Nutritional epidemiology research group
Leaders
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Jyrki Virtanen
Associate ProfessorInstitute of Public Health and Clinical Nutrition, School of Medicine, Faculty of Health Sciences -
Sari Hantunen
Senior University LecturerInstitute of Public Health and Clinical Nutrition, School of Medicine, Faculty of Health Sciences
We mainly do observational research, but also run clinical trials. Our main study population is the Kuopio Ischaemic Heart Disease Risk Factor Study (KIHD), one of the most extensively examined study populations in the world. An important clinical trial is the Finnish Vitamin D Trial (FIND), a 5-y study of the effects of vitamin D supplementation on disease prevention. We are also involved in the Kuopio Birth Cohort study (KuBiCo), which investigates the effects of genetics and environmental and lifestyle factors during pregnancy on health status of the mother and the child.
In order to reduce costs and save time in data collection, we have created an internet-based and automated food frequency questionnaire (FFQ) to collect nutrition data in large study populations.
News
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Taking higher-than-recommended doses of vitamin D for five years reduced the risk of atrial fibrillationTaking higher-than-recommended doses of vitamin D for five years reduced the risk of atrial fibrillation
Taking higher-than-recommended doses of vitamin D for five years reduced the risk of atrial fibrillation in older men and women, according to a new… -
Taking high-dose vitamin D supplements for five years did not affect the incidence of cardiovascular disease or cancerTaking high-dose vitamin D supplements for five years did not affect the incidence of cardiovascular disease or cancer
A trial by the University of Eastern Finland found that taking a much higher dose of vitamin D than recommended for five years did not affect total… -
Less meat, more foods of plant origin – new Nordic Nutrition Recommendations published
Less meat, more foods of plant origin – new Nordic Nutrition Recommendations published
A new edition of the Nordic Nutrition Recommendations, NNR, was published this week. For the first time, they contain scientific recommendations on a… -
Are eggs a superpower for the brain and memory? A scientific article for children explainsAre eggs a superpower for the brain and memory? A scientific article for children explains
An egg a day doesn’t seem to prevent or promote memory disorders. However, an egg a day may otherwise be beneficial for brain function, write the…
Cooperation
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NCD Risk Factor Collaboration (NCD-RisC) is a network of health scientists around the world that provides rigorous and timely data on major risk factors for non-communicable diseases for all of the world’s countries.
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Goal of this collaboration is to understand the relationships between fatty acids from our diet and metabolic processes, measured using biomarkers, on chronic disease outcomes (cardiovascular disease, cancer, and other conditions).
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PhD, nutrition epidemiologist Heli Virtanen: Dietary protein and protein sources and the risk of chronic diseases : associations with type 2 diabetes, coronary heart disease, heart failure and mortality among men from Eastern Finland (2023).
PhD, nutrition epidemiologist Maija Ylilauri: Associations of animal protein sources and dietary cholesterol and choline intakes with cognitive functioning: a prospective population-based cohort study (2023).
PhD. MD, Hanna-Mari Tertsunen: Adherence to a healthy Nordic diet and risk of coronary heart disease, type 2 diabetes and mortality in men – a prospective population-based cohort study (2022).
PhD, MPHN Behnam Tajik: Adherence to a healthy Nordic diet and risk of coronary heart disease, type 2 diabetes and mortality in men : a prospective population-based cohort study (2022).
PhD, MBBS Olubunmi Olubanwo: Fatty liver index and risk of incident cardiometabolic disease and mortality (2020).
PhD, MD, MPH Alex Aregbesola: Role of body iron stores in glucose homeostasis and type 2 diabetes, Kuopio Ischaemic Heart Disease Risk Factor Study (2016).
PhD, RD Teymoor Yary: Association of zinc, omega-6 polyunsaturated fatty acids, delta-5 and delta-6 desaturase activities with the risk of type 2 diabetes and metabolic syndrome: a prospective population-based study (2016)
PhD, nutrition epidemiologist Anu Ruusunen: Diet and Depression, an Epidemiological Study (2013).
