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New Perspectives on Metabolism: From Gut to Brain

Discover how gut microbes, sleep, and brain-liver connections are reshaping our understanding of metabolism.

682 enrolled on this course

A conceptual illustration showing food molecules being broken down in the gut, featuring a sponge-like food particle surrounded by colorful lipid droplets, fibers, and microbial elements under a soft, organic background.

New Perspectives on Metabolism: From Gut to Brain

682 enrolled on this course

  • 4 weeks

  • 2 hours per week

  • Accreditation available

  • Digital certificate when eligible

  • Introductory level

Find out more about how to join this course

  • Duration

    4 weeks

  • Weekly study

    2 hours

  • Languages

    English, Italiano, Español, Français, PortuguêsEnglish, Italiano

  • 100% online

    How it works

  • Unlimited subscription

    $335.99 for a whole yearLearn more

  • Accreditation

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Overview
Syllabus
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The CPD Certification Service

This course has been certified by the CPD Certification Service as conforming to continuing professional development principles. Find out more.

Discover how gut microbes shape your health

Traditional views of metabolism focus on calories and chemical reactions, but new research shows it’s a multi-organ system shaped by gut microbes, sleep, brain signalling, and liver health.

You’ll learn how this science can guide nutritional strategies and disease prevention on this four-week course.

Deep within your gut, trillions of microbes are hard at work—shaping your metabolism in ways we’re only beginning to understand.

On this course, you’ll follow their chemical trail, uncovering how compounds like short-chain fatty acids and bile acids help regulate inflammation, support immunity, and send signals to the brain that affect your whole-body health.

You’ll also discover how everyday choices (diet, probiotics, etc.) can reshape your microbiome, leaving you equipped with evidence-based strategies to support your gut and promote long-term metabolic health.

Unpack the brain-sleep-metabolism connection

Sleep is more than just rest. It works alongside the gut and brain to maintain metabolic balance. You’ll continue this course by exploring how lack of sleep disrupts gut microbes, impairs metabolism, and increases the risk of obesity and metabolic disorders.

You will also dive into the frontier of brain insulin signalling and discover how insulin resistance in the brain can alter appetite, drive overeating, and affect energy balance throughout the body.

Learn about liver and translational metabolic interventions

Finally, you’ll understand how conditions like non-alcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) reflect deeper metabolic dysfunction, and how nutrition can support liver recovery by targeting root causes.

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Skip to 0 minutes and 0 seconds [Music] New Perspective in Metabolism [Music] This course explores the latest scientific advances in metabolism. Topics include the gut microbiome, sleep, and brain-liver-bed interactions. You will explore the impact diseases like obesity, diabetes, and liver disorders, especially NAFLD and cirrhosis, and their close link to whole-body metabolism and liver-regulates metabolic balance. [Music] You’ll learn how gut microbes affect metabolism and disease, how sleep deprivation disrupts gut balance and metabolism, the role of brain insulin in obesity, and how new metabolic insights can support liver health. [Music] [Music] I’ll talk about the gut microbiome and its role in health. Today I will be presenting findings from my two key studies, exploring the relationships between sleep destruction.

Skip to 1 minute and 25 seconds Today I will share knowledge about how brain controls brain metabolism and the concept of brain insulin resistance. The liver has many important functions within the body, including role in metabolism. [Music]

Syllabus

  • Week 1

    Metabolic Perspectives on Gut Microbiota

    • The Gut Microbiome: Foundations, Health Impacts, and Disease Connections

      Explore how gut microbes influence metabolism, immunity, aging, and brain health—shaping disease risk from the gut to the brain.

    • Gut Microbiome and Healthy Aging

      Discover if changing your gut microbes can delay aging and support long-term health.

