The Lifelines cohort study was started in 2006 and collects data and samples on 167,000 children, adults and elderly from the Northern part of the Netherlands. The aim of Lifelines is to constitute a biobank that provides high-quality data and samples by following all participants over a period of at least 30 years. The collected data offer excellent opportunities for studies worldwide unraveling the etiology of multifactorial diseases focusing on multifactor risk factors. This will help to move forward to more personalised health care and prevention and to answer the question why some people grow old in good health while others contract diseases.