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Completed

NCT Number: NCT02402088

The Role of Emotional Arousal in Food Preference and Taste

The purpose of this study is to examine the role of stress in food craving and food consumption in obesity. Using experimentally validated guided imagery procedure, the investigators propose to examine the stress response using subjective, physiological and neurobiological measurements.

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Key information

Conditions

Obesity Body Weight Food Consumption Food Craving Nutrition Disorders Nutritional and Metabolic Diseases Overnutrition Overweight Pathological Conditions, Signs and Symptoms Signs and Symptoms

Age range

18 year–45 year

Sex eligibility

All sexes

Study type

Interventional

Phase

Not applicable

Primary location

Yale University

New Haven, Connecticut, 06492, United States

About this study

One hundred and fifty men and women will participate in three laboratory sessions to assess stress responses to personal stress imagery, food cue imagery, and to neutral-relaxing imagery. Subjects will be distributed into 3 groups stratified by BMI category. Subject recruitment, eligibility determination, baseline assessments and script development will be conducted at the Yale Stress Center. Subjects will complete a variety of diagnostic, cognitive and psychological assessments, a comprehensive physical examination and blood work and will be involved in development of imagery scripts from personal stress, food cue and neutral-relaxing situations. Subjects will then be scheduled for three laboratory sessions at the Yale Stress Center. Subjects will also participate in an imagery and relaxation training session followed by three laboratory sessions. The three laboratory sessions will be conducted within a brief interval of days, when subjects will be exposed to a personal stress, a food cue and a neutral-relaxing imagery condition, one condition per day. The order of imagery conditions will be randomly assigned and counterbalanced across subjects in order to balance any influences due to order of imagery conditions.

Who can participate

Healthy volunteers accepted: Yes

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

Inclusion criteria

  • Between ages 18-45 years
  • Able to read and write
  • Normal/lean BMI group: BMI 18.5-24.9 as calculated based on height and weight.
  • Overweight BMI group: BMI 25.0 - 29.9 as calculated based on height and weight Obese BMI group: BMI 30-35 as calculated based on height and weight.
  • Do not meet criteria for any current Axis I DSM-IV psychiatric diagnoses and provide negative urine toxicology screens during initial appointments and at admission for laboratory sessions.

Exclusion criteria

  • Meet current criteria for dependence on any psychoactive substance, including nicotine and caffeine
  • Current use of any psychoactive drugs, including anxiolytics, antidepressants, naltrexone or antabuse
  • Any psychotic disorder or current psychiatric symptoms requiring specific attention, including need for psychiatric medications for current major depression and anxiety disorders
  • Any significant current medical condition such as neurological, cardiovascular, endocrine, renal, liver, thyroid pathology; subjects on medications for any medical condition will be excluded
  • Women on oral contraceptives, peri and post menopausal women, and those with hysterectomies
  • Pregnant and lactating women will be excluded.

Treatment and study plan

Stress Imagery

Behavioral

The stress imagery script will be based on subjects' description of a recent personal stressful event that they had experienced as "most stressful". "Most stressful" is determined by having the subjects rate the perceived stress experienced by them on a 10-point Likert scale where "1=not at all stressful" and "10=the most stress they felt recently in their life". Only situations rated as 8 or above on this scale are accepted as appropriate for script development. Examples of acceptable stressful situations include breakup with significant other, a verbal argument with a significant other or family member or unemployment-related stress, such as being fired or laid off from work.

Food Cue Imagery

Behavioral

A food cue script will be developed from the subjects' experience of eating their most favorite foods. Examples include ordering pizza, cooking a favorite meal, or going out to a restaurant.

Neutral-Relaxing

Behavioral

A neutral-relaxing script will be developed from the subjects' commonly experienced neutral-relaxing situations, such as a trip to the beach or park.

Primary outcomes

  1. Food Craving based on the Food Craving Inventory

    Time frame: Baseline

    An abbreviated assessment base don the Food Craving Inventory. The Food Craving Inventory is a self-report questionnaire of specific food cravings. The questionnaire consists of 25 items measuring the frequency of cravings for specific foods and consists of 4 factors or subscales measuring cravings for High Fats, Carbohydrates/Starches, Sweets, and Fast Food Fats and also generates a total score. The brief version of the inventory uses 2 items from each of the 4 subscales.

