SEK 60 million grant to prevent obesity

The objective of the SSF call is to create a multidisciplinary research centre for medical primary prevention, with the aim of promoting better health and preventing suffering and the onset of disease.

Among six applications received, the SSF selected the project “Vända vågen av fetma till hälsa” (“Turning the wave of obesity into health”) to develop tools to prevent obesity. The project will start in June 2024 and run for six years.

“Obesity causes a lot of suffering at individual level and costs society a lot of money. It is therefore important to gain knowledge about how a more preventive approach can be developed instead of being reactive, with perhaps unnecessary personal suffering and the need to invest large resources in treating disease,” says Peter Bergsten, Professor of Medical Cell Biology at Uppsala University.

Model to prevent obesity

The number of overweight and obese people in Sweden is growing steadily. According to the Public Health Agency of Sweden, more than one million Swedes are obese, which is linked to a range of diseases, suffering and premature death.

The “Turning the wave of obesity into health” project will create methods and a model for preventing obesity in both children and adults in a collaboration between universities, primary care and other public stakeholders.

“In today’s society, we often only take action when we have a problem, such as when someone falls ill. We are getting better and better at dealing with the problem, but it entails a lot of money and suffering for the individual. Our focus is on understanding how we can keep as many people healthy as possible and identify them when they are at risk of disease so that we can intervene early,” continues Bergsten.

Risk assessment tools

Research will include developing tools to assess risks, tailor treatments and use health data in new and innovative ways.

“The early detection and assessment of risks is important, especially in primary care. We also want to develop a toolbox of measures based on the individual’s health data,” notes Bergsten.

Primary care is already tasked with preventing ill health, but it also has many other tasks, he adds.

“The framework and possibilities are not really in place currently to fulfil the task of prevention as well. To this end, the centre will develop tools to help primary care providers be more preventive in their work.

Broader societal challenges demand collaboration

One of the main goals of the project is to reduce the incidence of obesity. In addition, the participating doctoral students and postdoctoral researchers undergoing training in primary care will be a valuable resource for future work in the field.

“Obesity is a major problem in society. But we know that there are many more societal challenges – not limited to healthcare – to which many different stakeholders need to contribute. This centre can provide knowledge about multidisciplinary work, through which many social stakeholders work together to solve problems,” concludes Peter Bergsten.

Annica Hulth