Memory-Updating Technique to Reduce Food Craving and High Calorie Food Intake Among Individuals With Overweight/Obesity

Withdrawn before enrolling · Not applicable

Conditions studied: Overweight, Obesity, Craving, Eating Behavior

In brief

This study will evaluate the effects of retrieval-extinction (R-E) training on responding to high calorie foods including self-report craving, physiological responding, and high calorie food intake in adults with overweight/obesity. R-E training aims to update the memories that associate cues (i.e., high calorie food) with reward (i.e., consumption). R-E training involves "retrieving" these cue-reward associative memories through brief presentation of relevant cues, resulting in instability of the memories and providing an opportunity to be updated via reconsolidation. Presenting relevant cues while not allowing consumption (i.e., extinction training) during reconsolidation can modify the unstable cue-reward memories, resulting in lasting reductions of craving and intake. This study will be the first to test the effects of R-E training on craving for and intake of high calorie foods in humans. To examine the effects of R-E training on food craving, physiological response (heart rate, skin conductance, salivation), and food intake, 150 adults with overweight/obesity will complete baseline food cue-reactivity and intake tasks in the lab. Participants will be randomized to observe high calorie food cues (i.e., "retrieval" of food cue-reward memories; R-E training group) or non-food cues (i.e., no retrieval of food cue-reward memories; extinction control group) and engage in 60 min of extinction training for high calorie foods. R-E/extinction control training will occur on two consecutive days and four follow-up food cue-reactivity sessions through 3 months. Weight will be assessed at each session and in-lab food intake at 1- and 3-months. Recent food/drink intake will also be assessed at each session. Some participants (n=75) will complete a pilot portion of the study involving real-world data collection of naturally-occurring food cues, craving, and food intake via smartphone. It is hypothesized that: (1) R-E training (vs. extinction control) will decrease high calorie food cue-reactivity (self-report craving, heart rate, skin conductance, salivation) and intake assessed in the lab, as well as self-report craving and food intake assessed in the real world; and (2) decreased high calorie food cue-reactivity will be a mechanism through which R-E training reduces high calorie food intake at follow-up. The Principal Investigator will explore associations between lab and real-world cue-elicited craving and food intake, and the effect of R-E training on weight.

Key facts

Study ID

NCT04077385

Run by

University of Pittsburgh

People needed

0

Starts

2020-10-02

Expected to finish

2020-10-02

Last updated by the study team

2021-01-26

Who can join

Age: 18 and older, up to 59. Sex: any. Healthy volunteers: not accepted.

You may qualify if…

• Age 18-59 years
• Body mass index ≥25.0, indicating overweight/obesity
• Interested in losing weight
• Adequate liking of ≥4 foods to be presented during extinction training
• Willing to complete the following necessary study procedures: (1) eat study foods during taste test, (2) have heart rate sensors placed on skin, (3) abstain from alcohol, cannabis, benzodiazepines, opiates, or other illegal substances starting at midnight before each session, (4) attend sessions at the same time each day and starting with Session 1 on a Monday or Tuesday, and (5) abstain from consuming high calorie foods/drinks across the first 4 sessions

You may not qualify if…

• Engaged in a weight loss treatment/program or involved in another research study providing treatment/intervention for weight loss
• Participation in a food cue-reactivity pilot study that used procedures similar to those of the current study (e.g., food cue-reactivity task, bogus taste test)
• Diabetes diagnosis
• Initiation of thyroid-related medications or, for women, initiation of new birth control medication, an implant, or intrauterine device in the past 3 months
• Regular use of benzodiazepines (i.e., >5 times in the past 30 days)
• Use of weight- or appetite-affecting medication
• Currently receiving treatment for an eating disorder
• Bariatric surgery in the past 3 years
• Food allergies or restrictions over the next 4 months preventing consumption of foods presented during lab tasks
• Has a pacemaker implant
• For women: currently pregnant or planning to become pregnant in the next 4 months
• For women: currently breastfeeding with >50% of baby's/child's nutrition coming from breast milk

Where it is running

• University of Pittsburgh — Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, United States

Full record on ClinicalTrials.gov

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