The exposome is poised to provide a wealth of information on how our environment can influence health.
We are living longer, but are we living healthier? Our living environment affects our health. The place we live, what we eat, how much we exercise, the kind of work we do and the people we interact with – all these environmental factors play a role. But how important are they in terms of our health and how are they all connected? We still haven't really answered any of these questions.
In Utrecht we study these envirmental factors, also called the exposome. We want to understand what makes us ill and what does not, so that we will know which environmental factors are harmful to us and to what extent. And especially: in what combinations these environmental factors are harmful and whether we are particularly vulnerable at certain stages of our lives. We combine research on both the external exposome and on the internal exposome (focusing on the microbiome). By combining this research, we aim to develop successful prevention and intervention strategies in amongst others cardiovascular, mental, infectious, and immunological diseases.
