Exploring the Influence of Glucagon-like Peptide -1 (GLP-1) Medications on Food Cravings, Food Selection, and Food Intake Following Exposure to Food Advertisements

April 27, 2026 updated by: Travis Masterson, Penn State University

Exploring the Influence of GLP-1 Medications on External Food Cue Reactivity and Resultant Food Choice and Intake

The purpose of this randomized control trial is to compare how food cravings, food selection, and food consumption change in response to frequent food advertisements compared to non-food advertisements in adults taking GLP-1 (weight loss) medications. The primary question we aim to answer is: do GLP-1 medications reduce an individual's vulnerability to external triggers that drive food cravings and consumption?

Participants will:

  • report daily food consumption for a total of 10 days,
  • receive eight daily prompts to view food or non-food related advertisements, and respond to a short 9-question survey for 7 days,
  • answer several questionnaires,
  • and complete two in-person visits to complete a virtual reality food selection task.

Study Overview

Status

Not yet recruiting

Conditions

Intervention / Treatment

Study Type

Interventional

Enrollment (Estimated)

50

Phase

  • Not Applicable

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

  • Adult
  • Older Adult

Accepts Healthy Volunteers

No

Description

Inclusion Criteria:

  • Adults (18+) with overweight or obesity (BMI >25 kg/m2)
  • On an injectable form of tirzepatide GLP-1 medication at a minimum dose of 7.5 mg, taking it as prescribed by their doctor
  • Not currently taking an incretin-based medication at baseline other than the GLP-1 medication
  • Fluent in English

Exclusion Criteria:

  • Do not have consistent access to a smart phone that can access the study software
  • Diagnosed with cognitive or physical disability or epilepsy
  • Adults taking a compound GLP-1

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

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

Arms and Interventions

Participant Group / Arm
Intervention / Treatment
Experimental: Food advertisement group
Advertisements viewed daily by this group will be food and/or beverage products
Behavioral: Food advertisements
Videos and images of food and beverage advertisements from popular brands and/or restaurants
Placebo Comparator: Tech advertisement group
Individuals in this group will only receive tech-related advertisements daily
Behavioral: Tech advertisements
Video and photo advertisements of popular tech tools

What is the study measuring?

Primary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure
Measure Description
Time Frame
Mean food cue reactivity scores in the afternoon
Time Frame: 7-day period of all afternoon survey responses
Average scores of craving levels for each group following afternoon advertisement viewing sessions
7-day period of all afternoon survey responses
Mean food cue reactivity scores in the morning
Time Frame: 7-day period of all morning survey responses
Average scores of craving levels for each group following morning advertisement viewing sessions
7-day period of all morning survey responses
Mean food cue reactivity scores in the evening
Time Frame: 7-day period of all evening survey responses
Average scores of craving levels for each group following evening advertisement viewing sessions
7-day period of all evening survey responses
Mean food cue reactivity scores overall
Time Frame: 7-day period of all survey responses
Average scores of craving levels for each group over all viewing sessions
7-day period of all survey responses
Energy density of consumed foods
Time Frame: 7 days
The energy density profile of foods consumed each day
7 days

Secondary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure
Measure Description
Time Frame
Change from baseline in energy density of foods selected in the virtual buffet
Time Frame: Baseline and 7 days
Baseline and 7 days
Changes in food noise since being on medication questionnaire
Time Frame: Baseline
Questionnaire assessing various aspects of food noise at present compared to before the medication
Baseline
Changes in reasons for purchasing foods questionnaire
Time Frame: Baseline
A questionnaire that assesses how five factors impact purchasing choices, and how the main factors have changed between prior to starting the medication and after.
Baseline
Individual Food Cue Responsiveness--Trait
Time Frame: Baseline
Baseline
Change in brand familiarity, liking, and/or craving
Time Frame: Baseline and 7 days
A questionnaire that measures the familiarity, liking, and craving of each brand the participant will be exposed to (baseline) or has been exposed to (after intervention).
Baseline and 7 days

Collaborators and Investigators

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

Sponsor

Penn State University

Collaborators

Penn State Health

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 (Estimated)

May 1, 2026

Primary Completion (Estimated)

August 1, 2026

Study Completion (Estimated)

September 1, 2026

Study Registration Dates

First Submitted

March 17, 2026

First Submitted That Met QC Criteria

March 26, 2026

First Posted (Actual)

April 1, 2026

Study Record Updates

Last Update Posted (Actual)

May 1, 2026

Last Update Submitted That Met QC Criteria

April 27, 2026

Last Verified

April 1, 2026

More Information

Terms related to this study

Keywords

Other Study ID Numbers

  • STUDY00028881

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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