Variation in Food Intakes, Physical Activity, and Psychological Stress on Fluctuations in 24-hr Plasma Glucose Levels

This research has the following specific objectives: 1. To elucidate how within-person variation in lifestyle factors affect fluctuations in blood glucose concentrations in individuals at high risk of diabetes.This study will elucidate how variation in food intakes, physical activity, and psychological stress affect variation in blood glucose concentrations throughout the day. These results can identify potential targets for interventions to reduce excessive fluctuations in blood glucose concentrations. 2. To describe to what extent the response of individuals to a standardized meal tolerance test can predict real-life variation in blood glucose concentrations. This study will evaluate how much variation in glucose concentrations under real-life conditions can be explained by an individual's response to a standardized mixed meal tolerance test. This will provide insight into the relative importance of variation in dietary and other lifestyle behaviours on an individual's predisposition to higher blood glucose responses. 3. To elucidate the role of oral processing behaviour and saliva properties on blood glucose concentrations. This study will elucidate whether variation in oral processing behaviours (e.g. number of chews taken, oro-sensory exposure time) and saliva properties (a-amylase activity, flow rate) predicts variation in blood glucose concentrations across individuals. 4. To assess whether research collecting multiple repeated measures of food intake, activity, and stress is feasible in large-scale epidemiological studies.This study will provide important insights into the feasibility over the long-run to collect multiple repeated data points on lifestyle behaviours through mobile phone applications and 24-hour glucose and physical activity monitoring in large scale studies in the Singapore population.