Introduction

A major scientific challenge for the next decades is to understand the interplay between genetic susceptibility and environmental factors in aetiology of chronic diseases such as cancer, cardiovascular diseases and diabetes. Genetic susceptibility contributes to the occurrence of these diseases, and it is now thought that many common gene variants (each with a subtle effect of their own) together modify the risk of these diseases. Besides genetic factors, lifestyle factors such as physical activity and diet substantially influence incidence of these chronic

diseases. This is convincingly illustrated inmigration studies. These studies have shown that the risk of chronic diseases for people migrating to western countries resemble the incidence rates of their hosting countries within one or two generations. However, the influence of genetic factors and their interaction with environment on the occurrence of chronic diseases remains to be established. The European Prospective Investigation into Cancer and Nutrition (EPIC) was initiated to address these questions. EPIC-NL is the Dutch contribution to this collaboration.

Welkom

username:

password:

Dietary glycemic load and glycemic index and risk of cardiovascular disease among men and women

In the MORGEN-EPIC study, high glycemic load, glycemic index, carbohydrate and starch intake were associated with increased risk of cardiovascular disease among men, but not among women. See abstract.

Return