Effect of Eggs and Egg Components on Cognitive Performance and Appetite in School-aged Children

The purpose of the present study is to determine the effects of eggs and egg components on cognitive performance and appetite in children aged 9-14 years, as well as to identify the underlying physiological mechanisms in this relationship.

Study Overview

• Status: Completed
• Conditions: Cognitive Performance; Nutrition; Appetite
• Intervention / Treatment: Other: Snack skipping; Other: Whole eggs; Other: Egg whites; Other: Egg yolks; Other: Yogurt

Detailed Description

Children will be asked to refrain from exercising the morning of their test day and inform researchers of any illness. Following a 12-hour overnight fast, children will consume a standardized breakfast of a cereal bar, fruit cup and orange juice at home (total 330 kcal). Children will be asked to avoid consumption of any other food, with the exception of water, until arrival at the laboratory 3 hours later.

At the laboratory, five treatments of: (a) 2 whole eggs, (b) 2 egg whites, (c) 2 egg yolks, (d) full fat yogurt isocaloric to the 2 whole eggs, and (e) snack skipping will be provided to children 9-14 years on separate days at least 7 days apart. Cognitive performance, subjective emotion/mood, and subjective appetite will be measured for 90-minutes following snack consumption (n=25). Cognitive performance assessments will include learning and memory, spatial memory, attention and processing speed, and executive functions. In a subgroup of individuals (n=10), glucose, insulin, incretin hormones (glucagon like peptide1(GLP1) and gastric inhibitory polypeptide (GIP)),dipeptidyl peptidase 4 (DPP4), amino acids, fatty acids, and choline will be measured for 90-minutes following snack consumption.

• Study Type: Interventional
• Enrollment (Actual): 19
• Phase: Not Applicable

Contacts and Locations

Study Locations

• Canada
  • Ontario
    • Toronto, Ontario, Canada, M5B 2K3
      • School of Nutrition, Ryerson University

Participation Criteria

Eligibility Criteria

• Ages Eligible for Study: 9 years to 14 years (Child)
• Accepts Healthy Volunteers: No
• Genders Eligible for Study: All

Description

Inclusion Criteria:

• be between 9 and 14 years of age
• be healthy, and have been born at term
• healthy body weight (between the 5th and 85th BMI percentile for age and gender)

Exclusion Criteria:

• children with food sensitivities or allergies to eggs, egg-products, dairy and wheat
• children with any diagnosed learning, emotional, or behavioral disabilities
• children on medications that may influence cognitive performance

Study Plan

How is the study designed?

Design Details

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

Number of Arms

5

Arms and Interventions

Participant Group / Arm	Intervention / Treatment
Experimental: Snack skipping; No snack provided	Other: Snack skipping; No snack provided
Experimental: Whole eggs; 2 whole large eggs as a snack	Other: Whole eggs; 2 whole large eggs scrambled, provided as a snack
Experimental: Egg whites; 2 egg whites as a snack	Other: Egg whites; 2 egg whites scrambled, provided as a snack
Experimental: Egg yolks; 2 egg yolks as a snack	Other: Egg yolks; 2 egg yolks scrambled, provided as a snack
Active Comparator: Yogurt; Full fat yogurt as a snack	Other: Yogurt; A serving of full fat yogurt that is isocaloric to the 2 whole eggs

What is the study measuring?

Primary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure	Measure Description	Time Frame
Change in memory from baseline	One of five word lists composed of 15 words will be audio-visually presented to children. The majority of the words will be one syllable, and four words in each list will be two syllables long. The list will be presented at baseline and the children will be asked to recall as many words as possible at each time-point. The list will be presented for 2.5 minutes, and children will have 2 minutes for both immediate and delayed recall.	15, 30, 60, and 90 minutes
Change in spatial working memory from baseline	Assessed using a spatial pattern recognition test via the Membrain application. The test consists of a series of subtests where children will be presented a picture with patterns to study, and asked to identify a picture with the same pattern from a group of four images. This test will be at each time-point and takes approximately 1 minute to complete.	0, 15, 30, 60, and 90 minutes
Change in attention from baseline	The continuous performance task (CPT) will be completed via the Membrain application. During the CPT task, children will be given a sequence of two letters to identify; for example respond to the detection of the letter "X" only when it is preceded by the letter "A". This task will be at each time-point and will take 3 minutes total to complete.	0, 15, 30, 60, and 90 minutes
Change in executive function from baseline	The Stroop task will be completed via the Membrain application. Children will be presented with a list of words presented in colors that match the word (congruent, the word 'red' presented in red) or colors that do not match the word (incongruent, the word 'red' presented in blue). Children will be asked to identify the color of the word, not the word itself. The task is scored for the number of correct and incorrect colors identified, as well as total time to completion. This test will be at each time-point and will take 1 minute to complete.	0, 15, 30, 60, and 90 minutes

