Impact of Crisp Hardness and Thickness on Eating Behaviour

May 11, 2026 updated by: PepsiCo Global R&D
To analyse texturally altered crisp products that exhibit variations in hardness and thickness. The aim is to generate knowledge on how these properties influence eating behaviour (number of chews, rate of consumption, etc.), sensory and liking ratings in a fixed-portion laboratory setting. To assess whether reducing rate of consumption will maintain consumer acceptability,

Study Overview

Status

Not yet recruiting

Conditions

Intervention / Treatment

Study Type

Interventional

Enrollment (Estimated)

26

Phase

  • Not Applicable

Contacts and Locations

This section provides the contact details for those conducting the study, and information on where this study is being conducted.

Study Contact

Study Locations

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

Accepts Healthy Volunteers

Yes

Description

Inclusion Criteria:

  • 18 to 50 years of age
  • Regular crisp consumer (e.g. at least two to three times a month or more)
  • Provide informed consent

Exclusion Criteria:

  • Those who are on a restricted diet due to weight loss or maintenance purposes
  • Have abnormal eating speeds (tested via the carrot test)
  • Smoke or vape
  • Being pregnant or breastfeeding
  • Very high exercise loads that may influence appetite
  • Allergy or intolerance to any of the product ingredients

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: Basic Science
  • Allocation: Randomized
  • Interventional Model: Crossover Assignment
  • Masking: Quadruple

Arms and Interventions

Participant Group / Arm
Intervention / Treatment
Experimental: Pilot Plant control crisp
3 baked potato crisps (same content as standard recipe) produced in lab pilot plant
Other: Snack food
Potato crisps, all with identical salted seasoning
Experimental: Thin crispy
3 baked potato crisps
Other: Snack food
Potato crisps, all with identical salted seasoning
Experimental: Thin hard
3 baked potato crisps
Other: Snack food
Potato crisps, all with identical salted seasoning
Experimental: Thick crispy
3 baked potato crisps
Other: Snack food
Potato crisps, all with identical salted seasoning
Experimental: Thick hard
3 baked potato crisps
Other: Snack food
Potato crisps, all with identical salted seasoning

What is the study measuring?

Primary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure
Measure Description
Time Frame
Eating rate
Time Frame: Day 1, during consumption of each fixed-portion product sample, from product entering the mouth to full consumption/swallow; approximately 1 minute per sample
Fixed-portion (tree crisps of each of five types) that vary in hardness and thickness.
Day 1, during consumption of each fixed-portion product sample, from product entering the mouth to full consumption/swallow; approximately 1 minute per sample

Secondary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure
Measure Description
Time Frame
Participant responses to texture
Time Frame: Day 1, immediately after consumption of each fixed-portion product sample; approximately 1 minute per sample
Rating of perceived texture attributes (dryness, hardness, chewiness, flavour intensity, crunchiness, oiliness, aftertaste) using a 0-100 visual analogue scale, and overall liking) with written anchors tailored to the question. Higher scores reflect a greater subjective feeling of the variable being measured.
Day 1, immediately after consumption of each fixed-portion product sample; approximately 1 minute per sample
Appetite: Hunger
Time Frame: Day 1: Baseline (minute 0), before product consumption, and after completion of all product samples, approximately 15 minutes later
Rating of hunger using a 0-100 visual analogue scale
Day 1: Baseline (minute 0), before product consumption, and after completion of all product samples, approximately 15 minutes later
Appetite: Fullness
Time Frame: Day 1: Baseline (minute 0), before product consumption, and after completion of all product samples, approximately 15 minutes later
Rating of fullness using a 0-100 visual analogue scale
Day 1: Baseline (minute 0), before product consumption, and after completion of all product samples, approximately 15 minutes later
Appetite: Desire to eat
Time Frame: Day 1: Baseline (minute 0), before product consumption, and after completion of all product samples, approximately 15 minutes later
Rating of desire to eat using a 0-100 visual analogue scale
Day 1: Baseline (minute 0), before product consumption, and after completion of all product samples, approximately 15 minutes later

Other Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure
Measure Description
Time Frame
Video recording of eating behavior
Time Frame: Day 1, during consumption of each fixed-portion product sample; approximately 1 minute per sample
Oral processing variables such as eating rate (g/min), bite size (g/bite), and chews per bite
Day 1, during consumption of each fixed-portion product sample; approximately 1 minute per sample

Collaborators and Investigators

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

Sponsor

PepsiCo Global R&D

Investigators

  • Principal Investigator: David Clayton, PhD, University of Leicester

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 13, 2026

Primary Completion (Estimated)

August 30, 2026

Study Completion (Estimated)

August 30, 2026

Study Registration Dates

First Submitted

May 2, 2026

First Submitted That Met QC Criteria

May 11, 2026

First Posted (Actual)

May 18, 2026

Study Record Updates

Last Update Posted (Actual)

May 18, 2026

Last Update Submitted That Met QC Criteria

May 11, 2026

Last Verified

May 1, 2026

More Information

Terms related to this study

Keywords

Additional Relevant MeSH Terms

Other Study ID Numbers

  • PEP-2603

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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