  • Week 2

    Gut Microbiota and Glucometabolic Alterations due to Sleep Disruption

    • Sleep Loss, Gut Microbiota, and Metabolism

      Explore how partial sleep deprivation affects gut microbiota and glucose metabolism. This talk presents human and animal studies linking disrupted sleep to microbial changes, insulin resistance, and metabolic dysfunction.

    • How Sleep Disruption Shapes Gut Microbiota and Metabolism

      Explore how acute and chronic sleep loss affect gut health, inflammation, and metabolism through human and animal studies in this activity.

  • Week 3

    Brain Insulin Resistance A Hidden Driver of Metabolic Diseases

    • Brain Insulin Resistance and Metabolic Disease

      Explore how brain insulin resistance disrupts appetite control and glucose metabolism, emerging as a hidden driver of metabolic diseases.

    • Brain-Driven Metabolism: Insulin Pathways, Resistance, and Disease

      Uncover how insulin acts in the brain, what disrupts its signals, and how this leads to obesity, insulin resistance, and diabetes.

  • Week 4

    Decoding Liver Secrets The Future of Metabolic Regulation and Nutritional Interventions

    • Decoding Liver Metabolism: Foundations and Functions

      Explore liver metabolic pathways and their roles in glucose, fat, and amino acid regulation linked to systemic health.

    • Managing Fatty Liver Disease: From Diagnosis to Lifestyle Intervention

      Understand MASLD progression, diagnostic strategies, treatment trials, and lifestyle-based approaches to improve liver and metabolic health.

    • Course Feedback and Further Learning

      Reflect on key insights, share your feedback, and explore how you might apply or expand your learning beyond this course.

Who is this accredited by?

The CPD Certification Service
The CPD Certification Service:

The CPD Certification Service was established in 1996 and is the leading independent CPD accreditation institution operating across industry sectors to complement the CPD policies of professional and academic bodies.

When would you like to start?

Start straight away and join a global classroom of learners. If the course hasn’t started yet you’ll see the future date listed below.

  • Available now

Learning on this course

On every step of the course you can meet other learners, share your ideas and join in with active discussions in the comments.

What will you achieve?

By the end of the course, you‘ll be able to...

  • Explored how gut microbiota influence host metabolic pathways and disease development.
  • Explain the relationship between chronic sleep deprivation, gut dysbiosis, and metabolic disorders.
  • Investigated the central role of insulin in the brain and its implications for obesity and energy balance.
  • Describe the insight into the metabolic pathways underlying liver diseases such as NAFLD and cirrhosis
  • Practice nutritional and lifestyle interventions for promoting metabolic and neurological health.

Who is the course for?

This course is ideal for those who want to learn the latest scientific advances in metabolism at a university or professional level.

Who will you learn with?

Hui-Yu Huang

Professor and Director, Graduate Institute of Metabolism and Obesity Sciences
College of Nutrition, Taipei Medical University, Taiwan

Who developed the course?

Taipei Medical University

Taipei Medical University (TMU) has been a leader in Taiwan’s healthcare system for over half a century due to its research, teaching excellence, internationalization and outstanding medical service.

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Ways to learn

Choose the best way to learn for you!

Subscribe & save

$335.99 for a whole year

Automatically renews

Develop skills to further your career

  • Access to this course
  • Access to 1,000+ courses
  • Learn at your own pace
  • Discuss your learning in comments
  • Digital certificate when you're eligible

Cancel for free anytime

Buy this course

$154/one-off payment

Fulfill your current learning need

  • Access to this course
  • Learn at your own pace
  • Discuss your learning in comments
  • Printed and digital certificate when you’re eligible
Continue & Upgrade

Start learning today

Free

Try this course - with limits

  • Limited to 4 weeks

Find out more about certificates, Unlimited or buying a course (Upgrades)

Sale price available until 2 November 2026 at 23:59 (UTC). T&Cs apply.

Find out more about certificates, Unlimited or buying a course (Upgrades)

Sale price available until 2 November 2026 at 23:59 (UTC). T&Cs apply.

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