Obesity research receives 60 million
The Foundation for Strategic Research, SSF, give SEK 60 million in grants to the project “Turning the tide of obesity to health”, to be led by Peter Bergsten at Uppsala University. The research is to be carried out in collaboration with Lund University (LU), the Swedish University of Agriculture (SLU) and the research institute RISE.
The goal of SSF’s call is to create a multidisciplinary research center for medical primary prevention, MRC MedPrev, with the aim of working for better health and preventing suffering and the onset of disease. When the call for proposals closed in September 2023, six applications had been received. After a preparation process, SSF’s board has now decided that the contribution will go to the project “Turning the tide of obesity to health”.
More and more Swedes suffer from overweight and obesity, and the number is steadily increasing. According to the Public Health Authority, more than one million Swedes have obesity, something that is linked to a number of diseases, suffering and premature death.
The project “Turning the tide of obesity to health” will create methods and a model to prevent obesity in both children and adults in a collaboration between universities, primary care and other social actors.
The research will, among other things, develop tools to assess risks, tailor treatment methods and use health data in new and innovative ways.
One of the most important goals of the project is to reduce the prevalence of obesity, in addition the participating PhD students and post-doctoral researchers who are trained in primary care will be a valuable resource for future work in the field.
The project is expected to start in June 2024.
The center is a part of SSF’s Multidisciplinary Research Centers (MRC), where the aim is to stimulate multidisciplinary research between academia, research institutes, industry and society for sharper results and faster application.
SSF is an independent foundation that finances research in natural science, technology and medicine.
For further information contact:
Research Secretary Johan Nilsson, johan.nilsson@strategiska.se, +46 8 505 81 674
Program Manager Joakim Amorim, joakim.amorim@strategiska.se, +46 8 505 816 65