Serge Hercberg

• MD, PhD
• Managing Director at Université Sorbonne Paris Nord

Multilevel models are one of the main statistical methods used in modeling contextual effects in social sciences. A common limitation of these methods is the use pre-set boundaries—usually administrative units—to define contexts, when these boundaries do not always match up with the “true” causally relevant contexts that may affect the outcomes of...

Background In middle- and high-income countries, obesity is positively associated with neighbourhood deprivation. However, the moderating effect of the broader urban residential context on this relationship remains poorly understood. Methods In this study, we have examined the nonlinear and geographically varying relationship between neighbourhoo...

La pertinence d’une approche nomothétique comparée à une approche idiographique constitue toujours l’objet de débats en géographie. Ces débats consistent finalement à opposer une géographie régionale à une géographie des lieux alors qu’on sait, en pratique, que les deux ne sont pas incompatibles : l’identification de singularités locales ne comprom...

Obesity and non-communicable diseases (NCDs) are on the increase in Argentina. Maintaining an unhealthy diet is considered one of the most important risk factors in the development of these diseases. Front-of-package labels (FOPLs) are a useful tool to guide the consumer about the nutritional quality of the products as well as making healthier choi...

Purpose: Metabolic syndrome (MetS), a multicomponent condition, is a cardiovascular disease predictor. Although exposure to agricultural pesticides has been suggested as a potential contributor to the rising rates of obesity, type 2 diabetes, and other features of metabolic disorders, no studies have focused on the association between consumption...

Objectives: Ultra-processed foods (UPF) consumption has increased over the last decades and is raising concerns about potential adverse health effects. Our objective was to assess the association between UPF consumption and four functional gastrointestinal disorders (FGIDs): irritable bowel syndrome (IBS), functional constipation (FC), functional...

Background: Several modifiable lifestyle indicators, including diet, smoking, alcohol consumption, weight and physical activity have been associated with depression; however, their combined effect has been less studied. The aim of this study was to calculate a Healthy Lifestyle Index (HLI) composed of the 5 above-mentioned indicators and investiga...

Purpose: This study examines whether adherence to the Mediterranean Diet (MD) measured by several dietary indexes was associated with incident depressive symptoms in a large French cohort. Methods: The study sample consisted of 3523 participants from the Supplémentation en Vitamines et Minéraux Antioxydants (SU.VI.MAX) cohort who had at least th...

Background: Combination of metabolomics and epidemiological approaches opens new perspectives for ground-breaking discoveries. The aim of the present study was to investigate for the first time whether plasma untargeted metabolomic profiles, established from a simple blood draw from healthy women, could contribute to predict the risk of developing...

Introduction Diet plays an important role for patients with irritable bowel syndrome (IBS). The aim of this study was to compare the diets in terms of food consumption and nutrient intake between subjects with IBS and controls in a large French population. Methods This study included 36,448 subjects from the Nutrinet-Santé cohort study, who comple...

Well-being is often mentioned as an important motive for organic food consumption. Little is known about the relationship between organic food consumption and life satisfaction (a component of well-being). The aim of this study was to investigate the cross-sectional relationship between organic food consumption and life satisfaction. A total of 17,...

Aims: To evaluate all epidemiological evidence in the literature linking the metabolic syndrome (MetS) and migraine in adults. Methods: Database (Medline, Embase; published reports up to November 2017) and manual searches were performed. Information on data collection, sample characteristics, study design, MetS and migraine assessment, and resul...

Background: Dietary guidelines in France give quantitative recommendations for intake of meat, fish and dairy products whereas consumers are increasingly concerned by the environmental impacts associated with the production of these foods. This potentially leads to consumer dilemmas when purchasing food products. The present study aimed at investi...

Individual characteristics, dietary intake and physical activity influence weight status; however, the contribution of each factor to weight change has not been studied. The objective was to confirm a conceptual framework by simultaneously assessing the relative influence of socioeconomic, psychological and sensory characteristics, physical activit...

Background: Sleep disorders, including insomnia, are risk factors for weight gain. However, few epidemiological studies have investigated the association of anthropometric markers with insomnia as an outcome. Methods: In this observational, cross-sectional study, we assessed the association of 3 different anthropometric indices with acute and ch...

Purpose: Depression is a major public health issue because it is a common cause of disability worldwide. It has been suggested that an optimal vitamin D status may be related to fewer depressive symptoms, but findings are inconsistent. We aimed to investigate the association between plasma vitamin D at midlife and recurrent depressive symptoms and...

