Eating Frequency Study

The University of Tennessee, Knoxville

Status

Active, not recruiting

Conditions

Eating Frequency

Treatments

Behavioral: EF condition

Study type

Interventional

Funder types

Other

Identifiers

NCT01731522

MTRI-Basic EF Study

Details and patient eligibility

About

The purpose of this study is to examine the influence of two Eating Frequency prescriptions, meal (energy intake occurring during three meals per day) and grazing (energy intake occurring every two to three hours per day), on consumption during an ad libitum meal consumed at the end of the day, overall daily energy intake, and ratio of energy intake to energy expenditure. It is hypothesized that the grazing condition will produce lower consumption during an evening ad libitum meal, lower daily energy intake, and a lower ratio of energy intake to energy expenditure than the meal condition.

Full description

20 men and women of healthy weight will participate in this study. The complete study design will be a 2 x 2 mixed factorial design, with the between-subject factor of order and a within-subject factor of eating condition (meal or grazing). Depending upon the eating condition, participants will be provided with a morning meal and an afternoon meal (meal) or two small meals and three snacks to be consumed every 2-3 hours (grazing). The types of foods and amount of foods provided to participants will be identical in each condition; the only difference in the conditions is the time spacing during the day when the foods are consumed. The primary dependent variable will be amount, both grams and energy, of food consumed during an ad libitum meal consumed in the evening at the completion of the meal condition, overall daily energy intake, and ratio of daily energy intake to energy expenditure. It is hypothesized that the grazing condition will produce lower consumption during an evening ad libitum meal, lower daily energy intake, and a lower ratio of energy intake to energy expenditure than the meal condition.

Enrollment

20 estimated patients

Sex

All

Ages

18 to 35 years old

Volunteers

Accepts Healthy Volunteers

Inclusion criteria

age between 18 and 35 years
body mass index (BMI) between 18.5 and 24.9 kg/m2
no history of overweight or obesity
unrestrained eater (<12 on Three Factor Eating Questionnaire [TFEQ])
regularly participate in at least 150 minutes of moderate-intense physical activity per week over the previous 4 weeks

Exclusion criteria

currently taking medication that affects appetite or food intake
have a medical condition affecting eating or currently following a therapeutic diet
are currently participating in a weight loss program and/or taking weight loss medication
have gained or lost > 5% of body weight during the past 6 months
diagnosed with type 1 or 2 diabetes
have had bariatric surgery
report disliking foods used in the investigation (scoring a 1 or 2 on a 5-point Likert scale)
report having allergies to foods used in the investigation
currently smoke
report binge eating
are graduate students in the Department of Nutrition
are pregnant, lactating, < 6 months post-partum.