Dictionary

exposome en · NOUN

Etymology

From expose + -ome, coined by cancer epidemiologist Christopher Paul Wild in 2005, see quotations.

Meanings

1. A measure of the effects of life-long environmental exposures on health.
   • Every time we pant, or press, or swallow, we welcome into not just our delicate biology but into those cherished fables, too, the ecological influence of the exposome. 2025 August 4, David Wallace-Wells, “You Are Contaminated”, in The New York Times:
   • The exposome is a measure of all the environmental or external exposures we face over our lifetime and the ways in which these impact our health. It includes everything from diet, lifestyle, education and income to air pollution, chemical exposures, and climate conditions. 2025 August 14, Olivia Willis, “How does our environment impact our health? Unravelling the exposome”, in ABC News (Australia):
   • At its most complete, the exposome encompasses life-course environmental exposures (including lifestyle factors), from the prenatal period onwards. 2005 August 15, Christopher Paul Wild, “Complementing the Genome with an 'Exposome': The Outstanding Challenge of Environmental Exposure Measurement in Molecular Epidemiology”, in Cancer Epidemiology Biomarkers & Prevention, volume 14, number 8, pages 1847–1850:
   • While the definition of the exposome includes all exposures that occur from conception throughout an individual's lifetime, an emerging concept is the need to also consider exposures prior to conception. 2015 December 14, Richard A. Stein, “The Naturome Awaits the Nurturome”, in Genetic Engineering & Biotechnology News, volume 35, number 21, page 34:

Forms

Relateds

exposomic · exposomics