View clinical trials related to Eating Behavior.
Filter by:The overall goal of this study is to conduct a preliminary evaluation of the feasibility and efficacy of the "Savor the Flavor" intervention.
In this study the researchers want to learn more about reward-driven eating behavior in children ages 2 to 18 months. The researchers hope to use this knowledge to help inform obesity prevention programs.
This study will evaluate the effects of retrieval-extinction (R-E) training on responding to high calorie foods including self-report craving, physiological responding, and high calorie food intake in adults with overweight/obesity. R-E training aims to update the memories that associate cues (i.e., high calorie food) with reward (i.e., consumption). R-E training involves "retrieving" these cue-reward associative memories through brief presentation of relevant cues, resulting in instability of the memories and providing an opportunity to be updated via reconsolidation. Presenting relevant cues while not allowing consumption (i.e., extinction training) during reconsolidation can modify the unstable cue-reward memories, resulting in lasting reductions of craving and intake. This study will be the first to test the effects of R-E training on craving for and intake of high calorie foods in humans. To examine the effects of R-E training on food craving, physiological response (heart rate, skin conductance, salivation), and food intake, 150 adults with overweight/obesity will complete baseline food cue-reactivity and intake tasks in the lab. Participants will be randomized to observe high calorie food cues (i.e., "retrieval" of food cue-reward memories; R-E training group) or non-food cues (i.e., no retrieval of food cue-reward memories; extinction control group) and engage in 60 min of extinction training for high calorie foods. R-E/extinction control training will occur on two consecutive days and four follow-up food cue-reactivity sessions through 3 months. Weight will be assessed at each session and in-lab food intake at 1- and 3-months. Recent food/drink intake will also be assessed at each session. Some participants (n=75) will complete a pilot portion of the study involving real-world data collection of naturally-occurring food cues, craving, and food intake via smartphone. It is hypothesized that: (1) R-E training (vs. extinction control) will decrease high calorie food cue-reactivity (self-report craving, heart rate, skin conductance, salivation) and intake assessed in the lab, as well as self-report craving and food intake assessed in the real world; and (2) decreased high calorie food cue-reactivity will be a mechanism through which R-E training reduces high calorie food intake at follow-up. The Principal Investigator will explore associations between lab and real-world cue-elicited craving and food intake, and the effect of R-E training on weight.
The 2 interventions aimed to examine whether peer-led nudging on social media may be a way of influencing young adults and adolescents to reduce their self-reported ideal portion sizes of high energy-dense snacks and sugar-sweetened beverages.
The goal of this study is to develop and pilot test a telehealth behavioral weight control intervention for adolescents from a low-income background that combines facets of mindfulness training with behavioral weight control. We aim to examine biological (e.g., weight) and behavioral (e.g., emotional eating, mindfulness) changes as a result of a 12-session mindfulness-based weight control intervention compared to a 12-session standard behavioral weight control intervention.
The majority of female undergraduate students experience disordered eating and/or weight gain, increasing the risk for two serious public health problems, eating disorders and obesity. Traditional nutrition education about weight control delivered during college has not been effective and may even exacerbate these problems. Thus, the investigators propose that instead of focusing on external information as taught by nutrition education (e.g. 'calories in, calories out', quantification and cognitive processing of nutrition information), at-risk females be trained to become more attuned to their internal hunger and fullness signaling to set them on a trajectory for decreased chronic disease risk as they age.
The goal of this study was to examine the glucocorticoid and behavioral responses to a psychological stressor in obese African-American and non-Latino white adolescents. Participants were exposed to the Trier Social Stress Test (TSST) and a control condition on separate days. Immediately following each condition, participants were provided with snacks to eat at their leisure. Reactivity was assessed via salivary cortisol and alpha-amylase area under the curve (AUC), and adolescents were categorized as high or low reactors.
Previous studies have reported that the 5-HT2C receptor agonist meta-chlorophenylpiperazine (mCPP) decreases appetite and food intake in humans1-3. 5-HT2C receptor activation inhibits dopamine and norepinephrine release in the brain4, and has also been linked to diabetes5. The specificity of the effect of mCPP on human appetite is unclear, as previous studies also reported an increase in nausea1,3. The drug has also been reported to increase anxiety and cause panic attacks when given in a bolus dose intravenously6. Previous findings in our laboratory showed that mCPP reduced appetite, increased satiety in women and enhanced memory in the P1vital® Oxford Emotional Test Battery3. Following up on these results a food intake and fMRI study was performed, in which it was observed that mCPP decreased intake of a palatable snack (hedonic eating) and dlPFC and insula BOLD responses to food pictures. Additionally it increased memory and food value responses in brain after mCPP administration (Thomas et al submitted). It is well established that eating behaviour is affected by metabolic signals (e.g. insulin, ghrelin, serotonin) and is also modulated via food reward processes7. More recently it has been proposed that eating is also modulated via higher cognitive processes such as inhibitory control, attention, and memory. However, in humans, eating behaviour seems to be a more complex process, which involves habits, long-term goals and social interaction. Thus, cognitive processes appear to play an important role in food consumption. In the proposed study the researchers investigate the effect of administering mCPP, on eating, and on metabolic, reward and cognitive processes and the potential interplay between these functions.
This study is designed to compare two types of snacks (almonds or a cereal-based snack), eaten between meals, on measures of appetite, including appetitive hormones, self-reported feelings of hunger and fullness, and food intake at a buffet meal or in the home environment. The investigators hypothesize that the acute responses of appetitive hormones to a meal challenge protocol will differ between almond and cereal-based snacks based on multivariate models of satiety that will be predictive of ad libitum food intake at a dinner meal as part of the meal challenge protocol. Further, the investigators will estimate if, under free-living conditions, self-selected and self-reported food intake will show appropriate energy compensation for the added calories of the snacks, and determine if one type of snack is superior to the other in this regard.
College-aged women are at risk for eating disorders and disordered eating, which present serious health concerns. Two potent risk factors for eating disorders, body dissatisfaction and dietary restraint, are common among female college students. Intuitive eating is a strategy in which instead of listening to the predominant 'diet culture' and focusing on things like calories and energy balance, individuals practice listening to their internal physiological signals to decide when and what to eat and when to stop. Based on current research, intuitive eating has been shown to foster body satisfaction and healthy eating attitudes among women. The proposed pilot study will evaluate the feasibility and acceptability of an intuitive eating program for University of Delaware college women. In addition, this study will test the hypothesis that the intuitive eating program will reduce cognitive factors of body dissatisfaction and dietary restraint in females compared to a waitlisted group. Additionally, the investigators expect this reduction in dietary restraint to be associated with less disordered eating behavior. Exploratory aims include measuring engagement in disordered eating behaviors and changes in weight over the study period. This preliminary data will be used to estimate effect sizes for larger future trials.