Food Choice, Psychological Bias, and Genetic Predisposition

This project aims to assess if food choice is impacted by loss aversion (LA), and if this differs based on genetic predisposition to LA, in a UK healthy cohort.

Study Overview

• Status: Completed
• Conditions: Food Preferences; Genetic Predisposition; Psychological
• Intervention / Treatment: Other: No intervention

Detailed Description

Food choice, defined as how individuals decide on what to buy and eat, involves the acceptance and rejection of specific foods. Food customisation is becoming more common amongst food retailers, allowing customers to alter their meals to their preferences by removing or adding items. Today, food choice is viewed as more complex, food choices are not just dictated by taste but nutritional quality, allergens, and habits. For example, the framework provided for food customisation (e.g. pizza with toppings or a build you own pizza) and the perceived 'healthiness' of food items (e.g. the pizza toppings) can alter food choice. Psychological reasoning, the process by which humans make decisions by drawing conclusions can play a role in food choice; however, humans can possess a psychological bias leading to illogical decision making. Genetics can too play a role in decision making resulting in predetermined influence on food choice. This research wishes to determine if individual's genetics can affect their food choices by researching psychological biases to food choices.

• Study Type: Observational
• Enrollment (Actual): 100

Contacts and Locations

• Study Contact: Name: Catherine Graham, PhD; Phone Number: 3956 0186548; Email: cgraham@brookes.ac.uk

Study Locations

• United Kingdom
  • Oxford, United Kingdom
    • Oxford Brookes University

Participation Criteria

Eligibility Criteria

• Ages Eligible for Study: 18 years and older (Adult, Older Adult)
• Accepts Healthy Volunteers: Yes
• Genders Eligible for Study: All

• Sampling Method: Non-Probability Sample

Study Population

Male or female, adult (18+), UK-based

Description

Inclusion Criteria:

• Healthy (no known health condition)
• 18 + years of age
• UK based

Exclusion Criteria:

• Vegetarian
• Vegan
• Other dietary pattern that restricts the consumption of animal products

Study Plan

How is the study designed?

Number of groups / cohorts

1

Cohorts and Interventions

Group / Cohort	Intervention / Treatment
Healthy UK adults	Other: No intervention; No intervention

What is the study measuring?

Primary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure	Measure Description	Time Frame
Frequency of food items remaining	Number of food items added/removed from each decision frame	December 2021
Frequency of healthy and unhealthy items remaining	Number of healthy and unhealthy food items added/removed from each decision frame	December 2021
Loss aversion score		December 2021
Genotype: BDNF Val/Met (rs6265), and DRD2 ANNKK1 Taq1a/ANKK1 (rs1800497)		December 2021

Collaborators and Investigators

• Sponsor: Oxford Brookes University
• Collaborators: St. Mary's University, Twickenham

Study record dates

Study Major Dates

• Study Start (Actual): June 9, 2021
• Primary Completion (Actual): January 1, 2023
• Study Completion (Actual): January 1, 2023

Study Registration Dates

• First Submitted: June 29, 2021
• First Submitted That Met QC Criteria: June 29, 2021
• First Posted (Actual): July 8, 2021

Study Record Updates

• Last Update Posted (Actual): March 22, 2023
• Last Update Submitted That Met QC Criteria: March 21, 2023
• Last Verified: March 1, 2023

More Information

Terms related to this study

• Additional Relevant MeSH Terms: Pathologic Processes; Disease Attributes; Disease Susceptibility; Genetic Predisposition to Disease
• Other Study ID Numbers: 0521_01

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