What is the exposome?
63%
of the world’s population today dies from chronic diseases, particularly cardiovascular and cancerous diseases. These diseases are caused by a combination of genetic and environmental factors (physical, chemical, biological, social, psychosocial and aesthetic factors).
World Health Organization
Studies that prove it’s time to act!
Rémy SLAMA is research director at INSERM. His work aims to characterize the influence of environmental pollutants on reproduction as well as on the health of children. Out of 45 pollutants sought from 1,300 mother-child couples, two thirds were found in 90% of the participants.
If the term doesn’t mean anything to you, it’s probably because the exposome is a recent concept. Invented in 2005 by Dr. Christopher Wild, the former director of the International Center for Research on Cancer (IARC), it was not until 2014 that this concept was introduced into French law (Marisol Touraine law on public health ). The exposome should figure at the heart of the next National Health and Environment Plan (PNSE4) in France.
According to its definition, the exposome is a concept corresponding to the totality of exposure to external and environmental (i.e. non-genetic) factors that a human organism undergoes from conception to end of life in passing by in utero development, complementing the effect of the genome.
In other words, the exposome is the analysis of non-genetic risk factors for our diseases of civilization – cancer, diabetes, cardiovascular diseases, asthma … which are linked to the environment in which we evolve.
And what about the impact on health?
Human health depends on two main components, linked to each other: the genome linked to our genetic character and the exposome linked to the environment in which we live or we lived.
In order to be evaluated, the exposome requires taking into account an infinity of variables such as pollutants, fine particles, endocrine disrupters but also the quality of water, noise pollution, UV, radiation , light pollution or food … The impact on health is real. It can be at the origin of the development of diseases or worsening of certain conditions. However it can also promote good health, everything will depend on the factors to which we are subject. A healthy lifestyle with a balanced diet, social interaction and regular physical activity will have a beneficial effect on your health, while stress, lack of sleep, junk food, exposure to fine particles, pesticides and other pollutants degrade your environment; which can favor the occurrence of physical or mental health problems.
Pollutants were initially studied independently of each other; but taking interactions into account is essential today. “The links already established between noise and cardiovascular diseases, or between night work and breast cancer, show the interest of expanding research”, underlines the toxicologist Robert Barouki.
It is in this approach that Meersens intervenes, by measuring the impact of these environmental factors and by crossing them in real time with social, physical and biological parameters. In order to support users in reducing and avoiding these risks through prevention and personalized solutions according to the risks specific to each.
And you, your exposome
how is it ?
Decrypt the environment in which you operate today with the Meersens solution and follow the right actions and expert advice for a healthier life.
The air you breathe, the water you drink, the food you eat and all the pollutants to which you are exposed will no longer hold any secrets for you.
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