Our Team

Anna Palomar

Anna Palomar

Postdoctoral Researcher Non-communicable Diseases and Environment

Anna Palomar is a postdoctoral researcher in the area of chrononutrition and circadian disruption and its impact of human health. She holds a bachelor degree (2016) in Human Biology from the Universitat Pompeu Fabra (UPF) in Barcelona, a Master’s degree in Public Health (2019) from the University of Edinburgh and a PhD in Biomedicine from the UPF (2022). Her thesis was centered in the field of circadian disruption that is a major new area of research globally. During her thesis, Anna did a research stay of several months at INSERM in Paris, under the supervision of Dr. Mathilde Touvier and Dr. Bernard Srour, to explore chrononutrition and cardiometabolic outcomes in the Nutri-Santé cohort. Anna’s thesis highlighted the importance of eating early in the day, in combination with prolonged nighttime fasting, and reducing the levels of light pollution in the urban environment to protect the circadian system and to prevent the development of non-communicable diseases. 


Lines of research

  • Circadian disruption
  • Chrononutrition
  • Light pollution
  • Cardiometabolic health
  • Cancer

Main publications

  • Palomar-Cros, A., Espinosa, A., Straif, K., et al. The Association of Nighttime Fasting Duration and Prostate Cancer Risk: Results from the Multicase-Control (MCC) Study in Spain. Nutrients.2021;13(8), 2662. https://doi.org/10.3390/nu13082662
  • Palomar-Cros, A., Harding, B., Espinosa, A., et al. Association of time of breakfast and nighttime fasting duration with breast cancer risk in the multicase-control study in Spain. Front Nutr. 2022;9:941477.https://doi.org/10.3389/fnut.2022.941477 
  • Harding BN, Castaño-Vinyals G, Palomar-Cros A, et al. Changes in melatonin and sex steroid hormone production among men as a result of rotating night shift work - the HORMONIT study. Scand J Work Environ Health.2022;48(1):41-51. https://doi.org/10.5271/sjweh.3991