This project has been conducted in the framework of the French network for Nutrition And Cancer Research (NACRe network). This project was funded by the Canceropole Ile de France/Region Ile de France (PhD grants of Melanie Deschasaux and Philippine Fassier and QUANTICA Emergence project). The NutriNet-Sante study was supported by the following publ...

Background The specific role of major socio-economic indicators in influencing food preparation behaviours could reveal distinct socio-economic patterns, thus enabling mechanisms to be understood that contribute to social inequalities in health. This study investigated whether there was an independent association of each socio-economic indicator (e...

The International Agency for Research on Cancer (WHO-IARC) classified red meat and processed meat as probably carcinogenic and carcinogenic for humans, respectively. These conclusions were mainly based on studies concerning colorectal cancer, but scientific evidence is still limited for other cancer locations. In this study, we investigated the pro...

Background: There is a growing trend for vegetarian and vegan diets in many Western countries. Epidemiological evidence suggesting that such diets may help in maintaining good health is rising. However, dietary and sociodemographic characteristics of vegetarians and vegans are not well known. The aim of this cross-sectional study was to describe s...

Background: Diet appears to play a key role in the pathogenesis of the irritable bowel syndrome (IBS). Some dietary patterns (DP) could increase the risk of triggering or worsening IBS symptoms. This cross-sectional study aimed to assess the association between a posteriori derived DP and IBS in a large French population, the web-based NutriNet-San...

Background There is growing interest in using diet counselling in the management of patients with irritable bowel syndrome (IBS). Among new emerging diets, vegetarian diets (VD) seem to be experiencing an important popularity, partly because of their alleged health benefits. A recent study performed among a rural Indian population showed that predo...

Comparison of food items (in g/day) according to the type of vegetarianism (n = 805). (DOCX)

Comparison of macronutrients according to the type of vegetarianism (n = 805). (DOCX)

Multivariate analysis including vegans (logistic regression models) (N = 41,908). (DOCX)

Comparison between included and excluded subjects according to sociodemographic characteristics (N = 50,466). (DOCX)

Multivariate analysis (logistic regression models) (N = 41,682). (DOCX)

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Dietary intake is pointed as one of the major determinants in hypertension development. Data in the area are mostly obtained from cross-sectional studies. We aimed to investigate the prospective association between (1) individual nutritional factors and (2) adherence to the Dietary Approach to Stop Hypertension and the risk of incident hypertension...

Objective Concerns have been raised about the potential health impact of ultra-processed foods (UPF) in the diet. Our objective was to investigate the contribution of UPF in the diet in a large French population and its association with sociodemographic factors and dietary patterns. Design Cross-sectional analysis of dietary data from 74 470 parti...

The NutriNet Santé study collected, on a voluntary basis, the dietary consumption of French vegetarian populations (N = 1766, including 188 vegan individuals) from 18 to 81 years (18–77 years for the vegan). Taking advantage of the availability of contamination data generated in the context of the second French total diet study, dietary exposures o...

The objectives were (1) to define physical activity (PA) and sedentary behaviors (SB) patterns in daily life contexts (work, leisure, and transportation) in French working women from NutriNet-Santé web-cohort and (2) to identify pattern(s) of active transportation and their individual, social, and environmental correlates. 23,432 participants compl...

Background Active transportation has been associated with favorable health outcomes. Previous research highlighted the influence of neighborhood educational level on active transportation. However, little is known regarding the effect of commuting distance on social disparities in active commuting. In this regard, women have been poorly studied. Th...

Purpose Inflammation is a ubiquitous underlying mechanism of the links between diet and cognitive functioning. No study has yet evaluated the overall inflammatory potential of the diet, using the dietary inflammatory index (DII), in relation to cognitive functioning. In a French cohort of middle-aged adults, we evaluated the association between the...

Objectives French authorities are considering the implementation of a simplified nutrition labelling system on food products to help consumers make healthier food choices. One of the most documented candidates (Five-Colour Nutrition Label/Nutri-score) is based on the British Food Standards Agency Nutrient Profiling System (FSA-NPS), a score calcula...

Background Few studies have focused on the influence of retirement on dietary behaviors. Our study aimed at assessing the associations between transition to retirement and changes in dietary intake in French adults, particularly according to spousal retirement and baseline income. Methods This prospective study included 577 French participants fro...

