Does Increased Egg Consumption Have Cognitive and Neural Benefits in Food Insecure, At-risk Adolescents?

November 9, 2021 updated by: Martin Binks, Texas Tech University
Quality nutrient intake is essential for proper development and well-being of children in all aspects of health, including cognitive development. Eggs are of particular interest based on potential cognitive and neurological benefits due in part to significant concentrations of choline and lutein. While overall, choline and lutein have received considerable attention in the literature in relation to cognition and brain function, most studies involving intake in young adults have had short intervention periods ranging from 90 minutes to 3 days. Food insecurity has been associated with decreased academic performance. Given that populations with food insecurity have limited resources to direct towards nutrition, identifying how a widely available, highly versatile and largely affordable source of nutrients (i.e. eggs) may have favorable impacts on cognitive function and brain function will be valuable in informing public health recommendations in this at-risk population. As such the investigators will examine whether an increased egg consumption dietary prescription can have positive effects on functional activity (i.e. fMRI) during an Eriksen-Flanker task, anatomical changes in the brain (i.e. DTI, MRI), and cognitive abilities as measured by the Stop Signal Reaction Time task, Operation Span task, Raven's Progressive Matrices and the Boston Naming Task.

Study Overview

Status

Status

Indicates the current recruitment status or the expanded access status.
Completed

Conditions

Conditions

The disease, disorder, syndrome, illness, or injury that is being studied. On ClinicalTrials.gov, conditions may also include other health-related issues, such as lifespan, quality of life, and health risks.

Intervention / Treatment

Intervention / Treatment

A process or action that is the focus of a clinical study. Interventions include drugs, medical devices, procedures, vaccines, and other products that are either investigational or already available. Interventions can also include noninvasive approaches, such as education or modifying diet and exercise.

Study Type

Study Type

Describes the nature of a clinical study. Study types include interventional studies (also called clinical trials), observational studies (including patient registries), and expanded access.
Interventional

Enrollment (Actual)

Enrollment

The number of participants in a clinical study. The "anticipated" enrollment is the target number of participants that the researchers need for the study.
18

Phase

Phase

The stage of a clinical trial studying a drug or biological product, based on definitions developed by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA). The phase is based on the study's objective, the number of participants, and other characteristics. There are five phases: Early Phase 1 (formerly listed as Phase 0), Phase 1, Phase 2, Phase 3, and Phase 4. Not Applicable is used to describe trials without FDA-defined phases, including trials of devices or behavioral interventions.
  • Not Applicable

Contacts and Locations

This section provides the contact details for those conducting the study, and information on where this study is being conducted.

Study Locations

  • United States
    • Texas
      • Lubbock, Texas, United States, 79410
        • Nutrition & Metabolic Health Initiative
      • Lubbock, Texas, United States, 79409
        • Texas Tech Neuroimaging Institute

Participation Criteria

Researchers look for people who fit a certain description, called eligibility criteria. Some examples of these criteria are a person's general health condition or prior treatments.

Eligibility Criteria

Eligibility Criteria

The key requirements that people who want to participate in a clinical study must meet or the characteristics they must have. Eligibility criteria consist of both inclusion criteria (which are required for a person to participate in the study) and exclusion criteria (which prevent a person from participating). Types of eligibility criteria include whether a study accepts healthy volunteers, has age or age group requirements, or is limited by sex.

Ages Eligible for Study

13 years to 19 years (Child, Adult)

Accepts Healthy Volunteers

Yes

Genders Eligible for Study

All

Description

Inclusion Criteria:

  • Age: 13-19 years.
  • Household has food security status of low or very low as designated by scoring 2-6 raw score using the U.S. Household Food Security Survey Module: Six-Item Short Form.

Exclusion Criteria:

  • Participants unable or unwilling to provide informed consent.
  • Participants with motor, visual or hearing impairment.
  • Participants with current severe psychiatric illnesses (e.g. psychosis, schizophrenia, bipolar disorders, depression)
  • Participants with history of psychiatric hospitalization.
  • Participants with habitual egg consumption (past 3 months) of 4 eggs per week or more
  • Unable or unwilling to consume required study meals for any reason (e.g. dietary restrictions, allergies, or aversions to any of the food items used in the study).
  • History of liver or kidney disease, cardiovascular disease, hematologic disease, metabolic disease, Epilepsy (or other seizure disorder) or malignant tumor
  • Currently taking (or have taken in the past 4 weeks) any anti-anxiolytic, anti-epileptic, or anti-depression medications
  • Currently taking (or have taken in the past 4 weeks) any proton pump inhibitor medications
  • History of any cognitive disorder, medical and/or psychological conditions and/or medications affecting cognition

  • Participants with contraindications for MRI scanning.

