Nutrition

Our research group engages in a wide range of projects addressing critical questions in nutrition and public health. Current research activities include:

• understanding the causes of non-communicable diseases (NCDs) and identifying novel biomarkers for health
• exploring diet, gut microbiota, and metabolic regulation as key components of personalized nutrition
• advancing technological applications in nutrition research, including sensor technology, high-throughput methods, and digital solutions
• designing and evaluating nutrition policies and interventions that promote healthy and sustainable diets while reducing social health inequalities
• improving nutrition communication and competence among health professionals and the general population.

We adopt a comprehensive and interdisciplinary approach to nutrition research, integrating methodologies from molecular biology, intervention studies, nutritional epidemiology, nutrition communication, food sociology and culture, as well as policy and implementation research. Educational research is also an integral part of our work.

Our projects employ both quantitative and qualitative methods, alongside laboratory-based research, to generate robust and actionable knowledge.

The group is affiliated with the Master’s specialization in Nutrition Competence for Health Professionals, offered within the Master’s Programme in Health Sciences.

• Determinants of Diet and Physical activity: Knowledge hub to integrate and develop infrastructure for research across Europe
• EATWELL: A Comparative Material-Semiotic Ethnography of Food Systems and More-than-Human Health in Bhutan (eatwell-bhutan.net)
• Food Habits among infants in Nes Municipality
• Long-term registration of individual glucose response to diet and lifestyle – an AI approach for blood glucose prediction.
• NewTools: Developing tools for food system transformation, including food summary scores for nutrition and sustainability (app.cristin.no)
• Set the virtual table: Using Mixed Reality to create an enjoyable dining environment for hospital patients

Norwegian universities and colleges

• University of Agder
• University of Bergen
• University of Oslo
• University of South-Eastern Norway
• VID Specialized University
• Østfold University College

International universities

• Cornell University, USA
• Edith Cowan University, Australia
• Monash University, Australia
• University of Auckland, New Zealand
• University of California Davis, USA
• University of Copenhagen, Denmark
• University of Eastern Finland Cupio
• University of Giessen, Germany
• University of Iceland
• Uppsala University, Sweeden

Research institutions

• Australian Centre for Pacific Islands Research (ACPIR)
• Norwegian Institute of Marine Research, Nofima
• Norwegian Institute of Public Health

Health trusts

• Innlandet Hospital Trust
• Oslo University Hospital

Industry

• Genetic Analyses (GA)
• Mesterbakeren (Norwegian bakery chain)
• Mills (Norwegian food brand)
• Tine (Norwegian food brand)

Stakeholders

• Det glutenfrie verksted (Norwegian company selling gluten free products)
• The Norwegian Directorate of Integration and Diversity (IMDI)
• Oslo Municipality
• Salvation Army
• Norwegian Coeliac Association (NCF)
• Olympic Seafood
• Fremtidsmat (Future Food)

• Adequate vitamin B12 and folate status of Norwegian vegans and vegetarians. Henjum, Groufh-Jacobsen, Lindsay, Raael, Israelsson, Shahab-Ferdows, and Hampel.
• Adherence to the Norwegian dietary recommendations in a multi-ethnic pregnant population prior to being diagnosed with gestational diabetes mellitus. Garnweidner-Holme, Torheim, Henriksen, Borgen, Holmelid, and Lukasse.
• A Scoping Review of Facilitators of Multi-Professional Collaboration in Primary Care. Sørensen, Stenberg, and Garnweidner-Holme.
• Beneficial effect on serum cholesterol levels, but not glycaemic regulation, after replacing SFA with PUFA for 3 d: a randomised crossover trial.
• Facilitators and barriers to healthy food selection at children’s sports arenas in Norway: a qualitative study among club managers and parents.
• Fish oil supplementation induces expression of genes related to cell cycle, endoplasmic reticulum stress and apoptosis in peripheral blood mononuclear cells: a transcriptomic approach.
• Incident type 2 diabetes attributable to suboptimal diet in 184 countries. O'Hearn, Lara-Castor, Cudhea, Miller, Reedy, Shi, Zhang, Wong, Economos, Micha, and Mozaffarian.
• Is iodine intake adequate in Norway?. Henjum, Abel, Meltzer, Dahl, Alexander, Torheim, and Brantsæter.
• Nutrient intake and environmental enteric dysfunction among Nepalese children 9-24 months old – the MAL-ED birth cohort study.
• Policy implementation and priorities to create healthy food environments using the Healthy Food Environment Policy Index (Food-EPI): A pooled level analysis across eleven European countries (sciencedirect.com).