PhD, nutrition epidemiologist Jaakko Mursu: The role of polyphenols in cardiovascular diseases (2007).
PhD, nutrition epidemiologist Jyrki Virtanen: Homocysteine, folate and cardiovascular diseases (2005).
PhD, MD, psychiatrist Tommi Tolmunen: Depression, B vitamins and homocysteine (2005).
PhD, analytical chemist Tarja Nurmi: High performance liquid chromatography and coulometric electrode array detection: Analytical methods for biological samples containing lignans and isoflavonoids (2004).
PhD, nutrition epidemiologist Tiina Rissanen: Association of lycopene and dietary intake of fruits, berries and vegetables with atherosclerosis and cardiovascular diseases. Epidemiologic evidence (2003).
PhD, nutrition epidemiologist Meri Vanharanta (Helleranta): The role of serum enterolactone in lipid peroxidation and cardiovascular disease (2002).
PhD, nutrition epidemiologist Sari Voutilainen (Hantunen): Association of folate and homocysteine with atherosclerosis and the risk of acute coronary events : epidemiologic evidence (2000).
Keywords
Leaders
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Jyrki Virtanen
Associate ProfessorInstitute of Public Health and Clinical Nutrition, School of Medicine, Faculty of Health Sciences -
Sari Hantunen
Senior University LecturerInstitute of Public Health and Clinical Nutrition, School of Medicine, Faculty of Health Sciences
Professors
Senior Researchers
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Anu Ruusunen
Clinical LecturerInstitute of Public Health and Clinical Nutrition, School of Medicine, Faculty of Health Sciences -
Ari Voutilainen
Research ManagerInstitute of Public Health and Clinical Nutrition, School of Medicine, Faculty of Health Sciences
Post-doctoral Researchers
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Maija Ylilauri
Project ResearcherInstitute of Public Health and Clinical Nutrition, School of Medicine, Faculty of Health Sciences -
Heli Virtanen
University TeacherInstitute of Public Health and Clinical Nutrition, School of Medicine, Faculty of Health Sciences
Doctoral Researchers
Research partners
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Leea Keski-Nisula
ProfessorInstitute of Clinical Medicine, School of Medicine, Faculty of Health Sciences -
Tommi Tolmunen
ProfessorInstitute of Clinical Medicine, School of Medicine, Faculty of Health Sciences
Other group members
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Tohtorikoulutettava Heidi Puharinen heidipuh@student.uef.fi
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Tohtorikoulutettava Miika Wynne-Ellis miikaw@student.uef.fi
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Tohtorikoulutettava Asenath Rabera asenny@student.uef.fi
Publications
122 items-
Eggs – a scoping review for Nordic Nutrition Recommendations 2023
Virtanen, Jyrki K; Larsson, Susanna C. 2024. Food and nutrition research. 68: 1-19 -
Maternal dietary indexes are not linked to early childhood wheezing or atopic eczema
Sivula, Elina; Puharinen, Heidi; Hantunen, Sari; Keski‐Nisula, Leea; Backman, Katri. 2024. Pediatric allergy and immunology. 35: -
Meat and meat products – a scoping review for Nordic Nutrition Recommendations 2023
Meinilä, Jelena; Virtanen, Jyrki K. 2024. Food and nutrition research. 68: . 10538 -
Omega-3 Blood Levels and Stroke Risk: A Pooled and Harmonized Analysis of 183 291 Participants From 29 Prospective Studies
