Evaluation of Changes in Skin Carotenoid Scores in Medical Students Following Dietary Interventions

January 31, 2020 updated by: Texas Tech University Health Sciences Center
Skin Carotenoid Scores (SCS) are a biomarker of overall antioxidant status. This study will use Raman Spectroscopy to examine the ability of increased dietary intake of fruits and vegetables to increase SCS in medical students. This will be an observational, non-invasive study examining skin carotenoid levels over time in individuals who have increased their intake by dietary adjustments. Thirty medical students meeting study inclusion criteria will be asked to increase their intake of high antioxidant fruits and vegetables to 4-6 cups per day over an eight week period of time. Students will self-select their fruits and vegetables from a given list and will receive supermarket gift cards to offset the cost of the increased food. Students will be asked to follow their usual diet for one week. Then increase their intake of high antioxidant fruit and vegetable to 4-6 cups per day for eight weeks. Then return to their usual diet for 2 weeks. SCS scores will be taken at baseline and week 1. At the beginning of week 2, students will be asked to increase fruit and vegetable intake to 4-6 cups per day. SCS will be measured every two weeks during the 8-week intervention phase. Students will return to their usual diet for 2 weeks and SCS will be measured at the end of that 2-week period.

Study Overview

Status

Completed

Conditions

Intervention / Treatment

Detailed Description

Inclusion criteria:

  • Medical students (any year) from Texas Tech School of Medicine
  • BMI between 20-29
  • Non-smoker, non-pregnant

Exclusion criteria:

  • Individuals suffering from a chronic disease such as diabetes, heart disease, or other metabolic disorder
  • Pregnant women
  • Smokers
  • Individuals with BMI > or = 30 or < or = 19

Study Type

Observational

Enrollment (Actual)

40

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, 79430
        • Texas Tech University Health Sciences Center

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 89 years (Adult, Older Adult)

Accepts Healthy Volunteers

Yes

Genders Eligible for Study

All

Sampling Method

Non-Probability Sample

Study Population

Medical students from Texas Tech University School of Medicine.

Description

Inclusion Criteria:

  • Medical student from any year at Texas Tech University School of Medicine willing to maintain the increased consumption of fruits and vegetables for the entire eight-week experimental period, to maintain logs and to report at each of the times that measurements will be taken.

Exclusion Criteria:

  • Pregnancy
  • Smoker
  • BMI =/> 30
  • Chronic disease such as diabetes, heart disease, or metabolic disorder

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

What is the study measuring?

Primary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure
Measure Description
Time Frame
Skin Carotenoid Scores (SCS)
Time Frame: Baseline, 2,4,6,8,10,12 weeks
Skin Carotenoid Scores (SCS) are a biomarker of overall antioxidant status. The purpose of this study is to measure changes in SCS in medical students when fruit and vegetable consumption is increased. SCS will measured using a Bio-photonic Scanner. This scanner non-invasively measures carotenoid levels in the skin using optical signals. By placing the palm of the hand in front of a low-energy blue light for less than two minutes, the scanner can determine the SCS.
Baseline, 2,4,6,8,10,12 weeks

Secondary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure
Measure Description
Time Frame
Body weight
Time Frame: Baseline, 2,4,6,8,10,12 weeks
Weight will be measured on a calibrated balance scale. Subjects will remove shoes, keys, cellphones, or other objects from their person before being weighed.
Baseline, 2,4,6,8,10,12 weeks

Collaborators and Investigators

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

Sponsor

Texas Tech University Health Sciences Center

Investigators

  • Principal Investigator: Kathy Chauncey, PhD, RDN, Texas Tech University Health Sciences Center

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)

June 1, 2014

Primary Completion (Actual)

December 14, 2016

Study Completion (Actual)

December 14, 2016

Study Registration Dates

First Submitted

June 12, 2014

First Submitted That Met QC Criteria

June 13, 2014

First Posted (Estimate)

June 16, 2014

Study Record Updates

Last Update Posted (Actual)

February 5, 2020

Last Update Submitted That Met QC Criteria

January 31, 2020

Last Verified

January 1, 2020

More Information

Terms related to this study

Keywords

Other Study ID Numbers

  • L14-128
  • CRI14-042 Skin Carotenoids (Other Identifier: Clinical Research Institute)

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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