Worldwide, the number of new cases of cancer was estimated in 2012 at more than 14 million, and cancer remains one of the leading causes of mortality in France. Among the environmental risk factors for cancer, there are concerns about exposure to different classes of pesticides, notably through occupational exposure.

The microbial communities of mangroves which form important links in elemental cycling and bioremediation have not been elucidated in most parts of the world. Due to urbanization and deforestation mangroves are also under threat.

Maternal pre-conception obesity is a strong risk factor for childhood overweight.

Use of tobacco products is injurious to health in men and women. However, tobacco use by pregnant women receives greater scrutiny because it can also compromise the health of future generations. More men smoke cigarettes than women. Yet the impact of nicotine use by men upon their descendants has not been as widely scrutinized.

Educational policies may increase or decrease health differences, depending on whether they reinforce or counteract gene-related differences. We investigate whether one such policy affected health differently for people with different genetic backgrounds. We find that the additional education generated by the policy benefited those with higher genetic risk of obesity the most, reducing the gap in unhealthy body size between those in the top and bottom terciles of genetic risk of obesity from 20 to 6 percentage points.

Empiric probiotics are commonly consumed by healthy individuals as means of life quality improvement and disease prevention. However, evidence of probiotic gut mucosal colonization efficacy remains sparse and controversial. We metagenomically characterized the murine and human mucosal-associated gastrointestinal microbiome and found it to only partially correlate with stool microbiome. A sequential invasive multi-omics measurement at baseline and during consumption of an 11-strain probiotic combination or placebo demonstrated that probiotics remain viable upon gastrointestinal passage.

Human health risk assessment methods have advanced in recent years to more accurately estimate risks associated with exposure during childhood. However, predicting risks related to infant exposures to environmental chemicals in breast milk and formula remains challenging.

Dietary fibre is an important component of diet conferring plethora of health benefits and helps in prevention of various diseases. Plant foods are particularly associated with high amounts of dietary fibre. Large amount of pomace produced from juice and wine industries presents cheap source of dietary fibre.