Optical Imaging of Retinal Vascular Metrics Under Different Dietary Conditions

In a typical clinical setting, patient eating habits are not controlled when performing optical coherence tomography (OCT) imaging for retinal diagnostics. Nevertheless, the timing of the patient's most recent meal has the potential to impact OCT metrics particularly for those involving blood vessels, such as vascular density. Studies have shown that eating a high fat meal can increase blood fat levels in the hours following the meal. In particular, chylomicrons, the fat particles that will most likely affect the OCT signal, peak in concentration about 2-3 hours after eating. Preclinical animal studies have shown that intravascular injections of fat emulsions in rodent models can cause an increase in OCT signal and make blood vessels more visible. This study investigates the impact of a single high fat meal on OCT and OCT angiography (OCTA) measurements of retinal vessels and whether these effects differ from the effects of a single low-fat, high carbohydrate meal.

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Key information

Conditions

Healthy Adult

Age range

18 year and older

Sex eligibility

All sexes

Study type

Interventional

Phase

Not applicable

Primary location

Department of Clinical Pharmacology, Medical University of Vienna

Vienna, Austria

Who can participate

Healthy volunteers accepted: Yes

Only the study team can determine whether someone qualifies for participation.

Inclusion criteria

Men and women aged over 18 years
Signed informed consent
Normal findings in the medical history unless the investigator considers an abnormality to be clinically irrelevant
Normal ophthalmic findings

Exclusion criteria

Symptoms of a clinically relevant illness in the 3 weeks before the first study day
Presence or history of a severe medical condition as judged by the clinical investigator
Regular use of medication, abuse of alcoholic beverages, participation in a clinical trial in the 3 weeks preceding the study (except hormonal contraceptives)
Untreated arterial hypertension (defined as either systolic blood pressure >150 mmHg or diastolic blood pressure >95 mmHg)
Blood donation during the previous three weeks
Presence of any abnormalities preventing reliable measurements in the study eye as judged by the investigator
Pregnancy, planned pregnancy or lactating
Lactose intolerance or other relevant food allergy or sensitivity

Treatment and study plan

Consumption of a high fat meal

Other

Consumption of a high fat meal: Volume 500ml, Lipid 80 % of calories

Consumption of a high carbohydrate meal

Other

Consumption of a high carbohydrate meal: Volume 500ml, Carbohydrate 80% of calories

Primary outcomes

Retinal vessel area density (OCTA)

Time frame: On both study days, from the start of the meal consumption every 30 min up to 5 hours after meal consumption; BL, 30min, 60min, 90min, 120min, 150min, 180min, 210min, 240min, 270min, 300min

Retinal vessel area density measured by OCTA

Interested in participating?

Enrolling by invitation

Interested in participating?

Request Info

Sponsors and collaborators

Lead sponsor

Medical University of Vienna

Other

Registry information

Important dates

Study start: 2026
Primary completion: 2027
Study completion: 2027
First posted: Sep 14, 2026
Registry last updated: Sep 14, 2026

OpenTrials presents study information sourced from ClinicalTrials.gov. The official registry record should be consulted for the latest information.

View the official ClinicalTrials.gov record (opens in a new tab)

This listing is for discovery and informational purposes only. It is not medical advice, does not guarantee that a study is recruiting, and does not determine eligibility. Contact the study team and a qualified healthcare professional when considering participation.

Published trials that share one or more normalized conditions with this study.

Enrolling by invitation