The association European Association for the Study of Obesity (EASO) has awarded Sonia García Calzón, a researcher at the University of Navarra, with the best thesis in Europe at the XXII European Obesity congress held in Prague.

Their research, entitled 'association between telomere length and dietary, genetic and adiposity factors in Spanish population of different age groups', studies how the length of telomeres (ends of DNA chromosomes considered biomarkers of the aging process) varies depending on the per diem expenses and genetic traits of a person. Thus, their progressive shortening can be slowed down by following the patron saint of per diem expenses Mediterranean and having a mutation in the PPARγ2 gene (related to longevity).

With these results, thesis concludes that telomere length, in addition to being an indicator core topic for the prevention and diagnosis of chronic diseases such as cancer or diabetes, is also a potential biomarker to combat and prevent overweight and obesity.

This research is part of the PREDIMED-Navarra study (prevention with per diem expenses Mediterranean) and the GENOI project (group for the study of childhood obesity in Navarra) and EVASYON (a therapeutic program for adolescents and children with overweight and obesity based on an integral nutritional Education combined with physical activity).

Part of the results of García Calzón's work have been published in scientific journals considered to be of high impact in their field such as Circulation Cardiovascular Genetics, International Journal of Obesity y Plos One.

To carry out the research, under the guidance of Amelia Martí, Professor of Physiology at the University of Navarra, the doctor first studied the Master's Degree in research, development and Innovation of Medicines at School of Pharmacy of the University of Navarra. Also, during her doctoral thesis she did a research stay at the department of Physiology and Pharmacology at the Karolinska Institutet, in Stockholm, Sweden.

For his programs of study of doctorate and Master's Degree, García Calzón has counted with the scholarship of the Ministry of Education, Culture and Sport, and the scholarship group Santander, among others.