Secondary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure	Measure Description	Time Frame
Change from baseline mood	Measured using visual analogue scale (mm). Each VAS is a 100 mm line where they will place a pencil mark to describe their feelings.These emotions will be seperated into three categories including, subjective emotions (aggressive, angry, excited, disappointed, and frustrated), global vigour and affect (alert, sad, tense, effort, happy, weary, calm and sleepy), and wellness. These sub scales will be combined to compute an average total score for each category.	0, 15, 30, 60, and 90 minutes
Change from baseline subjective appetite	Measured using visual analogue scale (mm). Each VAS is a 100 mm line where they will place a pencil mark to describe their feelings. Average appetite will combine four questions (desire to eat, hunger, fullness, and prospective food consumption) to calculate the score.	0, 15, 30, 60, and 90 minutes
Change from baseline cholecystokinin (CCK)	Blood CCK (pmol/L). CCK concentration in serum will be determined in duplicate via enzymelinked immunosorbent assay kits (ELISA; Millipore, Billerica, Massachusetts).	0, 15, 30, 60, and 90 minutes
Change from baseline dipeptidyl peptidase 4 (DPP4)	Blood DPP4 (ng/mL). DPP4 concentration in serum will be determined in duplicate via enzymelinked immunosorbent assay kits (ELISA; Millipore, Billerica, Massachusetts).	0, 15, 30, 60, and 90 minutes
Change from baseline glucagonlike peptide1 (GLP1)	Blood GLP1 (pmol/L). GLP1 concentration in serum will be determined in duplicate via enzymelinked immunosorbent assay kits (ELISA; Millipore, Billerica, Massachusetts).	0, 15, 30, 60, and 90 minutes
Change from baseline insulin	Blood insulin (pmol/L). Insulin concentration in serum will be determined in duplicate via enzymelinked immunosorbent assay kits (ELISA; Millipore, Billerica, Massachusetts).	0, 15, 30, 60, and 90 minutes
Change from baseline glycemic response	Blood glucose will be measured in whole blood using YSI 2300 STAT PLUS (YSI Incorporated, Yellow Springs, OH)	0, 15, 30, 60, and 90 minutes
Change from baseline amino acids	From plasma blood samples. Amino acids will be determined using the pre-column derivatization HPLC procedure. A plasma sample will be de-proteinizied with a 5-sulfosalicyclic acid solution, then centrifuged at 4°C and 18,400 G for 15 minutes. The amino acids will be derivatized from the sample with ortho-phthaldehyde reagent. The sample will then be analyzed using the Perkin Elmer Series HPLC System in the Ryerson University Analytical Centre.	0, 15, 30, 60, and 90 minutes
Change from baseline fatty acids	From plasma blood samples. Fatty acids will be assessed via gas chromatography, an effective method to measure both the proportions and concentrations of fatty acids in plasma. A plasma sample will be prepared by trans-esterification of total lipid aliquots with a MeOH/HCl mixture and n-hexane. The sample will then be analyzed using the Perkin Elmer Auto-System in the Ryerson University Analytical Centre.	0, 15, 30, 60, and 90 minutes
Change from baseline choline	From plasma blood samples. Will be analyzed for choline using a fluorimetric assay; free choline will be oxidized by choline oxidase to betaine and H2O2 that reacts with a specific dye to form a pink colored product. The fluorescence intensity at 530/585 nm is directly proportional to the choline concentration in the sample.	0, 15, 30, 60, and 90 minutes

Collaborators and Investigators

• Sponsor: Ryerson University

Study record dates

Study Major Dates

• Study Start (Actual): April 9, 2018
• Primary Completion (Actual): December 1, 2018
• Study Completion (Actual): December 1, 2019

Study Registration Dates

• First Submitted: October 18, 2017
• First Submitted That Met QC Criteria: October 20, 2017
• First Posted (Actual): October 25, 2017

Study Record Updates

• Last Update Posted (Actual): March 11, 2020
• Last Update Submitted That Met QC Criteria: March 9, 2020
• Last Verified: March 1, 2020

More Information

Terms related to this study

• Keywords: Children; Emotion; Nutrition; Cognitive performance; Appetite; Glycemic response; Eggs
• Other Study ID Numbers: Ryerson-REB-2017

Plan for Individual participant data (IPD)

• Plan to Share Individual Participant Data (IPD)?: Undecided

Drug and device information, study documents

• Studies a U.S. FDA-regulated drug product: No
• Studies a U.S. FDA-regulated device product: No