Skip to main content
OpenTrials
Completed

NCT Number: NCT05573672

Dietary Counselling Plus Omega-3 Supplementation in the Treatment of Generalized Anxiety Disorder

This study will assess the feasibility and acceptability of a combination intervention including dietary counselling and omega-3 fatty acid supplementation among women with generalized anxiety disorder. It will be randomized and wait-list controlled with 25 participants completing the 12-week intervention immediately and the other 25 participants completing the intervention after a 12-week wait period.

Completed

Looking for future studies?

Notify Me

Key information

Conditions

Generalized Anxiety Disorder Anxiety Disorders Mental Disorders

Age range

18 year–65 year

Sex eligibility

All sexes

Study type

Interventional

Phase

Phase 2

Primary location

Canadian College of Naturopathic Medicine

Toronto, Ontario, M2K 1E2, Canada

About this study

Generalized Anxiety Disorder (GAD) is a common mental health disorder involving high levels of worry or tension. The symptoms are persistent and distressing and interfere with an individual's functioning and quality of life. Clinical evidence suggests that nutritional interventions, based on the Mediterranean diet and omega-3 fatty acid supplementation improve the symptoms of depression. To date, the effect of diet change interventions on anxiety symptoms has not been studied in trials involving people with diagnosed anxiety disorders. The primary objective of this study is to test the feasibility and acceptability of a dietary counselling and omega-3 fatty acid supplementation intervention delivered to adult women with GAD. The secondary objectives include measuring changes in anxiety symptom severity, measuring changes in quality of life, measuring changes in biomarkers and evaluation of the components of the program.

This study is a randomized, wait-list controlled pilot trial delivering a 12-week, dietary counselling intervention and omega-3 supplementation to 50 adult women with GAD. Participant will complete seven individual counselling sessions which include nutrition education, personalized recommendations, mindful eating techniques, motivational interviewing, and goal setting. They will be provided with recipes, instructional videos, and food items. Questionnaires and blood work will be completed at baseline, after the wait period (for those in the wait-list group) and after the intervention. The questionnaires will measure changes in anxiety symptom severity, quality of life, diet quality, mindful eating behaviours, and self-efficacy and lab tests will measure changes in biomarkers of nutritional status. All participants will be asked to complete a brief satisfaction survey concerning the participant's level of satisfaction with the program, the aspects which were helpful or unhelpful, and opportunities for improvement. A sub-sample will be recruited to participate in a brief focus group in order to obtain more detailed qualitative responses about the participant experience and participant satisfaction. Additional information will be collected to characterize study participants including demographic information, body mass index, physical activity and food security.

Results from this study will lay the foundation for future large-scale studies in this area and may provide preliminary evidence of the role of diet counselling and omega-3 supplementation in the management of GAD.

Who can participate

Healthy volunteers accepted: No

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

Inclusion criteria

  • A person aged 18-65 years who currently identifies as a woman.
  • Primary diagnosis of generalized anxiety disorder based on a clinical interview with a psychiatrist using the DSM-5 criteria.
  • Moderate to severe anxiety as defined as a Beck Anxiety Inventory score of 22 or higher.
  • Low quality diet as defined as a score of 8.5 or less on the MEDI-LITE tool.
  • All psychiatric medication, psychotherapy and natural health products stable for the past four weeks.
  • Established therapeutic relationship with a family doctor, psychiatrist, or clinical psychologist as their primary source of mental health care.
  • Ability to swallow capsules.
  • Ability to read in English and provide informed consent

Exclusion criteria

  • Currently meets DSM-5 criteria for obsessive-compulsive disorder, bipolar disorder, a psychotic disorder, an eating disorder, or substance use disorder based on clinical interview with a psychiatrist.
  • Current high level of suicidality assessed by trial psychiatrist using the Columbia Suicide Severity Scale.
  • Starting or changing the dose of a psychiatric medication, psychotherapy, or natural health products in the past four weeks.
  • Severe food allergies, intolerances or aversions that would prevent the individual from modifying their diet (includes aversion to bovine gelatin which is a component of the fish oil supplement).
  • Current participation in a program, research study or treatment plan involving diet or lifestyle modification.
  • Baseline Omega Score of >5% (suggesting adequacy of omega-3 fatty acids).
  • Supplementation of greater than 4000IU of vitamin D daily for at least one month in the previous six months.
  • Allergy to fish or any of the non-medicinal ingredients in the study product.

Treatment and study plan

Dietary Counselling combined with Omega-3 Supplementation

Combination Product

Dietary Counselling: Seven, bi-weekly counselling sessions over 12-weeks conducted by a licensed Naturopathic Doctor. Each session will be 45-60 minutes in length. The recommendations will be based on the Mediterranean diet and the results of a recent scoping review which summarized the research related to diet and anxiety. The intervention will include motivational interviewing, mindful eating techniques, goal setting and action planning. A range of resources related to meal planning, recipes, cooking education, shopping lists and tracking sheets will be provided in an individualized manner.

Dietary Supplement: AquaOmega High EPA Omega-3 capsules will be taken at a dose of four capsules, once daily (containing a total of 3456 mg of omega-3 fatty acids: 2659mg of Eicosapentaenoic acid (EPA), 532mg of docosahexaenoic acid (DHA), and 800IU of Vitamin D), with a meal.

Primary outcomes

  1. Feasibility of Participant Recruitment and Intervention Delivery

    Time frame: 8 months

    Feasibility will be assessed by measuring the time to recruit and enrol 50 participants. Additionally, we will compare the intervention protocol with the intervention activities delivered.

