The Nutritional Epidemiology Research Unit (UREN) is under the auspices of INSERM Unit 557, INRA Unit1125, CNAM, and University of Paris 13 Sorbonne Paris Cité. Research developed within the Unit aims at broadening knowledge of the role of nutrition (dietary behaviour and physical activity) which represents a major determinant of health, and more particularly at identifying risk or protective factors of various chronic diseases.
The principal research objectives of the Unit are: the following:
- to study the nutrition-health relationships: identifying nutrition-related risk or protective factors involved in the etiology of various health outcomes, in particular chronic diseases (cancer, CVD, type 2 diabetes , hypertension, obesity, rheumatoid arthritis, neurological disorders, etc.), important bodily processes (aging, cognition, fertility, etc.), and the quality of life.
- to achieve a better understanding of the determinants of dietary behaviours and nutritional status (eg., social, economic, psychological, cultural, sensory, cognitive, etc.)
- elucidate underlying mechanisms (biomarkers, intermediate endpoints, etc.)

The ultimate goals of our research are to further knowledge in the field of nutrition and to actively contribute to the efforts for establishing better nutritional recommendations and public health policies (targeting health professionals as well as the general public) in order to improve prevention of chronic diseases.