Visiting Scientist
Behavioural Epidemiology and Interventions in Young People 

Current work and interests

Early adulthood is the time at which prevalence of overweight and obesity rises the fastest, so is a key time for intervention to prevent increases in weight and other cardiometabolic risk factors. It is also a time when individuals are moving away from their parents, and starting to develop their independent lifestyles. This period therefore presents an opportunity to support people to develop healthy lifestyles that can then persist into adulthood. Eleanor’s work sits at the intersection of nutritional, behavioural and life-course epidemiology and makes use of advanced statistical methods for longitudinal analysis.

Research interests include:

• Trajectories of diet, eating behaviours and cardiovascular health through adolescence and adulthood.
• Changes in diet and related health behaviours across early adulthood life transitions, including leaving home, finishing education, starting employment, and starting a family.
• The contribution of childhood and early adulthood socioeconomic position to development of inequalities in diet and cardiovascular health.
• Methods for collecting data on diet and related health behaviours, including mobile sensing and nutritional biomarkers.

Research projects

Eleanor is PI of the Diet and Eating Behaviours across Early Adulthood Transitions (DEBEAT) study which is collecting new data on adolescents as they transition out of secondary school.

Eleanor leads the ‘Enabling healthy lifestyles at work among young adults’ project, an NIHR Work and Health Development Award

Background and experience

Eleanor began working at the MRC Epidemiology Unit as a Career Development Fellow in October 2015, conducting longitudinal research on diet and eating behaviours across adolescence and early adulthood. Prior to this she worked at RAND Europe, an independent research institute, conducting research on public health policy and provision of health services. Her PhD was in Developmental Neuroscience, which she completed at the John van Geest Centre for Brain Repair, University of Cambridge.

Publications

• Publications via Google Scholar
• MRC Epidemiology Unit publications on Publications Database

Key Publications

• Winpenny EM, Howe, LD, van Sluijs EMF, Hardy R, Tilling K. Early adulthood socioeconomic trajectories contribute to inequalities in adult cardiovascular health, independently of childhood and adulthood socioeconomic position. J Epidemiol Community Health (2021) Dec 1;75(12):1172-80.
• Winpenny EM, Winkler MR, Stochl J, Van Sluijs EM, Larson N, Neumark-Sztainer D. Associations of early adulthood life transitions with changes in fast food intake: a latent trajectory analysis. International Journal of Behavioral Nutrition and Physical Activity (2020) Dec;17(1):1-1.
• Winpenny EM, Smith M, Penney T, Foubister C, Guagliano JM, Love R, Clifford Astbury C, van Sluijs EM, Corder K. Changes in physical activity, diet, and body weight across the education and employment transitions of early adulthood: A systematic review and meta‐analysis. Obesity Reviews (2020) Apr;21(4):e12962.
• Corder K, Winpenny EM, Foubister C, Guagliano JM, Hartwig XM, Love R, Clifford Astbury C, van Sluijs EM. Becoming a parent: A systematic review and meta‐analysis of changes in BMI, diet, and physical activity. Obesity Reviews (2020) Apr;21(4):e12959.
• Winpenny EM, van Sluijs EMF, White M, Klepp KI, Wold B et al. Changes in diet through adolescence and early adulthood: longitudinal trajectories and association with key life transitions. The International Journal of Behavioral Nutrition and Physical Activity (2018) 15, 86. PMID:30200990. PMC:6131755.
• Winpenny EM, Penney TL, Corder K, White M, van Sluijs EMF. Change in diet in the period from adolescence to early adulthood: a systematic scoping review of longitudinal studies.  International Journal of Behavioral Nutrition and Physical Activity (2017) 14 (1), 60