Taste Changes With Bariatric Surgery

October 29, 2020 updated by: Elizabeth Parks, University of Missouri-Columbia
It is commonly believed that a link exists between BMI and taste perception. One group of researchers observed that women who are obese experience reduced taste sensitivity when compared to normal-weight controls. Others have compared taste sensitivity between lean and obese subjects and found no significant differences. The inconsistencies in these studies demonstrate how much variation in taste sensitivity is possible when different factors are applied in research. Throughout several studies, one element remains constant - bariatric surgery causes appetite aversions. These changes in appetite and food preference likely have a large influence on the overall magnitude of post-surgical weight loss. Although many studies have investigated the changes in taste preference after bariatric surgery, few, if any, have focused on changes in sweet taste perception.

Study Overview

Status

Completed

Conditions

Intervention / Treatment

Detailed Description

The overall goal of the present project is to determine how future bariatric surgery will affect the taste for sweet liquids. Taste perception will be assessed before surgery (pre-operative, pre-op) and after bariatric surgery, at approximately 1 month. Taste studies will be conducted with solutions prepared freshly before each test using sucrose dissolved in distilled water. Six concentrations of sucrose (table sugar) will be tasted in random order, with the most concentrated solution being roughly the sweetness of soda. The subject is blinded to the concentrations. It is hypothesized that there will be no significant difference in taste perception when pre-op and post-op values are compared. However, the investigators hypothesize that taste preference will identify solutions with lower concentrations post-op.

Study Type

Observational

Enrollment (Actual)

21

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

    • Missouri
      • Columbia, Missouri, United States, 65212
        • University of Missouri
      • Columbia, Missouri, United States, 65212
        • Elizabeth Parks

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

21 years to 70 years (ADULT, OLDER_ADULT)

Accepts Healthy Volunteers

No

Genders Eligible for Study

Female

Sampling Method

Non-Probability Sample

Study Population

Women aged 21-70 will be recruited from the University of Missouri Bariatric Surgery Clinic.

Description

Inclusion Criteria:

  • Women who plan to undergo bariatric surgery.
  • Age: 21-70y.
  • Non-smokers (at least 3 months post smoking cessation).
  • Non-diabetic or prediabetic

Exclusion Criteria:

  • Subject on a medication known to affect taste perception: Antibiotics, thyroid medications, psychotropic, neurological, and cardiac medications.
  • Inability to understand the test instructions.
  • Subject has already undergone bariatric surgery

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
Intervention / Treatment
Bariatric surgery patients
All subjects will be patients scheduled for bariatric surgery. There is only one arm in this study.
All subjects will complete a procedure to determine their taste sensitivity to sweet tastants.

What is the study measuring?

Primary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure
Measure Description
Time Frame
Taste Perception on an Interval Scale
Time Frame: Change from baseline to one month after bariatric surgery
Taste perception will be assessed by the subjects' responses to varying sucrose solutions. The interval scale begins with "barely detectable" at zero and goes up to "strongest imaginable" at 10. Subjects will be asked to draw an "X" at the location on the graph corresponding to their perception.
Change from baseline to one month after bariatric surgery

Collaborators and Investigators

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

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.

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)

May 24, 2018

Primary Completion (ACTUAL)

December 20, 2019

Study Completion (ACTUAL)

May 4, 2020

Study Registration Dates

First Submitted

May 24, 2018

First Submitted That Met QC Criteria

June 5, 2018

First Posted (ACTUAL)

June 6, 2018

Study Record Updates

Last Update Posted (ACTUAL)

November 2, 2020

Last Update Submitted That Met QC Criteria

October 29, 2020

Last Verified

March 1, 2020

More Information

Terms related to this study

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

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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