GRANT. Seven researchers at Sahlgrenska Academy had their applications to the Swedish Research Council for Health, Working Life and Welfare (Forte) approved and will receive a total of SEK 18.5 million for their research. One of the projects is a collaboration between rheumatology and nutrition, and investigates if a special diet can help people with rheumatoid arthritis.
Anna Winkvist, Professor of Nutrition at the Department of internal medicine and clinical nutrition, is the lead applicant for the project, which is now receiving just over SEK 3 million from Forte.
“We began this spring with support from ALF funding, and of course, it’s a great relief that we have now secured additional funding for the study through the grant from Forte,” says Anna, who thinks it is extra exciting since the study entails a new research collaboration across the subject boundaries in Sahlgrenska Academy:
“We are working together with researchers in rheumatology and inflammation research, and with the rheumatology research department at SU, where the people participating in the study will be examined. For the first time, we have a collaboration between nutrition and inflammation and it really feels fun!”
Diet as a complement to medication
The project is about rheumatoid arthritis, which is a chronic, inflammatory disease with swollen and aching joints. Today, there are effective medications for these patients, but the medication do not work as well for everyone.
“Rheumatologists often get questions from patients if there are other things they can do to alleviate the pain, dampen the information and reduce the swelling of the joints, and especially if there is anything they should eat or avoid eating. There are a few individual studies that show that some foods can have an effect on inflammation, but as yet, there is no evidence that a whole dietary treatment could alleviate symptoms of rheumatoid arthritis,” says Helen Lindqvist, Senior Lecturer with expertise in dietary science.
The study includes 50 people with rheumatoid arthritis in the Gothenburg area. All of them will continue to follow their pharmaceutical treatment during the study, so the dietary treatment will serve as a complement. Two different diets will be compared to see if any of them can help the patients.
“When similar studies are done, advice is often only given to the patients as to what food they should eat, but in this case, we also provide the food they will eat, which we believe increases adherence in the study. We are cooperating with a food delivery company that delivers grocery bags to the study participants at home every week,” says Linnea Bärebring, a dietitian who holds a PhD and is a postdoc with the project.
Compared with themselves
The study is set up as a so-called cross-over, which means that the patients are compared with themselves:
“The patients are randomly assigned to groups to begin one of the two diets over a ten week period. Then they eat as usual for three months before they continue with the other diet for another ten weeks. Cross-over has become more common in clinical studies since it is a good way to remove disruptive factors between different individuals, but it does require that the dropout in a period is not too large in that the individual is lost from the study altogether,” says Anna Winkvist.
The study will investigate if the diet affects inflammation, quality of life and the costs to society in cases of rheumatoid arthritis. Health economist Lars Hagberg and Lars Ellegård, Docent and Senior Physician in clinical nutrition, are a part of the project, as well as Inger Gjertsson, Associate Professor at the Department of Rheumatology and Inflammation Research. According to the plan, all data will be gathered in spring 2018 and the results will be complete in about one year.
The other six lead applicants at Sahlgrenska Academy who received grants from Forte are:
Eva M Andersson, Senior Physician and researcher at the Department of Occupational and Environmental Medicine, is receiving SEK 2.8 million to investigate if cadmium is a risk factor for breast cancer.
Andreas Fors, Postdoctoral Research Fellow at the Institute of Health and Care Sciences, is receiving SEK 1.6 million as a postdoc grant. He will investigate a new tool for helping people with stress reactions or chronic fatigue syndrome. The tool is a digital person-centered health plan that is created in cooperation between the person reported sick and the person in charge of care. During the project, Andreas will investigate if the digital health plan is a cost-effective method for increasing a return to work, reducing relapse and increasing self-confidence.
Kajsa Henning Abrahamsson, Docent at the Institute of Odontology, is receiving a project grant of nearly SEK 3 million. Her project, which has a behavioral science approach, is about an individualized teaching model with the goal of improving young people’s motivation to take better care of their oral hygiene.
Leo Stockfelt, Medical Specialist and PhD researcher at the Department of Occupational and Environmental Medicine, is receiving a project grant of more than SEK 1.5 million. He is conducting research on the health effects of air pollution and other environmental factors, and the project is about how traffic noise and air pollution are related to cardiovascular diseases.
Ulf Strömberg, Visiting Professor at the Department of Public Health and Community Medicine at the Institute of Medicine, is receiving SEK 3.7 million for his project entitled “New statistical approaches for assessing the significance of selection and variation in population-based cohort and screening studies”.
Maria Wallin, also a Physician and PhD researcher at the Department of Occupational and Environmental Medicine, is receiving a project grant of nearly SEK 3 million. She is investigating how exposure to cadmium increases the risk of fractures – both mechanisms and risk size.
In total, Forte allocated SEK 300 million to Swedish research in health, working life and welfare. At other faculties at the University of Gothenburg, another nine applicants received funding from Forte.
Grants to researchers at other faculties:
Mikael Persson, Senior Lecturer at the Department of Political Science, and Leif Denti, Senior Lecturer at the Department of Psychology, are both receiving part of Forte’s junior grant. Mikael is receiving SEK 4.8 million for his project, which is about political inequality in European welfare systems. Leif is receiving SEK 3.8 million for his project, which will investigate the work environment in schools and how it affects the teachers’ cognition, collegiality, innovation behavior and stress. Klara Öberg, School of Global Studies, is a part of a research team that is studying the challenges that globalization is placing on us in the form of both greater transnational mobility and greater diversity in societies. She is now receiving SEK 1.6 million in a postdoc grant for her project “Outside the unregulated labor market – strategies and survival”. Ylva Odenbring, Senior Lecturer at the Department of Education, Communication and Learning, is receiving more than SEK 3.5 million as a project grant for her research on student perspectives of violence, harassment and violations. Marie Eneman, Senior Lecturer at the Department of Applied Information Technology, is receiving more than SEK 3.3 million for a study of the Swedish police with a focus on camera-monitored professional practice and accountability. Birgitta Jansson, Senior Lecturer at the Department of Social Work, is receiving more than SEK 3.8 million for her project, which is about the development of poverty in the working population in Sweden in the past 30 years. Ulf Axberg, Senior Lecturer at the Department of Psychology, is receiving just over SEK 3 million for his project on usability of a structured risk/protection interview in the social services for children subjected to or witness to violence in the family. Peter Esaiasson, Professor at the Department of Political Science, is receiving SEK 3.5 million for his project about a web-based survey panel. Alexander Styhre, Professor at the Department of Business Administration, is receiving SEK 3.2 million for his project, which is about the computer gaming industry, and the significance that independent game developers have for creativity and working conditions in the industry.
TEXT: ELIN LINDSTRÖM CLAESSEN
PHOTO: JOHAN WINGBORG/GU
