Aetiology of Lifestyle-Related Disease Across the Life Course
Environment, lifestyle, and genetic make-up influence human health in all stages of life. Our main research focus is on lifestyle, diet as well as on underlying molecular pathways that influence disease development in pregnancy, infancy and childhood, or adulthood. Our areas of research involve asthma and atopy, cardiometabolic health, infectious diseases and gut microbiota, and pregnancy outcome. We have extensive experience in conducting large-scale (birth) cohort studies with follow-up spanning decades, biobanking, and analyzing large, longitudinal datasets (including omic data). We strengthen inferences on biological mechanisms and causality by implementing methods such as Mendelian randomization and compositional data analyses.
Current projects
Within our birth cohorts (KOALA, LucKi-Gut) we study the relation between modifiable determinants and behaviors relevant to today’s society and later health outcome. Our main interest is in pregnancy and early childhood as this is a crucial period for brain, gut and immune system development. In an adult population, we investigate the associations of lifestyle and major chronic diseases within the framework of The Maastricht Study.
KOALA
KOALA is a prospective birth cohort study with over 20 years of follow-up. We study how lifestyle and behavior affect allergic, respiratory, gastro-intestinal, cardio-metabolic and neurodevelopmental outcome throughout life. Lifestyle and health are repeatedly measured from the prenatal life stage through late adolescence, using questionnaires, biosampling (blood, human milk, feces, buccal cells) and biometrics. Our main focus is on lifestyle related factors, particularly diet, that influence health through modification of the gut microbiota and intestinal epithelial barrier function.
KOALA is currently on the verge of research into health and healthy behavior in (early) adulthood as well as in aging, since both the children as well as their parents are still in follow-up.
LucKi-Gut
Within LucKi-Gut we extend the KOALA research on the gut microbiome and intestinal epithelial barrier integrity using state-of-the-art techniques to in-depth study the development of the gut microbiome in the first year of the child’s life. During this period, we closely monitor the child’s social and physical environment, behavior, diet and health by repeat questionnaires, and the development of the gut microbiome by fecal sampling. Long-term follow-up for later health outcomes is being commenced.
The Maastricht Study
The Maastricht Study is an extensive phenotyping study among 9,200 participants aged 45-70 years. The study focuses on the etiology of type 2 diabetes, its classic complications (cardiovascular disease, nephropathy, neuropathy and retinopathy), and its emerging comorbidities, including cognitive decline, depression, and gastrointestinal, respiratory and musculoskeletal diseases. The study uses advanced state-of-the-art imaging techniques and extensive biobanking. A second round of follow-up is currently ongoing. Our research within this study strongly focusses on diet (both quality and timing) and underlying metabolic pathways in relation to chronic disease.