Doctoral Research
Dr. Noreen Zafar Siddiqui
Pathways through the Exposome
The Role of the Physicochemical and Food Environment in Cardiometabolic Health
Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam · 2025
Introduction
Noreen Siddiqui's research examines how the environments in which we live may influence cardiometabolic health. Her work explores the food environment, environmental noise, temperature, stress, sleep, diet and other pathways that may contribute to conditions such as type 2 diabetes and cardiovascular disease.
- Degree
- PhD, Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam
- Department
- Department of Epidemiology and Data Science, Amsterdam UMC
- Defence date
- Doctoral thesis successfully defended on 24 June 2025
How does the world around us get under our skin?
Her PhD explores the pathways connecting our surroundings, our behaviour and the biological processes that shape cardiometabolic health.
A framework
The Exposome
The exposome describes the totality of environmental and lifestyle exposures we experience throughout life — from the food around us and the noise we hear, to sleep, stress, diet and the biological responses within our bodies.
- I
General external
- Food environment
- Noise
- Temperature
- Built environment
- II
Specific external
- Diet
- Sleep
- Physical activity
- Lifestyle
- III
Internal
- Stress
- Inflammation
- Metabolic processes
The thesis
Research themes
Food environment & everyday exposure
How the food outlets people encounter in daily life may relate to food choices and cardiometabolic health.
Fast-food environment & inflammation
Investigating whether long-term access to fast-food outlets is associated with inflammatory processes.
Noise, temperature & type 2 diabetes
Examining associations between environmental noise and temperature, diabetes risk, sleep and body mass index.
Stress & visceral obesity
Studying how stressful life events may relate to changes in visceral fat and cardiometabolic risk over time.
Food environment & cooking skills
Exploring whether individual cooking skills influence the relationship between the surrounding food environment and dietary behaviour.
The doctoral thesis
Pathways through the Exposome: The Role of the Physicochemical and Food Environment in Cardiometabolic Health is freely available through the Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam research repository.