Maria Kakkoura
BSc, MSc, PhD
Nutritional Epidemiologist
Maria Kakkoura is a Nutritional Epidemiologist, who joined the Clinical Trial Service Unit & Epidemiological Studies Unit (CTSU) in 2019. Her current research examines the relationship between diet and risk of non-communicable diseases, using data from the large prospective cohort study of the China Kadoorie Biobank.
Maria’s research focuses on assessing the associations of animal sourced foods with disease risk and on investigating the mechanisms underlying those associations with the use of biomarker data. This work forms part of the Wellcome Trust funded Livestock, Environment and People (LEAP) project.
Prior to joining CTSU, Maria worked as a researcher at the Medical School of the University of Cyprus. Her research examined the effects of extreme environmental stressors such as heat and desert dust storm events on health.
Maria also received her PhD in Molecular Medicine from the Cyprus Institute of Neurology and Genetics, for which she investigated the interactions between single nucleotide polymorphisms and Mediterranean diet on breast cancer risk and on selected metabolites.
She also holds a BSc in Human Genetics (University College London) and an MSc in Environmental Health (Cyprus International Institute for Environmental and Public Health of the Cyprus University of Technology).
Recent publications
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Milk intake, lactase non-persistence and type 2 diabetes risk in Chinese adults.
Journal article
Kakkoura MG. et al, (2024), Nat Metab
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Meat consumption and incident type 2 diabetes: an individual-participant federated meta-analysis of 1·97 million adults with 100 000 incident cases from 31 cohorts in 20 countries.
Journal article
Li C. et al, (2024), Lancet Diabetes Endocrinol, 12, 619 - 630
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Methods and participant characteristics in the Cancer Risk in Vegetarians Consortium: a cross-sectional analysis across 11 prospective studies.
Journal article
Dunneram Y. et al, (2024), BMC Public Health, 24
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Methods and participant characteristics in the Cancer Risk in Vegetarians Consortium: A cross-sectional analysis across 11 prospective studies
Journal article
Dunneram Y. et al, (2024)
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Intakes of major food groups in China and UK: results from 100,000 adults in the China Kadoorie biobank and UK biobank.
Journal article
Papier K. et al, (2023), Eur J Nutr, 62, 819 - 832