Genes, Pollution, and Health: Understanding the Bigger Picture
Our health is shaped by a complex mix of genetic conditions and environmental influences. While advances in genetics have helped identify genes linked to various diseases, these alone can’t explain why some people develop conditions like heart disease or cancer while others don’t. Increasingly, scientists are looking to the environment for answers.
A growing body of research shows strong links between environmental exposures, such as air and noise pollution, hazardous chemicals, and poor water quality, and the rise of non-communicable diseases (NCDs) like cardiovascular disease, cancer, and respiratory conditions. However, traditional studies often overlook the full picture (1). Key limitations include:
- Studying pollutants in isolation instead of how they interact (2)
- Focusing on exposure levels while ignoring differences in how individuals respond (3)
- Neglecting personal vulnerabilities from genetics, lifestyle, or existing health conditions (4)
To better capture these complex interactions, researchers are turning to the concept of the exposome, introduced by Christopher Wild in 2005 (5). Exposomics is the study of the exposome, which encompasses all environmental exposures a person experiences throughout their lifetime and their impact on health. It’s the environmental counterpart to genomics, aiming to understand how environmental factors influence biological processes and disease development.
The EU has recognized the impact of environmental pollution on public health and has implemented several policies to address it. Central to this is the Zero Pollution Action Plan, part of the European Green Deal, which sets updated standards for air and water quality, chemical use, and industrial emissions. The aim is to reduce pollution at its source and protect citizens, particularly from diseases associated with environmental stressors. Other important EU initiatives include the Ambient Air Quality Directive and the Environmental Noise Directive, working to cut harmful exposures.
Building on these efforts, the ENACT project uses the exposomic approach to study how environmental factors affect health. By combining data from hospitals, sensors, wearable devices, and socioeconomic sources, ENACT is developing a predictive model to assess the risk of hospitalisation due to NCDs, helping to better understand and reduce their burden.
