The overarching hypothesis is that there are baseline, pre- and post-diet combinations of 'omics' signatures in response to food and nutrients that explain the weight loss response of obese subjects to the very low calorie (VLC) diet.
In order to address the general hypothesis the following specific aims will be addressed:
Specific Aim 1: To test the hypothesis that there is a combination of 'omics' parameters in response to a defined meal that discriminate between morbidly obese subjects.
Specific Aim 2: To test the hypothesis that variation in % weight loss to the 2-weeks of VLC diet is related to baseline genomic markers, gene expression profile, proteomic and metabolomic signatures as well as baseline metabolic and substrates fluxomics response to a defined meal.
Specific Aim 3: To test the hypothesis that variation in % weight loss to the 4-weeks of VLC diet is related to baseline genomic markers, gene expression profile, proteomic and metabolomic signatures as well as baseline metabolic and substrates fluxomics response to a defined meal.