Background: A healthy diet has been shown to prevent cardiovascular diseases complications. The objective of this study was to assess dietary intakes and compliance with nutritional and lifestyle recommendations in French adults diagnosed with hypertension, diabetes, dyslipidaemia or cardiovascular disease compared with healthy individuals. Metho...

Experimental studies suggest a protective effect of B-vitamins on breast cancer risk, potentially modulated by alcohol intake. However, epidemiological studies are limited, especially regarding non-folate B-vitamins. Furthermore, few studies included quantitative assessment of supplemental intake. This prospective study aimed to investigate the ass...

Objective: To assess the association between midlife body mass index (BMI) and healthy aging (HA) in the French SU.VI.MAX cohort. Methods: HA was assessed in 2007 to 2009 among 2,733 individuals, aged 45 to 60 years and free of diabetes, cardiovascular disease and cancer at baseline (1994-1995). HA was defined as not developing any major chronic...

Purpose: While many cancer patients are affected by weight loss, others tend to gain weight, which may impact prognosis and risk of recurrence and of second cancer. The aim of this prospective study was to investigate weight variation between before and after cancer diagnosis and socio-demographic, economic, lifestyle and clinical factors associat...

Background: The Mediterranean diet has been suggested as a key element for the prevention of age-related chronic diseases. However, very few studies have examined its relation with multidimensional concepts of healthy aging (HA). Our objective was thus to investigate the association between adherence to the Mediterranean diet at midlife and HA. M...

A number of motives such as constraints or pleasure have been suggested to influence dish choices during home-meal preparation. However, no study has evaluated how the importance conferred to these motives potentially influence diet quality. The present study aims at investigating the difference in diet quality according to the importance attached...

Background: Low-grade chronic inflammation, which can be modulated by diet, has been suggested as an important risk factor for depression, but few studies have investigated the association between the inflammatory potential of the diet and depression. Objective: We investigated the prospective association between the inflammatory potential of the d...

Post-diagnosis diet and alcohol consumption may be associated with cancer prognosis, recurrence and mortality. Our aim was to investigate food, nutrient and alcohol intake variations between before and after cancer diagnosis and their determinants in a prospective cohort. Subjects (n=696) were incident cancer cases diagnosed in the NutriNet-Santé c...

L’objectif de notre étude était d’analyser la perception de quatre formats de signalétiques nutritionnelles actuellement en compétition pour être en face avant des emballages parmi les participants de la cohorte NutriNet-Santé. La perception a été analysée dans l’ensemble de l’échantillon et selon le statut pondéral. Parmi les participants (N = 21...

The objective of this study is to examine the association between impulsivity and weight status in a large sample of the adult general population in France, and the influence of gender on this relationship. A total of 11,929 men and 39,114 women participating in the NutriNet-Santé cohort were selected in this cross-sectional analysis. The Barratt I...

Objective: To identify body mass index (BMI) trajectories from birth to age 10 years and to assess their association with child and parental characteristics and with adult nutritional status and metabolic risk factors. Study design: Retrospective cohort study with 1188 subjects aged 20-60 years. Childhood growth was assessed using measured weigh...

Objectives Knowledge about moderation of the association between hearing loss and depression is scant. We investigated dyslipidemia as a potential moderator of the association between hearing/hearing loss and depressive symptoms. DesignCross-sectional study. SettingGeneral population-based cohort in France (SU.VI.MAX 2; 2007-2009). ParticipantsN= 4...

Background: Metabolic activity in lesions, measured by FDG-PET, is often used for assessing tumor aggressiveness and response to therapy. Patients may be scanned on different machines, so quantitative measurements should be reproducible. Reducing SUV variability in PET machines throughout a local network can aid in monitoring patient response to th...

Introduction Over the last 2 decades, an increasing number of primary breast cancer (PBC) patients opted for a risk reducing contralateral mastectomy, to minimize risk of subsequent contralateral breast cancer (CBC). Therefore, accurate risk estimates of CBC are important for patient tailored counseling and decision making regarding treatment. Curr...

Chronic low-grade inflammation has been recognised as a key underlying mechanism for several chronic diseases, including cancer and CVD. Nutrition represents a host of key modifiable factors that influence chronic inflammation. Dietary inflammatory scores were developed to assess the inflammatory potential of the diet and have been associated with...