    1. aneurism clips
    2. any implanted medical devices (pacemaker, neurostimulator)
    3. known pregnancy
    4. shrapnel in body or any injury to eye involving metal
    5. any ferrous metal in body

Study Plan

This section provides details of the study plan, including how the study is designed and what the study is measuring.

How is the study designed?

Design Details

  • Primary Purpose: Other
  • Allocation: Randomized
  • Interventional Model: Parallel Assignment
  • Masking: None (Open Label)

Arms and Interventions

Participant Group / Arm

Participant Group / Arm

A group or subgroup of participants in a clinical trial that receives a specific intervention/treatment, or no intervention, according to the trial's protocol.
Intervention / Treatment

Intervention / Treatment

A process or action that is the focus of a clinical study. Interventions include drugs, medical devices, procedures, vaccines, and other products that are either investigational or already available. Interventions can also include noninvasive approaches, such as education or modifying diet and exercise.
Active Comparator: Typical Diet (TD)
Participants will be instructed to continue habitual dietary intake.
Other: Typical diet
Subjects will be instructed to maintain their current dietary patterns.
Experimental: Increased Egg Consumption (IE)
Participants will be prescribed an additional 2 eggs per day to their diet.
Other: Increased Egg Consumption
Subjects will be instructed to use a weekly food purchase supplement for inclusion of 2 additional eggs per day to be added to subject's typical daily diet.

What is the study measuring?

Primary Outcome Measures

Primary Outcome Measures

In a clinical study's protocol, the planned outcome measure that is the most important for evaluating the effect of an intervention/treatment. Most clinical studies have one primary outcome measure, but some have more than one.
Outcome Measure
Measure Description
Time Frame
Comparison of functional activity during Eriksen-Flanker Task
Time Frame: Baseline (pre-intervention) and 12 weeks (post-intervention)
Changes in regional brain activation during an fMRI scan.
Baseline (pre-intervention) and 12 weeks (post-intervention)
Comparison of grey matter anatomical change
Time Frame: Baseline (pre-intervention) and 12 weeks (post-intervention)
Grey density as measured by MRI
Baseline (pre-intervention) and 12 weeks (post-intervention)
Comparison of white matter connectivity change
Time Frame: Baseline (pre-intervention) and 12 weeks (post-intervention)
White matter connectivity as measured by diffusion tensor imaging
Baseline (pre-intervention) and 12 weeks (post-intervention)
Comparison of cognitive battery performance change
Time Frame: Baseline (pre-intervention) and 12 weeks (post-intervention)
Cognitive performance as measured by stop signal reaction time task
Baseline (pre-intervention) and 12 weeks (post-intervention)
Comparison of cognitive battery performance change
Time Frame: Baseline (pre-intervention) and 12 weeks (post-intervention)
Cognitive performance as measured by operation span task
Baseline (pre-intervention) and 12 weeks (post-intervention)
Comparison of cognitive battery performance change
Time Frame: Baseline (pre-intervention) and 12 weeks (post-intervention)
Cognitive performance as measured by Raven's Progressive Matrices
Baseline (pre-intervention) and 12 weeks (post-intervention)
Comparison of cognitive battery performance change
Time Frame: Baseline (pre-intervention) and 12 weeks (post-intervention)
Cognitive performance as measured by Boston Naming Task
Baseline (pre-intervention) and 12 weeks (post-intervention)
Comparison of Eriksen-Flanker Task performance change
Time Frame: Baseline (pre-intervention) and 12 weeks (post-intervention)
Eriksen-Flanker task performance compared using the drift diffusion model
Baseline (pre-intervention) and 12 weeks (post-intervention)

Collaborators and Investigators

This is where you will find people and organizations involved with this study.

