Investigation of the Effects of Bariatric Surgery on Taste Reward in Humans

October 22, 2020 updated by: Carel Le Roux, Imperial College London
The investigators hypothesize that some of these changes in the reduced appetite after surgery may be due to alterations in taste. The aim is to compare obese patients before and after bariatric surgery (gastric bypass and banding) to define the reward value of sweet, fatty and vegetable/fruit taste in obese individuals, and how this changes after surgery.

Study Overview

Status

Completed

Conditions

Detailed Description

Severe obesity is associated with excessive food eating and appetite. Bariatric surgery (also known as 'obesity surgery' or 'weight loss surgery') is a well known treatment for severely obese individuals. The way in which these operations achieve weight loss is not fully understood. The investigators hypothesize that some of these changes in the reduced appetite after surgery may be due to alterations in taste. The aim is to compare obese patients before and after bariatric surgery (gastric bypass and banding) to define the reward value of sweet, fatty and vegetable/fruit taste in obese individuals, and how this changes after surgery.

Study Type

Observational

Enrollment (Actual)

22

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 Kingdom
      • London, United Kingdom, W6 8RF
        • Imperial Weight Centre, Imperial College London

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

18 years to 65 years (Adult, Older Adult)

Accepts Healthy Volunteers

Yes

Genders Eligible for Study

All

Sampling Method

Non-Probability Sample

Study Population

Patients with obesity attending a specialist obesity clinic and normal weight controls who are staff at Imperial College London

Description

Inclusion Criteria:

  • BMI of 18-25 for normal weight volunteers
  • BMI of >30 for obese patients

Exclusion Criteria:

  • Pregnancy
  • breast feeding
  • substance abuse
  • consumption of more than 3 alcoholic units per day
  • severe psychiatric illness
  • lack of understanding of test instructions
  • diabetes mellitus
  • chronic medical conditions making a general anaesthetic unsafe
  • allergy to stimulus ingredients
  • active smoking

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

Cohorts and Interventions

Group / Cohort
Control
Normal weight healthy volunteers
Bariatric Surgery
obese patients due to undergo gastric bypass or gastric banding

What is the study measuring?

Primary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure
Measure Description
Time Frame
Breakpoints as Assessed by Change in the Number of Mouse Clicks in the Last Completed Ratio
Time Frame: 2 weeks pre and 8-12 weeks post operatively for surgical patients or on two occasions 10-14 weeks apart for normal weight control group
Patients were placed in front of a computer screen and a plate of 20 chocolate candies. The following prompt appeared on the screen: "You can earn food by clicking on the mouse button. Click as much or as little as you like. When you no longer want to continue, press the spacebar to stop the session."Upon completion of each ratio a message box appeared on the screen: "You have earned food. Enjoy your reward and after you have swallowed it completely you may click on OK to continue with the programme."After ingesting the reward, the patients pressed the OK button in the message box only if they wished to progress to the next ratio to obtain another chocolate candy. The starting ratio was 10 clicks with a geometric increment of 2 (i.e., 10, 20, 40, 80, and so on). When the effort of pressing the mouse button was greater than the rewarding value of the chocolate candy, patients pressed on the space bar to terminate the session. This indicated that the breakpoint was reached.
2 weeks pre and 8-12 weeks post operatively for surgical patients or on two occasions 10-14 weeks apart for normal weight control group

Secondary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure
Measure Description
Time Frame
Hunger
Time Frame: 2 weeks pre and 8-12 weeks post operatively for surgical patients or on two occasions 10-14 weeks apart for normal weight control group

Visual Analogue Scale ratings of hunger. The scale is 100mm line with two anchors at each end. Scores are recorded by making a handwritten mark that represents a continuum between "not hungry at all" and "Extremely hungry." The score of 0 represents least hunger. The score of 100 represents extreme hunger.

change in hunger levels quantified by a 100mm visual analogue scale
2 weeks pre and 8-12 weeks post operatively for surgical patients or on two occasions 10-14 weeks apart for normal weight control group
Body Mass Index
Time Frame: 2 weeks pre and 8-12 weeks post operatively for surgical patients or on two occasions 10-14 weeks apart for normal weight control group
change in BMI will be quantified based on the participants weight in kilograms and height in meters
2 weeks pre and 8-12 weeks post operatively for surgical patients or on two occasions 10-14 weeks apart for normal weight control group

Collaborators and Investigators

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

Sponsor

Imperial College London

Collaborators

Medical Research Council

Investigators

  • Principal Investigator: Carel W le Roux, MRCP PhD, Imperial College London

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

July 1, 2010

Primary Completion (Actual)

January 1, 2012

Study Completion (Actual)

January 1, 2012

Study Registration Dates

First Submitted

February 6, 2012

First Submitted That Met QC Criteria

February 8, 2012

First Posted (Estimate)

February 13, 2012

Study Record Updates

Last Update Posted (Actual)

November 16, 2020

Last Update Submitted That Met QC Criteria

October 22, 2020

Last Verified

October 1, 2020

More Information

Terms related to this study

Keywords

Other Study ID Numbers

  • PRT

Plan for Individual participant data (IPD)

Plan to Share Individual Participant Data (IPD)?

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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