A lower BMI has been reported among consumers of organic foods, but this relationship has never been examined in a prospective design study. Our aim was to prospectively investigate the association between frequency of organic food consumption and weight change. We analysed data from 62 224 participants of the NutriNet-Santé cohort (78 % women, mea...

Background Meal planning could be a potential tool to offset time scarcity and therefore encourage home meal preparation, which has been linked with an improved diet quality. However, to date, meal planning has received little attention in the scientific literature. The aim of our cross-sectional study was to investigate the association between mea...

Introduction et but de l’etude Plusieurs etudes ont suggere une association inverse entre qualite nutritionnelle du regime alimentaire et risques de depression, qui est une cause majeure d’incapacite dans le monde. Nous avons etudie l’effet d’une meilleure adequation aux recommandations nutritionnelles francaises, mesuree par le Programme national...

Introduction et but de l’etude Un des objectifs du troisieme volet du Programme national nutrition sante (PNNS) est de reduire les inegalites sociales de pratique de l’activite physique (AP). En effet, le niveau d’AP dans les populations vulnerables est plus faible que dans le reste de la population. Dans ce contexte, un programme de promotion de l...

Introduction et but de l’etude A l’heure actuelle, les indices anthropometriques et la variation de poids au cours du temps restent tres peu etudies par rapport aux differents troubles du sommeil. L’objectif de cette etude etait d’evaluer l’association entre la variation de poids de plus de 5 kg et le temps de sommeil, en se focalisant sur les cour...

Introduction et but de l’etude L’attirance sensorielle influence les consommations alimentaires et est associee au statut ponderal (pour les sensations de gras et de sucre). Identifier les determinants sensoriels du comportement alimentaire a l’echelle populationnelle est utile pour apprecier la generalisation de ces resultats. Dans une precedente...

Introduction et but de l’etude Le systeme d’information nutritionnel a cinq couleurs (5-C), comportant cinq classes de qualite nutritionnelle, et fonde sur le profil nutritionnel de la FSA, a ete propose pour etre appose en face avant des emballages alimentaires en France. L’objectif du 5-C est d’orienter les consommateurs vers des choix alimentair...

Introduction et but de l’etude La promotion de la pratique de l’activite physique, notamment par le transport actif (marche, velo), est devenue un enjeu prioritaire des politiques de nutrition de sante publique. Ces dernieres annees, des etudes ont montre l’influence de determinants sociaux sur la pratique du transport actif, tant a l’echelle indiv...

Introduction et but de l’etude Les profils nutritionnels, par l’attribution a chaque aliment d’un score de qualite nutritionnelle a partir de leur composition en macro- et micronutriments, permettent d’evaluer la qualite nutritionnelle des aliments. Le score de qualite nutritionnel de la Food Standards Agency britannique (score FSA) a ete propose p...

Introduction et but de l’etude La depression est un probleme majeur de sante publique car une des premieres causes d’incapacite a l’echelle mondiale. Il a ete suggere que de meilleures habitudes nutritionnelles etaient correlees a un moindre risque de presenter des symptomes depressifs recurrents (SDR), cependant, il y a peu de resultats concrets c...

Introduction et but de l’etude Bien que les strategies individuelles puissent contribuer a ameliorer la qualite de l’alimentation d’un individu, les strategies de sante publique sont essentielles pour produire un impact soutenu et durable en population. Parmi ces strategies, l’information nutritionnelle a destination des consommateurs represente un...

Introduction et but de l’etude Des etudes epidemiologiques (dont une conduite sur la cohorte SU.VI.MAX) ont suggere une augmentation de risque de cancer du sein liee a la consommation de charcuteries. De recentes etudes experimentales ont montre que parmi les differents composes pro-carcinogenes des viandes rouges et charcuteries, le fer heminique...

Introduction et but de l’etude Bien que des etudes experimentales suggerent que les fruits, les legumes et les legumineuses puissent exercer des effets protecteurs contre le cancer de la prostate, peu d’etudes prospectives ont analyse la relation. Notre objectif est de mesurer l’association prospective entre la consommation de fruits, legumes, prod...

Introduction et but de l’étude Une position socioéconomique (PSE) moins favorisée est associée à des comportements alimentaires plus défavorables à la santé. Certaines études montrent que les 3 principaux indicateurs de PSE (niveau d’éducation, catégorie socioprofessionnelle [CSP] et revenu) n’ont pas des niveaux équivalents d’association avec les...