Sponsor

Sponsor

The organization or person who initiates the study and who has authority and control over the study.
Texas Tech University

Collaborators

Collaborators

An organization other than the sponsor that provides support for a clinical study. This support may include activities related to funding, design, implementation, data analysis, or reporting.
American Egg Board

Investigators

Investigators

A researcher involved in a clinical study. Related terms include site principal investigator, site sub-investigator, study chair, study director, and study principal investigator.
  • Principal Investigator: Martin Binks, PhD, Texas Tech University- Department of Nutritional Sciences

Study record dates

These dates track the progress of study record and summary results submissions to ClinicalTrials.gov. Study records and reported results are reviewed by the National Library of Medicine (NLM) to make sure they meet specific quality control standards before being posted on the public website.

Study Major Dates

Study Start (Actual)

Study Start

The actual date on which the first participant was enrolled in a clinical study. The "anticipated" study start date is the date that the researchers think will be the study start date.
May 1, 2019

Primary Completion (Actual)

Primary Completion

The date on which the last participant in a clinical study was examined or received an intervention to collect final data for the primary outcome measure. Whether the clinical study ended according to the protocol or was terminated does not affect this date. For clinical studies with more than one primary outcome measure with different completion dates, this term refers to the date on which data collection is completed for all the primary outcome measures. The "anticipated" primary completion date is the date that the researchers think will be the primary completion date for the study.
March 1, 2021

Study Completion (Actual)

Study Completion

The date on which the last participant in a clinical study was examined or received an intervention/treatment to collect final data for the primary outcome measures, secondary outcome measures, and adverse events (that is, the last participant's last visit). The "anticipated" study completion date is the date that the researchers think will be the study completion date.
March 1, 2021

Study Registration Dates

First Submitted

First Submitted

The date on which the study sponsor or investigator first submitted a study record to ClinicalTrials.gov. There is typically a delay of a few days between the first submitted date and the record's availability on ClinicalTrials.gov (the first posted date).
May 10, 2019

First Submitted That Met QC Criteria

First Submitted That Met QC Criteria

The date on which the study sponsor or investigator first submits a study record that is consistent with National Library of Medicine (NLM) quality control (QC) review criteria. The sponsor or investigator may need to revise and submit a study record one or more times before NLM's QC review criteria are met. It is the responsibility of the sponsor or investigator to ensure that the study record is consistent with the NLM QC review criteria.
May 14, 2019

First Posted (Actual)

First Posted

The date on which the study record was first available on ClinicalTrials.gov after National Library of Medicine (NLM) quality control (QC) review has concluded. There is typically a delay of a few days between the date the study sponsor or investigator submitted the study record and the first posted date.
May 16, 2019

Study Record Updates

Last Update Posted (Actual)

Last Update Posted

The most recent date on which changes to a study record were made available on ClinicalTrials.gov. There may be a delay between when the changes were submitted to ClinicalTrials.gov by the study's sponsor or investigator (the last update submitted date) and the last update posted date.
November 11, 2021

Last Update Submitted That Met QC Criteria

Last Update Submitted That Met QC Criteria

The most recent date on which the study sponsor or investigator submitted changes to a study record that are consistent with National Library of Medicine (NLM) quality control (QC) review criteria. It is the responsibility of the sponsor or investigator to ensure that the study record is consistent with the NLM QC review criteria.
November 9, 2021

Last Verified

Last Verified

The most recent date on which the study sponsor or investigator confirmed the information about a clinical study on ClinicalTrials.gov as accurate and current. If a study with a recruitment status of recruiting; not yet recruiting; or active, not recruiting has not been confirmed within the past 2 years, the study's recruitment status is shown as unknown.
November 1, 2021

More Information

Terms related to this study

Other Study ID Numbers

Other Study ID Numbers

Identifiers or ID numbers other than the NCT number that are assigned to a clinical study by the study's sponsor, funders, or others. These numbers may include unique identifiers from other trial registries and National Institutes of Health grant numbers.
  • TTUIRB2019-160

Drug and device information, study documents

Studies a U.S. FDA-regulated drug product

No

Studies a U.S. FDA-regulated device product

No

This information was retrieved directly from the website clinicaltrials.gov without any changes. If you have any requests to change, remove or update your study details, please contact register@clinicaltrials.gov. As soon as a change is implemented on clinicaltrials.gov, this will be updated automatically on our website as well.

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