Neural Mechanisms Underlying Children's Responses to Food Portion Size and Energy Density

Pediatric Obesity Clinical Trial

Official title:

Neural Mechanisms Underlying Children's Responses to Food Portion Size and Energy Density

Clinical Trial Details — Status: Completed

Administrative data

• NCT number: NCT02759523
• Other study ID #: FoodBehavior01
• Status: Completed
• Start date: July 2013
• Est. completion date: December 2015

Study information

• Verified date: December 2020
• Source: Penn State University
• Contact: n/a
• Is FDA regulated: No
• Study type: Observational

Clinical Trial Summary

Increased portion sizes of foods high in energy density (calories per gram of food) have been implicated in the obesity epidemic. Numerous studies show that children and adults eat more from larger portions of food than they do from smaller portions, a response known as the portion size effect. Despite the robust and consistent nature of these findings, the mechanisms underlying the portion size effect are not known. The long-term goal of this research is to identify the neural mechanisms involved in the portion size effect so that this information can be used to develop effective weight-management strategies. Differences in neural response to food cues, as demonstrated by functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI), can help clarify the factors that determine susceptibility to large portions. The goal of this study is to identify brain regions activated in response to portion size and energy density and relate these neural responses to laboratory eating behaviors in children.

The investigators hypothesize that high relative to low energy density food images will be associated with increased activation in regions of the brain involved in reward- and sensory- processing and that large relative to small portion size food images will be associated with increased activation in regions of the brain involved in cognitive control. In addition, the investigators hypothesize that these brain responses will influence the relationship between portion size served and energy intake at laboratory meals.

Description:

What this study will add to the literature: The response to food images that vary by portion size using fMRI has not been previously reported. Furthermore, how the brain response to food portion size and energy density is related to energy intake has not been previously reported. The goal of this study is to identify brain regions activated in response to portion size and energy density and relate these neural responses to laboratory eating behaviors in children.

Recruitment information / eligibility

• Status: Completed
• Enrollment: 108
• Est. completion date: December 2015
• Est. primary completion date: July 2015
• Accepts healthy volunteers: Accepts Healthy Volunteers
• Gender: All
• Age group: 7 Years to 10 Years

Eligibility

Inclusion Criteria:

• Right-handedness

• English as native language

• Reading at /above grade level

• Not claustrophobic

• Generally healthy

Exclusion Criteria:

• Left-handedness

• Metal in or on the body that cannot be removed

• Claustrophobic

• Medication usage that could alter brain activity

• Medical disorder that may impact comfort in scanner

• Food allergies

Related Conditions & MeSH terms

• Pediatric Obesity

Locations

Country	Name	City	State
n/a

Sponsors (2)

Lead Sponsor	Collaborator
Penn State University	Social Science Research Institute

References & Publications (2)

English L, Lasschuijt M, Keller KL. Mechanisms of the portion size effect. What is known and where do we go from here? Appetite. 2015 May;88:39-49. doi: 10.1016/j.appet.2014.11.004. Epub 2014 Nov 11. Review. — View Citation

Fearnbach SN, English LK, Lasschuijt M, Wilson SJ, Savage JS, Fisher JO, Rolls BJ, Keller KL. Brain response to images of food varying in energy density is associated with body composition in 7- to 10-year-old children: Results of an exploratory study. Ph — View Citation

Outcome

Type	Measure	Description	Time frame	Safety issue
Other	Appetitive traits	Parent-reported questionnaire of habitual eating styles in children	Collected at week 1 (Baseline)
Other	Body composition a/o weight status	Height, weight and body fat percentage were measured. Body mass index (BMI), BMI z score, fat-mass index and fat-free-mass index will be calculated.	Collected at week 1 (Baseline)
Other	Liking of foods	Ratings of how much child likes food presented on a computerized visual analog scale	Collected at week 5
Other	Wanting of foods	Ratings of how much child wants food presented on a computerized visual analog scale	Collected at week 5
Other	Loss of control eating	Loss of control when eating is frequently reported in middle childhood. Loss of control when eating was assessed via interview-style questionnaire to determine pre-clinical binge-like eating behaviors that may influence the primary outcome of energy intake at the 4 conditions of test-meals.	Collected at week 1 (Baseline)
Other	Parental feeding strategies	Parent-reported measures of feeding practices	Collected at week 1 (Baseline)
Primary	fMRI blood oxygen level dependent (BOLD) response to food portion size and energy density	Whole-brain response to food images that varied at 2 levels of portion size and 2 levels of energy density	Collected at fMRI scan (1 of 1) at week 5
Primary	Energy intake	Energy intake (kcal and grams) of foods consumed ad libitum at each laboratory test-meal in response to 4 conditions of portion sizes (100% reference, 133%, 167%, 200%).	Collected at week 1, 2, 3, and 4
Secondary	Region of Interest (ROI)-response to food portion size and energy density	Response in selected brain regions of interest to food images varied at 2 levels of portion size and 2 levels of energy density	Collected at fMRI scan (1 of 1) at week 5