Dear Colleagues,

We are delighted to welcome you to the 6th edition of the ICCR Congress on Chronic Societal Cardiometabolic Diseases held in Québec City, Canada, from May 15 to 17, 2016. This congress is jointly organised by the ICCR and the Réseau de recherche en santé cardiométabolique, diabète et obésité (CMDO) (Cardiometabolic Health, Diabetes and Obesity Network). The ICCR is a multidisciplinary academic organisation affiliated with the Faculty of Medicine of Université Laval located in Québec City, Canada. The CMDO is a large network of investigators covering all pillars of health research relevant to chronic cardiometabolic diseases. This unique network is funded by the Fonds de la recherche du Québec - Santé (FRQ-S).

As highlighted in recent publications, there is no sign that the worldwide prevalence of type 2 diabetes is plateauing; on the contrary, it is now estimated that 422 million of individuals worldwide are afflicted by diabetes, which is largely a «lifestyle» disease. Most patients with type 2 diabetes are sedentary and also characterised by a dangerous form of overweight/obesity: visceral obesity accompanied by excess ectopic fat. Previous editions of our congress have highlighted the fact that excess visceral adiposity/ectopic fat increases the risk of developing a plethora of complications such as an atherogenic dyslipidemia, insulin resistance, hypertension, type 2 diabetes, cardiovascular disease, sleep apnea and some forms of cancers, to only list a few of the well-documented disorders.

Unfortunately, the media still too often convey the message to the public that obesity is a problem of excess body weight and that dietary restriction and weight loss should be the main targets of clinical and public health approaches to prevent/manage chronic societal diseases. This situation is observed despite the growing evidence that lifestyle habits per se such as nutritional quality, physical activity and quality of sleep have a tremendous impact on the cardiometabolic health of our population.

Our Program Committee is proud to offer this high-quality scientific program involving international leaders of the field. The conference covers most recent research on chronic societal cardiometabolic diseases with a special emphasis on lifestyle habits. One of our main objectives is to offer a «tool box» to healthcare professionals and clinicians while producing a discussion forum for our invited scientists who are clearly of international stature.

We wish you all an outstanding congress!

On behalf of the 6th ICCR Congress Program Committee

Jean-Pierre Després, Ph.D., FAHA, FIAS

André Carpentier, M.D., FRCPC

Jean-Claude Coubard