  2. Food Craving based on the Food Craving Inventory

    Time frame: Immediately After Image

    An abbreviated assessment base don the Food Craving Inventory. The Food Craving Inventory is a self-report questionnaire of specific food cravings. The questionnaire consists of 25 items measuring the frequency of cravings for specific foods and consists of 4 factors or subscales measuring cravings for High Fats, Carbohydrates/Starches, Sweets, and Fast Food Fats and also generates a total score. The brief version of the inventory uses 2 items from each of the 4 subscales.

  3. Food Craving based on the Food Craving Inventory

    Time frame: 5 minutes

    An abbreviated assessment base don the Food Craving Inventory at plus 5 minutes. The Food Craving Inventory is a self-report questionnaire of specific food cravings. The questionnaire consists of 25 items measuring the frequency of cravings for specific foods and consists of 4 factors or subscales measuring cravings for High Fats, Carbohydrates/Starches, Sweets, and Fast Food Fats and also generates a total score. The brief version of the inventory uses 2 items from each of the 4 subscales.

  4. Food Craving based on the Food Craving Inventory

    Time frame: 15 minutes

    An abbreviated assessment base don the Food Craving Inventory at plus 15 minutes. The Food Craving Inventory is a self-report questionnaire of specific food cravings. The questionnaire consists of 25 items measuring the frequency of cravings for specific foods and consists of 4 factors or subscales measuring cravings for High Fats, Carbohydrates/Starches, Sweets, and Fast Food Fats and also generates a total score. The brief version of the inventory uses 2 items from each of the 4 subscales.

  5. Food Craving based on the Food Craving Inventory

    Time frame: 30 minutes

    An abbreviated assessment base don the Food Craving Inventory at plus 30 minutes. The Food Craving Inventory is a self-report questionnaire of specific food cravings. The questionnaire consists of 25 items measuring the frequency of cravings for specific foods and consists of 4 factors or subscales measuring cravings for High Fats, Carbohydrates/Starches, Sweets, and Fast Food Fats and also generates a total score. The brief version of the inventory uses 2 items from each of the 4 subscales.

  6. Food Craving based on the Food Craving Inventory

    Time frame: 45 minutes

    An abbreviated assessment base don the Food Craving Inventory at plus 45 minutes. The Food Craving Inventory is a self-report questionnaire of specific food cravings. The questionnaire consists of 25 items measuring the frequency of cravings for specific foods and consists of 4 factors or subscales measuring cravings for High Fats, Carbohydrates/Starches, Sweets, and Fast Food Fats and also generates a total score. The brief version of the inventory uses 2 items from each of the 4 subscales.

  7. Food Craving based on the Food Craving Inventory

    Time frame: 60 minutes

    An abbreviated assessment base don the Food Craving Inventory at plus 60 minutes. The Food Craving Inventory is a self-report questionnaire of specific food cravings. The questionnaire consists of 25 items measuring the frequency of cravings for specific foods and consists of 4 factors or subscales measuring cravings for High Fats, Carbohydrates/Starches, Sweets, and Fast Food Fats and also generates a total score. The brief version of the inventory uses 2 items from each of the 4 subscales.

Secondary outcomes

  1. food snack intake

    Time frame: 30 minutes

    Food snacks are offered after each imagery condition and weighed for snack consumption.After each imagery period, subjects are presented with 3 bowls of highly palatable (chocolate pudding; potato chips, mini chocolate chip cookies) and 3 bowls of healthy food snacks (baby carrots; grapes), each portioned to ~500 calories (3000 calories per lab session).

Sponsors and collaborators

Lead sponsor

Yale University

Other

Collaborators

  • National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases (NIDDK)

Registry information

Official study title

The Purpose of This Study is to Investigate the Role of Stress in Food Craving and Food Consumption by Examining Stress Response Using Subjective, Physiological and Neurobiological Measurements

Important dates

Study start
2013
Primary completion
2019
Study completion
2019
First posted
Mar 30, 2015
Registry last updated
Feb 11, 2022

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.

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