Impact of Fatty Stimuli on Cerebral Activity in Anorexia Nervosa: a Multi-sensory Approach (ANOVERSION)

Lipid restriction is significant in anorexia nervosa and limits therapeutic management. The multisensory perception of fat is altered, creating an aversion to lipids. The investigators aim to characterize the impact of sensory stimulation (smells or images) associated with specific tastes using neuropsychological assessments and functional MRI. Some volatile aromas can enhance the perception of the associated taste. The investigators hypothesize that such associations are altered in anorexia nervosa for fatty foods but may be preserved for sweet tastes, and that this alteration contributes to the maintenance of the disease. The interdependence of different sensory perceptions of lipids could play a major role in the therapeutic approach, aiding in the deconditioning of this aversion and the restoration of positive food sensory associations.

Study Overview

• Status: Not yet recruiting
• Conditions: Anorexia Nervosa
• Intervention / Treatment: Other: MRI examination; Other: Smell and taste capacity testings

• Study Type: Interventional
• Enrollment (Estimated): 90
• Phase: Not Applicable

Contacts and Locations

• Study Contact: Name: Fabien SCHNEIDER, MD; Phone Number: +33 (0)477127529; Email: fabien.schneider@univ-st-etienne.fr
• Study Contact Backup: Name: Florence RANCON, CDP; Phone Number: +33 (0)477829458; Email: florenc.rancon@chu-st-etienne.fr

Study Locations

• France
  • Saint-Etienne, France, 42055
    • CHU de Saint-Etienne
    • Sub-Investigator: Natacha GERMAIN, MD PhD
    • Sub-Investigator: Bogdan GALUSCA, MD PhD
    • Contact: Fabien SCHNEIDER, MD; Phone Number: +33 (0)477127529; Email: fabien.schneider@chu-st-etienne.fr

Participation Criteria

Eligibility Criteria

• Ages Eligible for Study: Adult; Older Adult
• Accepts Healthy Volunteers: Yes

Description

Inclusion Criteria:

• Person affiliated or entitled to a social security scheme
• Person having received informed information on the study and having co-signed, with the investigator, a consent to participate in the study
• female person
• Person affiliated or entitled to a social security scheme
• Over 18 years'old
• Knowing how to read and write French
• Patient diagnosed with anorexia nervosa according to DSM-5 criteria for at least 5 years (HAS criteria). Failure of prior outpatient or/and hospitalization care over the last 12 months: stable or falling low BMI, unmodified food restriction, continued fear of weight gain, disturbances in the perception of body image
• BMI < 18.5 kg/m² for volunteers in a state of constitutional thinness. The absence of eating disorder and the absence of restriction to DEBQ questionnaires. Fertility preserved.
• For volunteers of normal weight: 18.5 kg/m² < BMI < 25 kg/m²

Exclusion Criteria:

• Pregnant women, parturient, nursing mothers;
• Persons deprived of their liberty, hospitalized without consent, hospitalized for purposes other than research;
• Minors
• Refusal of the study by the participant
• Person incapable of giving informed consent
• Artificial nutrition
• Associated organic damage favoring undernutrition: other chronic diseases (digestive, infectious, endocrine, pulmonary, cardiac, neurological), neoplasms, etc.
• Abuse of psychoactive substances except tobacco
• Characterized depressive episode, psychosis
• Score less than 14 on the Edinburgh laterality questionnaire.
• Contraindications to MRI or allergy to one of the components of the olfactory and taste tests
• Smokers
• Smell or taste alterations

Study Plan

How is the study designed?

Design Details

• Primary Purpose: Basic Science
• Allocation: Non-Randomized
• Interventional Model: Parallel Assignment
• Masking: None (Open Label)

Number of Arms

3

Arms and Interventions

Participant Group / Arm	Intervention / Treatment
Experimental: Anorexia Nervosa patient group; 30 patients with anorexia nervosa	Other: MRI examination; One hour MRI examination; Other: Smell and taste capacity testings; one hour sensory testings
Active Comparator: Normal Weight Control group; 30 control subjects of normal weight	Other: MRI examination; One hour MRI examination; Other: Smell and taste capacity testings; one hour sensory testings
Active Comparator: Low Weight Control group; 30 control subjects with a similar weight to AN patients (the constitutional thinness group)	Other: MRI examination; One hour MRI examination; Other: Smell and taste capacity testings; one hour sensory testings

What is the study measuring?

Primary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure	Measure Description	Time Frame
Brain activity measured by functional MRI	Estimation of the "fatty vs. neutral" contrast when all three senses are used, comparing AN patients to the normal-weight control group (NC group) in each voxel of the brain volume (whole-brain analysis) and in the orbitofrontal cortex (ROI analysis).	Day 1

Secondary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure	Measure Description	Time Frame
Brain activity measured by functional MRI	Estimation of the "fatty vs. neutral" contrast when all three senses are used, comparing AN patients to the control group with a similar BMI (CT group) in each voxel of the brain volume (whole-brain analysis) and in the orbitofrontal cortex (ROI analysis).	Day 1
Brain activity measured by functional MRI	BOLD signal variations between the groups (AN, NC, and CT) for the "sweet vs. neutral" contrast.	Day 1
Brain activity measured by functional MRI	BOLD signal variations for single vs. three senses simultaneously for each group and between groups for the "fatty vs. neutral" and "sweet vs. neutral" contrasts.	Day 1
BMI	Body Mass Index	DAY 1.
Olfactory and gustatory abilities	MediSens tests of olfactory and gustatory abilities	Day 1
3DT1 morphological MRI	Brain morphometric measures and voxel-based morphometry.	Day 1

Collaborators and Investigators

• Sponsor: Centre Hospitalier Universitaire de Saint Etienne

Study record dates

Study Major Dates

• Study Start (Estimated): January 1, 2026
• Primary Completion (Estimated): November 1, 2027
• Study Completion (Estimated): November 1, 2027

Study Registration Dates

• First Submitted: December 22, 2025
• First Submitted That Met QC Criteria: January 8, 2026
• First Posted (Actual): January 15, 2026

Study Record Updates

• Last Update Posted (Actual): January 15, 2026
• Last Update Submitted That Met QC Criteria: January 8, 2026
• Last Verified: January 1, 2026

More Information

Terms related to this study

• Keywords: MRI; Anorexia nervosa,; Lipid aversion
• Additional Relevant MeSH Terms: Mental Disorders; Feeding and Eating Disorders; Anorexia Nervosa; Musculoskeletal and Neural Physiological Phenomena; Nervous System Physiological Phenomena; Sensation; Smell
• Other Study ID Numbers: 24CH172; ANSM (Other Identifier: 2025-A02921-48)

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