Effects of Grape Powder on Psychological Distress and Gut Microbiota in College Students

January 14, 2026 updated by: Guojun Wu, Ph.D., Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey

Effects of Grape Powder on Psychological Distress and Gut Microbiota in College Students (FTGP2025)

The goal of this trial is to investigate the effect of freeze-dried table grape powder (FTGP) on psychological distress and gut microbiota in college students. The main questions it aims to answer are:

Does FTGP reduce anxiety, depression, and perceived stress? Does FTGP improve the gut microbiota? Researchers will compare FTGP to a placebo to see how FTGP affects psychological distress and gut microbiota.

Participants will:

Drink a daily supplement containing FTGP or a placebo for 4 weeks. Record consumption of grape powder or placebo in a compliance log. Complete surveys and provide stool samples. Three in-person visits.

Study Overview

Status

Active, not recruiting

Conditions

Intervention / Treatment

Study Type

Interventional

Enrollment (Estimated)

50

Phase

  • 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 Locations

    • New Jersey
      • New Brunswick, New Jersey, United States, 08901
        • Department of Biochemistry and Microbiology, School of Environmental and Biological Sciences, Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey

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

Ages Eligible for Study

  • Adult

Accepts Healthy Volunteers

Yes

Description

Inclusion Criteria:

  • Aged 18-30 years old
  • Able to give written informed consent.
  • BMI 18.5-24.9 kg/m2
  • Healthy (self-reported)
  • Can read and speak English

Exclusion Criteria:

  • Currently taking medications that interfere with polyphenol
  • Currently using or have used antibiotics continuously for >3 days within 3 months prior to enrollment
  • Have had surgery involving the intestinal lumen within the last 30 days
  • Have a documented diagnosis of celiac disease or/and inflammatory bowel diseases
  • Are pregnant or breastfeeding
  • Have prediabetes and diabetes
  • Have had bariatric surgery
  • Are immunocompromised ( e.g., cancer treatment, bone marrow/organ transplant, immune deficiency, or poorly controlled HIV/AIDS)
  • Are unable to provide consent
  • Are hospitalized,
  • Have a history of or current alcohol, drug, or medication abuse (self-reported),
  • Have contraindication to any substance in the investigational product or who are currently enrolled in other interventional trials

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: Basic Science
  • Allocation: Randomized
  • Interventional Model: Parallel Assignment
  • Masking: Double

Arms and Interventions

Participant Group / Arm
Intervention / Treatment
Experimental: freeze-dried table grape powder (FTGP)
Drink a daily supplement containing FTGP for 4 weeks
48g freeze-dried table grape powder/day for 4 weeks
Placebo Comparator: Placebo
Drink a daily supplement containing a placebo for 4 weeks
48g placebo/day for 4 weeks

What is the study measuring?

Primary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure
Measure Description
Time Frame
Hamilton Anxiety Scale -14
Time Frame: baseline (1st), week 4 (2nd) and week 5 (3rd)
HAMA-14 is one of the earliest and most widely used clinical scales for measuring the severity of a patient's anxiety. It has 14 items, each reflecting a cluster of anxiety symptoms. Total range: 0 to 56, with higher scores indicating greater severity of anxiety
baseline (1st), week 4 (2nd) and week 5 (3rd)
17-item of Hamilton Depression Rating Scale
Time Frame: baseline (1st), week 4 (2nd) and week5 (3rd)
HAMD-17 is one of the most widely used clinician-administered scales for measuring the severity of a patient's depression. It has 17 items, each covering symptoms of depression across mood, physical, and cognitive domains. With higher scores indicating greater severity of depression.
baseline (1st), week 4 (2nd) and week5 (3rd)
10-item of Perceived Stress Scale
Time Frame: baseline (1st), week 4 (2nd) and week5 (3rd)
PSS-10 is one of the most widely used psychological instruments for measuring the perception of stress. It has 10 items, each reflecting how unpredictable, uncontrollable, and overloaded respondents find their lives during the past month. Total range: 0 to 40, with higher scores indicating greater perceived stress.
baseline (1st), week 4 (2nd) and week5 (3rd)

Secondary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure
Measure Description
Time Frame
Shannon Index of gut microbiota
Time Frame: baseline (1st), week 4 (2nd) and week5 (3rd)
Changes in gut microbiota will be assessed from stool samples using 16S rRNA gene sequencing. Alpha diversity will be calculated using Shannon Index. This measure will characterize whether the intervention alters gut microbial diversity in each subject.
baseline (1st), week 4 (2nd) and week5 (3rd)
Beta diversity of gut microbiota
Time Frame: baseline (1st), week 4 (2nd) and week 5 (3rd)
Changes in gut microbiota will be assessed from stool samples using 16S rRNA gene sequencing. Beta diversity will be calculated using Bray Curtis distance between samples. This measure will characterize whether and how the intervention alters gut microbial communities.
baseline (1st), week 4 (2nd) and week 5 (3rd)
fecal short chain fatty acid
Time Frame: baseline (1st), week 4 (2nd) and week5 (3rd)
fecal short chain fatty acid will be measured by GC-MS
baseline (1st), week 4 (2nd) and week5 (3rd)

Collaborators and Investigators

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

Sponsor

Collaborators

Investigators

  • Principal Investigator: Guojun Wu, Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey

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)

October 20, 2025

Primary Completion (Actual)

December 24, 2025

Study Completion (Estimated)

May 30, 2026

Study Registration Dates

First Submitted

October 1, 2025

First Submitted That Met QC Criteria

October 7, 2025

First Posted (Estimated)

October 9, 2025

Study Record Updates

Last Update Posted (Actual)

January 15, 2026

Last Update Submitted That Met QC Criteria

January 14, 2026

Last Verified

January 1, 2026

More Information

Terms related to this study

Other Study ID Numbers

  • Pro2025001394

Plan for Individual participant data (IPD)

Plan to Share Individual Participant Data (IPD)?

NO

IPD Plan Description

IPD might not be shared according to the consent form.

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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