A healthy lifestyle is able to reverse the epidemic development of overweight, and cardio-metabolic disease. Unfortunately, most people do not manage to incorporate or to maintain the recommended changes in their daily lifestyle. This may be due to the fact that people do not perceive the benefits of a healthy lifestyle in the short term. There is evidence that a well-controlled blood glucose level—by boosting physical and mental energy—may also be an important determinant of wellbeing, mental and physical performance. The link between blood glucose and the latter factors has hardly been studied. Moreover, it is not known to what extent these relationships differ in healthy subjects and subjects with an impaired glucose metabolism. On the other hand, despite being compliant to lifestyle advices, the metabolic flexibility to respond to lifestyle intervention may vary between individuals. Recent evidence indicates that insulin resistance and metabolic inflexibility may develop separately in different organs, representing different etiologies towards cardio-metabolic diseases. Interestingly, these tissue-specific sub-phenotypes may have a differential response to diet, suggesting that successful lifestyle interventions may require a more personalised approach. The present proposal intends to (1) unravel the metabolic and dietary/lifestyle determinants of blood glucose control and mental and physical performance and well-being (2) study the impact of tailored dietary and/or physical activity interventions on these parameters (3) develop and test multi-scale tissue dynamic and mathematical models on diet and lifestyle in relation to blood glucose homeostasis and mental and physical performance and well-being in overweight subjects.

The symposium entitled: "From Crop to Clinic - making use of the natural strengths of microbiomes", focuses on the relevance and potential of the microbiome in health improvement. By inviting keynote speakers who are leaders in their respective disciplines, the symposium will provide a comprehensive overview of the latest advancements and methodologies in microbiome research and its clinical applications.

ICRM 2024 promises to become a milestone in chemistry, with leading speakers worldwide presenting the latest developments in chemometrics, focused on innovation and excellence across various sectors. The meeting fosters the convergence of thoughts and ideas, emphasizes the conferences commitment to advancing chemical sciences through chemometrics, and offers participants unprecedented insights and inspiration. This event highlights the crucial role of chemometrics in addressing contemporary challenges and shaping the future of scientific research, making it an indispensable gathering for everyone involved in the chemical sciences.

Background: The South Asian (SA) population is facing an epidemic of type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM). We recently discovered that Dutch SA subjects have 32% lower resting energy expenditure (REE) and 34% diminished energy-combusting brown adipose tissue (BAT) compared to matched Caucasians. Nitric oxide (NO) was recently shown to be crucial for BAT development and, interestingly, South Asians have diminished NO availability. Hypothesis: The disadvantageous metabolic phenotype in South Asians is caused by diminished NO bioavailability resulting in diminished BAT volume, and increasing NO generation in the body will improve their metabolic phenotype by increasing BAT volume, thereby increasing REE and clearance of triglycerides and glucose by BAT. Project plan: We will investigate BAT biopsies from Dutch SA and matched Caucasian subjects histologically (markers of activity) and physiologically (number/function of mitochondria). Furthermore, we will perform a randomized placebo-controlled trial in moderately obese Dutch SA and matched Caucasians to investigate whether suppletion with L-arginine, the precursor of NO, for 12 weeks improves BAT volume, energy expenditure, and the disadvantageous metabolic phenotype of SA. Clinical relevance: This project might reveal a promising new treatment strategy to prevent the development of T2DM in the SA population by targeting BAT via the NO pathway.

A healthy lifestyle is able to reverse the epidemic development of overweight, and cardio-metabolic disease. Unfortunately, most people do not manage to incorporate or to maintain the recommended changes in their daily lifestyle. This may be due to the fact that people do not perceive the benefits of a healthy lifestyle in the short term. There is evidence that a well-controlled blood glucose level—by boosting physical and mental energy—may also be an important determinant of wellbeing, mental and physical performance. The link between blood glucose and the latter factors has hardly been studied. Moreover, it is not known to what extent these relationships differ in healthy subjects and subjects with an impaired glucose metabolism. On the other hand, despite being compliant to lifestyle advices, the metabolic flexibility to respond to lifestyle intervention may vary between individuals. Recent evidence indicates that insulin resistance and metabolic inflexibility may develop separately in different organs, representing different etiologies towards cardio-metabolic diseases. Interestingly, these tissue-specific sub-phenotypes may have a differential response to diet, suggesting that successful lifestyle interventions may require a more personalised approach. The present proposal intends to (1) unravel the metabolic and dietary/lifestyle determinants of blood glucose control and mental and physical performance and well-being (2) study the impact of tailored dietary and/or physical activity interventions on these parameters (3) develop and test multi-scale tissue dynamic and mathematical models on diet and lifestyle in relation to blood glucose homeostasis and mental and physical performance and well-being in overweight subjects.