Health Professionals Follow-up Study

About HPFS:

The Health Professionals Follow-Up Study (HPFS) began in 1986. The purpose of the study is to evaluate a series of hypotheses about men’s health relating nutritional factors to the incidence of serious illnesses, such as cancer, heart disease, and other vascular diseases. This all-male study is designed to complement the all-female Nurses’ Health Study, which examines similar hypotheses. The HPFS is sponsored by the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health and is funded by the National Cancer Institute. Learn More About HPFS.

 

90% Questionnaire response rate!

Thank you, participants! In 2020, nearly 90% of participants responded to the bi-annual study questionnaire. Their commitment provides the consistent data required to make progress in the study of men’s health.

The Nutrition Source

How eating right and having an active lifestyle can benefit you. Read More to learn about healthy nutrition choices.

News and Recent Research Highlights

  • Red Meat Intake and Risk of Coronary Heart Disease: Our latest findings support a health benefit for men to limit red meat consumption and to replace red meat with plant-based protein sources. Read More
  • Consuming more olive oil is associated with less heart disease in Americans: Our findings support current recommendations to replace saturated and animal fats with unsaturated plant oils. Read More
  • Vitamin D-related Biomarkers Linked with Reduced Mortality Among Patients with Colorectal Cancer: These findings provide further insight on the potential benefit of vitamin D in treating colorectal cancer. Read more
  • Mediterranean diet and cardiometabolic disease risk: Initial finding supports the premise that dietary interventions or recommendations for cardiometabolic disease prevention might be tailored to an individual’s microbial profile, and encourages further research in the area. Read More
  • Sugar-Sweetened Beverages and Health: Research from the HPFS has provided strong evidence linking intake of sugar-sweetened beverages (SSB) with long-term weight gain and risk of type 2 diabetes, coronary heart disease, hypertension, cardiovascular disease risk factors and other cardiometabolic conditions. Read More
  • Germline genetic factors and prostate cancer risk: HPFS investigators have participated in international consortia to identify the specific genetic variants associated with prostate cancer which identified 86 new inherited genetic variants, bringing the total of validated genetic markers associated with prostate cancer to 269. Read More

Donations

Donations and bequests to the Friends of the Health Professionals Follow-up Study Fund help to sustain our continued work. Donations may be sent to the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health. For information on how to give or to make a secure gift online, please visit www.hsph.harvard.edu/give and indicate that the gift is in support of the Friends of the Health Professionals Follow-Up Study Fund.

Important Links