  2. Acceptability of the Intervention by Study Participants

    Time frame: 12 weeks

    Acceptability will be assessed by measuring the number of diet counselling sessions completed. Additionally, participants will be asked to complete a brief satisfaction survey concerning the participant's level of satisfaction with the program, the aspects which were helpful or unhelpful, and opportunities for improvement. A sub-sample will be recruited to participate in a brief focus group in order to obtain more detailed qualitative responses about the participant experience and participant satisfaction.

Secondary outcomes

  1. Anxiety Symptom Severity: The Beck Anxiety Inventory

    Time frame: 12 weeks

    The Beck Anxiety Inventory is a validated 21-item self-report inventory for measuring the severity of anxiety in participants with psychiatric illness. Answers to each item are given a score of 0 (not at all), 1 (mild), 2 (moderate) or 3 (severely), total scores range from 0 to 63 (minimal anxiety levels (0-7), mild anxiety (8-15), moderate anxiety (16-25), and severe anxiety (26-63)). The Beck Anxiety Inventory will be completed at baseline, after the wait period (for those in the waitlist group) and after the intervention.

  2. Diet Quality: MEDI-LITE Questionnaire

    Time frame: 12 weeks

    MEDI-LITE is a validated questionnaire that measures daily and weekly consumption of food typical and non-typical to the Mediterranean diet. Typical Mediterranean diet foods are scored 2 for high consumption, 1 more moderate and 0 for low. Non-typical Mediterranean diet foods are scored 2 for low consumption, 1 for moderate and 0 for high. Scores range from 0 (low consumption) to 18 (high consumption). The MEDI-LITE questionnaire will be completed to assess adherence to the Mediterranean diet at baseline, after the wait period (for those in the waitlist group) and after the intervention.

  3. Quality of Life: PROMIS-29 v2.1

    Time frame: 12 weeks

    The PROMIS-29 is a validated scale using 4 items scored on a 1-5 scale on intensity to assess 7 health domains (physical function, anxiety, depression, fatigue, sleep disturbance, ability to participate in social roles and activities and pain interference). Higher score equals more of the concept being measured (e.g., more Fatigue, more Physical Function). PROMIS-29 will be used to assess quality of life at baseline, after the wait period (for those in the waitlist group) and after the intervention.

  4. Mindful Eating Behaviour: Mindful Eating Questionnaire

    Time frame: 12 weeks

    The MEQ is a 28-item scale that measures five factors associated with mindful eating (emotional responses, distraction, external cues, awareness and disinhibition). The questionnaire will be used to measure behaviour change and qualitatively assess the acceptability of the intervention. Each item is scored on a 1-4 scale, higher scores signify more mindful eating. The scores are added together and divided by the number of items answered to get a total summary score. The minimum score is 1 and the maximum score is 4. The MEQ will be completed at baseline, after the wait period (for those in the waitlist group) and after the intervention.

  5. Self Efficacy: General Self-Efficacy Scale

    Time frame: 12 weeks

    The GSE is a 10-item validated questionnaire that measures an individual's belief in their ability to overcome and respond to difficult scenarios. Answers to each item are given a score of 0 (not at all true), 1 (barely true), 3 (moderately true) or 4 (exactly true), higher scores correlate to greater self-efficacy. The minimum score is 10 and the maximum score is 40. The GSE will be completed at baseline, after the wait period (for those in the waitlist group) and after the intervention.

  6. OmegaScore

    Time frame: 12 weeks

    Summed EPA, DHA and DPA as a percentage of total fatty acids in whole blood as a measure of omega-3 status. This blood test will be completed at baseline, after the wait period (for those in the waitlist group) and after the intervention.

  7. Fasting Cholesterol Panel

    Time frame: 12 weeks

    Measures of serum cholesterol including LDL, HDL, triglycerides and total cholesterol. This blood test will be completed at baseline, after the wait period (for those in the waitlist group) and after the intervention.

  8. Hemoglobin A1c

    Time frame: 12 weeks

    Measure of the average blood sugar in the past 3 months. This blood test will be completed at baseline, after the wait period (for those in the waitlist group) and after the intervention.

  9. Serum Vitamin C

    Time frame: 12 weeks

    Measure of serum levels of vitamin C as an objective marker for fruit and vegetable intake. This blood test will be completed at baseline, after the wait period (for those in the waitlist group) and after the intervention.

  10. Serum Beta-carotene

    Time frame: 12 weeks

    Measure of serum levels of beta-carotene as an objective marker for fruit and vegetable. This blood test will be completed at baseline, after the wait period (for those in the waitlist group) and after the intervention.

  11. C-reactive Protein

    Time frame: 12 weeks

    CRP will be used to measure inflammation levels. This blood test will be completed at baseline, after the wait period (for those in the waitlist group) and after the intervention.

  12. HOMA-IR

    Time frame: 12 weeks

    Homeostatic Model Assessment of Insulin Resistance, calculated using fasting insulin and fasting glucose. Formula: fasting glucose (mg/dL) X fasting insulin (mU/L) / 405. A higher value suggests more insulin resistance. These blood tests and calculation will be completed at baseline, after the wait period (for those in the waitlist group) and after the intervention.

Sponsors and collaborators

Lead sponsor

The Canadian College of Naturopathic Medicine

Other

Collaborators

  • AquaOmega
  • Ekhagastiftelsen
  • Lipid Analytical Laboratories Inc
  • Massachusetts General Hospital
  • McGill University
  • Mitacs
  • Netherlands Open University

Registry information

Official study title

Dietary Counselling Plus Omega-3 Supplementation in the Treatment of Generalized Anxiety Disorder: A Randomized Wait-list Controlled Pilot Trial

Acronym: EASe-GAD

Important dates

Study start
2022
Primary completion
2023
Study completion
2023
First posted
Oct 10, 2022
Registry last updated
Apr 4, 2025

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.

Related clinical trials

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