Ben van Ommen

Research area

Type II diabetes is the prototype of a lifestyle disease, with 60-80% diabetics at least partially curing from the disease. This is been my dream, vision and passion for the last eight years. It also a highly relevant goal for TNO, being exceptionally relevant for society and promising future business models. It is also a difficult nut to crack, as current businesses do not necessarily like this mode of action. A principal scientist worthy.

Recent results

As a team, and together with LUMC colleagues, we have set the stage for a systems transition of lifestyle medicine.  This started with the systems biology, then included behavioral change technology, data sciences, and last but not least the economics. A landmark review (“From diabetes care to diabetes cure”) was issued in 2018. We aim for the city of Den Haag for a regional systems transition. This includes healthcare providers, insurance providers, local and national government, funders, and a variety of local and global companies. We target type II diabetes, cardiovascular disease, and fatty liver. As a result of this collaboration, the “lifestyle4health”Institute was founded.

Top publications

• B Van Ommen, S Wopereis, P van Empelen, HM van Keulen, W Otten, ... From diabetes care to diabetes cure—the integration of systems biology, eHealth, and behavioral change. Frontiers in endocrinology 8, 381
• W van den Brink, J van Bilsen, K Salic, FPM Hoevenaars, L Verschuren, ... Current and future nutritional strategies to modulate inflammatory dynamics in metabolic disorders. Frontiers in Nutrition 6, 129
• A Camargo, R Jimenez-Lucena, JF Alcala-Diaz, OA Rangel-Zuñiga, ... Postprandial endotoxemia may influence the development of type 2 diabetes mellitus: from the CORDIOPREV study. Clinical Nutrition 38 (2), 529-538