-text-sm tw-text-black\u0022\u003EProfessor Roel Vermeulen, EXPANSE\u003C\/cite\u003E\n \u003C\/footer\u003E\n\u003C\/blockquote\u003E\n\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u2018Cities or urban environments are hugely important for human health,\u2019 said Roel Vermeulen, who leads EXPANSE and is a professor of environmental epidemiology at Utrecht University in the Netherlands.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003ELike ATHLETE, Vermeulen\u2019s project began in January 2020 and is scheduled to run until the end of 2024.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EHis team has been mapping the entire urban environment in Europe to get a better picture of the wide array of factors \u2013 from air pollution to foods \u2013 to which people are exposed.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EThe researchers use health data from across the EU, census information covering around 55 million people and specific groups of adults and children numbering around 2 million.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EOn top of that, the team is giving people sensors to measure exposure to environmental pollutants and track physical activity.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EIn total, 4 000 people have been selected for this \u201curban labs\u201d exercise in Greece, Italy, the Netherlands, Poland and Switzerland.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u2018EXPANSE will be able to advise on how neighbourhoods can be made healthier,\u2019 said Vermeulen.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003EBody barometers\u003C\/strong\u003E\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EThe project\u2019s focus extends to the internal exposome: measuring levels of chemicals including flame retardants, pesticides and persistent pollutants in the body.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EThis allows the team to examine people who have developed an illness like diabetes later in life and to look out for chemical differences with healthy people.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u2018We have their blood samples 10 years before they developed the disease and we look at what was different in the blood between these two populations,\u2019 said Vermeulen.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EPart of what motivates him is his life among the cobbled streets and canals of Utrecht, particularly differences in the health of people depending on their specific neighbourhood.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EVermeulen said that people in the healthiest district enjoy as many as 12 years more good health than residents elsewhere in the city do.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EUnderstanding the exposome will make it easier to eliminate these sorts of discrepancies.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u2018The postcode is more important than the genetic code,\u2019 said Vermeulen. \u2018We really need to have a global effort to understand environmental exposures and to actually come up with meaningful interventions to stop non-communicable diseases.\u2019\u003Cbr\u003E\u003Cbr\u003E\u003Cem\u003EResearch in this article was funded by the EU. 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