Enhancing Children's Cognitive Function and Achievement Through Carotenoid Consumption

July 23, 2026 updated by: University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
The aim of this study is to test the casual relationship between carotenoid supplementation, cognitive function, and achievement over a school-year. The central hypothesis is that, relative to the waitlist placebo group, children receiving the carotenoid supplement will exhibit greater gains in cognitive function and achievement.

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.

Detailed Description

This clinical trial will be a randomized placebo-controlled double-blind trial to examine the effects of carotenoid supplementation on cognitive control, hippocampal-dependent relational memory, and academic achievement among pre-adolescents over one school year (i.e. 9-months).

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.
113

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 Contact

Study Contact

The name and contact information for the person who can answer enrollment questions for a clinical study. Each location where the study is being conducted may also have a specific contact, who may be better able to answer those questions.

Study Contact Backup

Study Locations

  • United States
    • Illinois
      • Urbana, Illinois, United States, 61801
        • University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign

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

8 years to 10 years (Child)

Accepts Healthy Volunteers

Yes

Description

Inclusion Criteria:

  • Child assent and parent/guardian consent
  • 8-10 years of age
  • No lutein supplementation within 6-months prior to enrollment (exception of multivitamins containing less than 1 mg lutein/day)
  • Absence of learning disability (parent-reported)
  • Tanner scale score ≤ 2
  • 20/20 or corrected vision

Exclusion Criteria:

  • Non-assent of child or non-consent of guardian
  • Above/below 8-10 years of age
  • Lutein supplementation within 6-months prior to enrollment (including multivitamins containing more than 1 mg lutein/day)
  • Identified learning disability (parent-reported)
  • Tanner scale score > 2
  • Not 20/20 or uncorrected vision

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: Prevention
  • Allocation: Randomized
  • Interventional Model: Parallel Assignment
  • Masking: Triple

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.
Experimental: Active Supplement
The active supplementation group participants will be asked to consume a daily carotenoid supplement for 9 months.
Dietary supplement: Active supplement
Carotenoid supplement comprised of 10mg lutein and 2mg zeaxanthin.
Placebo Comparator: Placebo Control
The placebo control group participants will be asked to consume a placebo supplement for 9 months.
Dietary supplement: Placebo control
Placebo control supplement

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
Attentional Accuracy
Time Frame: 9 months (Baseline vs Follow-up)
Changes in accuracy (%) between groups using a computerized flanker task.
9 months (Baseline vs Follow-up)
Attentional Reaction Time
Time Frame: 9 months (Baseline vs Follow-up)
Changes in reaction time (ms) between groups using a computerized flanker task.
9 months (Baseline vs Follow-up)
Hippocampal-dependent Relational memory
Time Frame: 9 months (Baseline vs Follow-up)
Spatial memory task accuracy
9 months (Baseline vs Follow-up)
Composite Academic Achievement
Time Frame: 9 months (Baseline vs Follow-up)
Kaufman Test of Academic and Educational Achievement II (KTEA III) composite or comprehensive academic achievement score. The scores are standard scores with a minimum score of 40 and a maximum score of 160 where a higher score indicates a better outcome.
9 months (Baseline vs Follow-up)

Secondary Outcome Measures

Secondary Outcome Measures

In a clinical study's protocol, a planned outcome measure that is not as important as the primary outcome measure for evaluating the effect of an intervention but is still of interest. Most clinical studies have more than one secondary outcome measure.
Outcome Measure
Measure Description
Time Frame
Macular Pigment Optical Density
Time Frame: 9 months (Baseline vs Follow-up)
Changes in Macular Pigment Optical Density (log units) between groups using a macular densitometer.
9 months (Baseline vs Follow-up)
Attentional Resource Allocation
Time Frame: 9 months (Baseline vs Follow-up)
Changes in P3 event related potential amplitude (microvolts) between groups using a computerized flanker task.
9 months (Baseline vs Follow-up)
Attentional Processing Speed
Time Frame: 9 months (Baseline vs Follow-up)
Changes in P3 event related potential latency (ms) between groups using a computerized flanker task.
9 months (Baseline vs Follow-up)
Math
Time Frame: 9 months (Baseline vs Follow-up)
Assessed as Mass subtest standard scores on the KTEA III. The scores are standard scores with a minimum score of 40 and a maximum score of 160 where a higher score indicates a better outcome.
9 months (Baseline vs Follow-up)
Reading
Time Frame: 9 months (Baseline vs Follow-up)
Assessed as Reading subtest standard scores on the KTEA III. The scores are standard scores with a minimum score of 40 and a maximum score of 160 where a higher score indicates a better outcome.
9 months (Baseline vs Follow-up)
Written Language
Time Frame: 9 months (Baseline vs Follow-up)
Assessed as Written Language subtest standard scores on the KTEA III. The scores are standard scores with a minimum score of 40 and a maximum score of 160 where a higher score indicates a better outcome.
9 months (Baseline vs Follow-up)
Reading Fluency
Time Frame: 9 months (Baseline vs Follow-up)
Assessed as Reading Fluency subtest standard scores on the KTEA III. The scores are standard scores with a minimum score of 40 and a maximum score of 160 where a higher score indicates a better outcome.
9 months (Baseline vs Follow-up)

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.
University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign

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.
University of Georgia
Northeastern University

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: Naiman Khan, PhD, University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign

Publications and helpful links

The person responsible for entering information about the study voluntarily provides these publications. These may be about anything related to the study.

General Publications

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.
June 23, 2022

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.
July 12, 2026

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.
July 12, 2026

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).
November 2, 2021

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.
December 14, 2021

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.
January 4, 2022

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.
July 27, 2026

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.
July 23, 2026

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.
September 1, 2025

More Information

Terms related to this study

Keywords

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.
  • 21066

Plan for Individual participant data (IPD)

Plan to Share Individual Participant Data (IPD)?

NO

Drug and device information, study documents

Studies a U.S. FDA-regulated drug product

No

Studies a U.S. FDA-regulated device product

No

product manufactured in and exported from the U.S.

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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