Introduction et but de l’etude Les maladies cardiovasculaires (MCV) sont la principale cause de deces dans le monde. Le regime alimentaire joue un role majeur dans l’apparition de ces MCV, en particulier a travers les mecanismes d’oxydation des lipides qui sont a l’origine de l’inflammation des tissus et de la formation des plaques d’atherome. Notr...

Introduction et but de l’étude Les cancers de la peau sont rarement mortels mais représentent un coût élevé en termes de dépenses publiques. Les données épidémiologiques et expérimentales existantes suggèrent que les folates, ou vitamine B9, pourraient jouer un rôle protecteur vis-à-vis du risque de cancer de la peau mais pourraient également avoir...

Introduction et but de l’etude De nombreux travaux ont montre que les logos d’information nutritionnelle permettaient aux consommateurs de differencier les aliments sur la base de leur qualite nutritionnelle. Cependant, peu d’etudes ont evalue si ces logos places en face avant des emballages pouvaient influencer les intentions d’achat de produits a...

Introduction et but de l’étude Malgré l’évolution des pratiques culinaires ces dernières décennies, un nombre limité d’études a évalué l’impact potentiel de ces pratiques sur la qualité de l’alimentation et le statut pondéral. Ces études ont suggéré un bénéfice potentiel des repas préparés à la maison comparés aux plats préparés hors foyer, du fait...

Introduction et but de l’etude La reduction de la consommation d’aliments d’origine animale (AOA) etant un defi actuel de sante publique, une meilleure comprehension des relations specifiques de l’education, de la profession et du revenu avec leur consommation est utile. En effet, ces trois indicateurs socioeconomiques expriment des concepts differ...

Introduction et but de l’etude Ces dernieres decennies, les motivations relatives a la durabilite ont pris de l’importance dans les motivations d’achats alimentaires des consommateurs. Cependant, a notre connaissance, aucune n’etude n’a investigue la relation entre ces motivations et la qualite de l’alimentation des individus. Cette etude transvers...

Introduction et but de l’etude Une des propositions de sante publique actuellement a l’etude en France serait d’apposer en face avant des emballages des produits alimentaires un logo a 5 couleurs (5-CNL), refletant la qualite nutritionnelle du produit. Il a ete propose que le systeme de profilage nutritionnel des aliments de la Food Standard Agency...

Introduction et but de l’etude Des etudes experimentales suggerent que la vitamine D et l’hormone parathyroidienne (PTH), toutes deux etroitement liees a travers le metabolisme calcique, pourraient etre impliquees dans la carcinogenese de la prostate. Toutefois, les donnees epidemiologiques sont contrastees pour la vitamine D et tres peu nombreuses...

Introduction et but de l’etude Internet est aujourd’hui devenu une source majeure d’informations dans le domaine de la sante et de la nutrition. Peu de connaissances ont ete publiees sur le type de sites Internet consultes (sites institutionnels/officiels vs non institutionnels). En outre, les connaissances sont egalement limitees sur la propension...

Introduction et but de l’etude Le « vieillissement en bonne sante » (VBS) fait l’objet de plus en plus de recherches dans le domaine geriatrique. Ce concept repose sur des modeles multidimensionnels, incluant des dimensions variees refletant le maintien, au cours du vieillissement, d’un bon etat de sante globale. A l’heure actuelle, les recherches...

Introduction et but de l’etude La vitamine D jouerait un role central dans la prevention de differentes pathologies. Eviter une insuffisance en vitamine D et maintenir un statut suffisant en vitamine D est donc crucial, ce qui, en pratique clinique, fait generalement intervenir la prescription de dosages sanguins ou de supplements. Toutefois, les a...

Introduction et but de l’etude L’inflammation chronique est un mecanisme central implique dans quatre causes majeures de deces : les maladies cardiovasculaires, les cancers, le diabete et les maladies respiratoires chroniques. L’alimentation est une source majeure de composes bioactifs pro- et anti-inflammatoires. Le Dietary Inflammatory Index (DII...

Background: In France, the implementation of a front-of-pack (FOP) nutrition label-the 5-Colour Nutrition Label (5-CNL) is currently under consideration as a strategic tool to allow consumers making healthier food choices. This FOP label is based on the British Food Standards Agency Nutrient Profiling System (FSA-NPS), reflecting the overall nutri...