O’Keefe, James H.; Tintle, Nathan L.; Harris, William S.; O’Keefe, Evan L.; Sala-Vila, Aleix; Attia, John; Garg, G. Manohar; Hure, Alexis; Bork, Christian Sørensen; Schmidt, Erik Berg; Venø, Stine Krogh; Chien, Kuo-Liong; Chen, Yun-Yu (Amelia); Egert, Sarah; Feldreich, Tobias Rudholm; Ärnlöv, Johan; Lind, Lars; Forouhi, Nita G.; Geleijnse, Johanna M.; Pertiwi, Kamalita; Imamura, Fumiaki; de Mello Laaksonen, Vanessa; Uusitupa, W. Matti; Tuomilehto, Jaakko; Laakso, Markku; Lankinen, Maria Anneli; . 2024. Stroke. 55: 50-58 -
Worldwide trends in underweight and obesity from 1990 to 2022: a pooled analysis of 3663 population-representative studies with 222 million children, adolescents, and adults
Phelps, Nowell H; Singleton, Rosie K; Zhou, Bin; Heap, Rachel A; Mishra, Anu; Bennett, James E; Paciorek, Christopher J; Lhoste, Victor PF; Carrillo-Larco, Rodrigo M; Stevens, Gretchen A; Rodriguez-Martinez, Andrea; Bixby, Honor; Bentham, James; Di Cesare, Mariachiara; Danaei, Goodarz; Rayner, Archie W; Barradas-Pires, Ana; Cowan, Melanie J; Savin, Stefan; Riley, Leanne M; Aguilar-Salinas, Carlos A; Baker, Jennifer L; Barkat, Amina; Bhutta, Zulfiqar A; Branca, Francesco; Caixeta, Roberta B; Cusc. 2024. The Lancet. 403: 1027-1050 -
Association of omega 3 polyunsaturated fatty acids with incident chronic kidney disease: pooled analysis of 19 cohorts
Ong, Kwok Leung; Marklund, Matti; Huang, Liping; Rye, Kerry-Anne; Hui, Nicholas; Pan, Xiong-Fei; Rebholz, Casey M; Kim, Hyunju; Steffen, Lyn M; van Westing, Anniek C; Geleijnse, Johanna M; Hoogeveen, Ellen K; Chen, Yun-Yu; Chien, Kuo-Liong; Fretts, Amanda M; Lemaitre, Rozenn N; Imamura, Fumiaki; Forouhi, Nita G; Wareham, Nicholas J; Birukov, Anna; Jäger, Susanne; Kuxhaus, Olga; Schulze, Matthias B; de Mello, Vanessa Derenji; Tuomilehto, Jaakko; Uusitupa, Matti; Lindström, Jaana; Tintle, Nathan; . 2023. BMJ. 380: -
Associations of animal protein sources and dietary cholesterol and choline intakes with cognitive functioning: a prospective population-based cohort study
Ylilauri, Maija. 2023. Publications of the University of Eastern Finland. Dissertations in Health Sciences -
Dietary fat quality and serum androgen concentrations in middle-aged men
Wynne-Ellis, Miika M; Mursu, Jaakko J; Tuomainen, Tomi Pekka; Bertone-Johnson, Elizabeth; Salonen, Jukka T; Virtanen, Jyrki K. 2023. European journal of clinical nutrition. 2024; 78: 99-106 -
Dietary protein and protein sources and the risk of chronic diseases: Associations with type 2 diabetes, coronary heart disease, heart failure and mortality among men from Eastern Finland
Virtanen, Heli. 2023. Publications of the University of Eastern Finland. Dissertations in Health Sciences -
Efficacy of vitamin D3 supplementation on cancer mortality: systematic review and individual patient data meta-analysis of randomised controlled trials
Kuznia, Sabine; Zhu, Anna; Akutsu, Taisuke; Buring, Julie E; Camargo Jr, Carlos A; Cook, Nancy R; Chen, Li-Ju; Cheng, Ting-Yuan David; Hantunen, Sari; Lee, I-Min; Manson, JoAnn E; Neale, Rachel E; Scragg, Robert; Shadyab, Aladdin H; Sha, Sha; Sluyter, John; Tuomainen, Tomi-Pekka; Urashima, Mitsuyoshi; Virtanen, Jyrki K; Voutilainen, Ari; Wactawski-Wende, Jean; Waterhouse, Mary; Brenner, Hermann; Schöttker, Ben. 2023. Ageing research reviews. 87: