Starting date: January 2021
Work Programme
The Nutrition, Cancer, and Multimorbidity Team (NCM) investigates how nutrition, obesity, and metabolic dysfunction interact with cardiometabolic diseases, including cardiovascular diseases and type 2 diabetes, in relation to cancer incidence. The co-occurrence of chronic diseases in individuals, including cardiometabolic diseases and cancer, defined as multimorbidity, is becoming increasingly common in the ageing populations of Europe and North America.
NCM investigates whether multimorbidity is due to shared risk factors including diet, physical inactivity, or obesity, or whether cardiometabolic diseases, and related metabolic dysfunction, increase the risk of subsequent cancers. NCM also examines the role of lifestyle factors and the occurrence of morbid conditions that affect survival in people living with cancer.
Research outcomes will contribute to public health recommendations that are more inclusive for individuals living with cardiometabolic diseases and cancer and inform targeted interventions to reduce the occurrence of chronic conditions.
Team Composition
Team Leader: Dr Heinz Freisling, Nutrition and Metabolism Branch (NME), IARC
Email: FreislingH@iarc.who.int
Team members:
Dr Alem Gebremariam Abraha (Postdoctoral Scientist, NME)
Dr Léonie Courcoul (Postdoctoral Scientist, NME)
Dr Pietro Ferrari (Branch Head, NME)
Mr Quan Gan (Doctoral Student, NME)
Dr Leticia Goñi (Visiting Scientist, NME)
Ms Roya Coutaz-Repland (Doctoral Student, NME)
Dr Nazlisadat Seyed Khoei (Visiting Scientist, NME)
Dr Peggy Ler (Postdoctoral Scientist, NME)
Dr Komodo Matta (Postdoctoral Scientist, NME)
Dr Laia Peruchet Noray (Visiting Scientist, NME)
Ms Karine Racinoux (Administrative Assistant, NME)
Dr Steve K. Njouonkep Sime (Postdoctoral Scientist, NME)
Dr Salvatore Vaccarella (Scientist, CSU)
Dr Vivian Viallon (Scientist, NME)
Ms Karina Zaluski (Project Assistant, NME)
Key networks: European Prospective Investigation into Cancer and Nutrition (EPIC), Information System for Research in Primary Care (SIDIAP), National Cancer Institute (NCI) Cohort Consortium
Key funding: Institut national du Cancer (INCa), World Cancer Research Fund (WCRF), Austrian Science Fund (FWF), German Research Foundation (DFG)
Key publications
- Stein MJ, Freisling H, Leitzmann MF (2025). Clinical obesity and all-cause and cause-specific mortality in UK Biobank. JAMA Intern Med. 185(12):1497–500. https://doi.org/10.1001/jamainternmed.2025.4978 PMID:41143828
- Córdova R, Kim J, Thompson AS, Noh H, Shah S, Dahm CC, et al. (2025). Plant-based dietary patterns and age-specific risk of multimorbidity of cancer and cardiometabolic diseases: a prospective analysis. Lancet Healthy Longev. 6(8):100742. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.lanhl.2025.100742 PMID:40845891
- Leitzmann MF, Stein MJ, Baurecht H, Freisling H (2025). Excess adiposity and cancer: evaluating a preclinical-clinical obesity framework for risk stratification. EClinicalMedicine. 83:103247. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.eclinm.2025.103247 PMID:40475001
- Davila-Batista V, Viallon V, Fontvieille E, Jansana A, Kohls M, Bondonno NP, et al. (2025). Associations between cardiometabolic comorbidities and mortality in adults with cancer: multinational cohort study. BMJ Med. 4(1):e000909. https://doi.org/10.1136/bmjmed-2024-000909 PMID:40151205
- Peruchet-Noray L, Sedlmeier AM, Dimou N, Baurecht H, Fervers B, Fontvieille E, et al. (2024). Tissue-specific genetic variation suggests distinct molecular pathways between body shape phenotypes and colorectal cancer. Sci Adv. 10(16):eadj1987. https://doi.org/10.1126/sciadv.adj1987 PMID:38640244
- Cordova R, Viallon V, Fontvieille E, Peruchet-Noray L, Jansana A, Wagner KH, et al. (2023). Consumption of ultra-processed foods and risk of multimorbidity of cancer and cardiometabolic diseases: a multinational cohort study. Lancet Reg Health Eur. 35:100771. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.lanepe.2023.100771 PMID:38115963
- Fontvieille E, Viallon V, Recalde M, Cordova R, Jansana A, Peruchet-Noray L, et al. (2023). Body mass index and cancer risk among adults with and without cardiometabolic diseases: evidence from the EPIC and UK Biobank prospective cohort studies. BMC Med. 21(1):418. https://doi.org/10.1186/s12916-023-03114-z PMID:37993940
- Recalde M, Pistillo A, Davila-Batista V, Leitzmann M, Romieu I, Viallon V, et al. (2023). Longitudinal body mass index and cancer risk: a cohort study of 2.6 million Catalan adults. Nat Commun. 14(1):3816. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-023-39282-y PMID:37391446
- Kohls M, Freisling H, Charvat H, Soerjomataram I, Viallon V, Davila-Batista V, et al. (2022). Impact of cumulative body mass index and cardiometabolic diseases on survival among patients with colorectal and breast cancer: a multi-centre cohort study. BMC Cancer. 22(1):546. https://doi.org/10.1186/s12885-022-09589-y PMID:35568802
- Freisling H, Viallon V, Lennon H, Bagnardi V, Ricci C, Butterworth AS, et al. (2020). Lifestyle factors and risk of multimorbidity of cancer and cardiometabolic diseases: a multinational cohort study. BMC Med. 18(1):5. https://doi.org/10.1186/s12916-019-1474-7 PMID:31918762