The proportion of older adults in society is rapidly increasing, with a huge diversity in health span. A commonly shared desire is to stay mobile, independent and in touch with their social networks. VOILA aims to stimulate such vitality by attenuating functional decline in at risk segments of the 50+ population. This requires understanding of the individual risks of accelerated ageing, developing preventive interventions and predicting individual responses. VOILA hypothesizes that for humans, a healthy functioning metabolism, immune system, gut microbiome and musculature are crucial for healthy ageing.

The research therefore focuses on:

• Generating a sustainable participant platform of older adults for studies and interventions, providing accessible data and focus groups;
• Identifying biomarkers for classifying at risk seniors in 50+ and 70+ segments and for response prediction in interventions. This results from interrogating existing data of a number of Dutch longitudinal studies;
• Developing novel lifestyle interventions to support personal health recommendations for such segments;
• Developing therapeutic methods to support the hallmarks of gut and musculoskeletal health in model systems; and
• Disseminating these insights to professionals and the general public.