Effect of Dairy on Cognitive Performance in Children

Toronto Metropolitan University

Status: Completed

Conditions: Healthy; Children

Treatments: Other: Fruit juice; Other: Snack skipping; Other: Fat-free milk; Other: Low-fat cheese; Other: Fat-free yogurt

Study type: Interventional

Funder types: Other; Industry

Identifiers

NCT05767983

Temp ID

Details and patient eligibility

About

The purpose of this study is to determine the effects of dairy consumption on short-term cognitive performance, subjective mood and emotions, and glycemic response in healthy children aged 9 - 14 years. The investigators hypothesize that the consumption of dairy products as a mid-morning snack will improve mood and cognitive performance in children. Furthermore, the investigators hypothesize that all dairy products consumed as a mid-morning snack will imbue more benefits on mood and cognitive performance over 2-hours compared to fruit juice or snack skipping.

Full description

A randomized within-subject repeated measures experiment will be used to study the effects of dairy product consumption on cognitive performance, subjective mood and emotions, and blood glucose in healthy 9 - 14 year old children. Participants will consume, in a random order on separate mornings, one of the five treatments: (a) milk, (b) yogurt, (c) cheese, (d) fruit juice, or (e) snack skipping. Subjective mood/emotions and cognitive domains (learning and memory, spatial working memory, attention, processing speed, and executive function) will be assessed at baseline (0-min), and 15-, 30-, 60-, and 120-min following treatment consumption. Blood glucose measurements will be collected using the Freestyle Libre 2 continuous glucose monitoring system.

Enrollment: 54 patients

Sex: All

Ages: 9 to 14 years old

Volunteers: Accepts Healthy Volunteers

Inclusion criteria

• 9 to 14 years of age;
• Normal weight defined as between the 15th and 80th percentile for age and biological sex at birth according to the World Health Organization growth (WHO) charts.

Exclusion criteria

• Children with overweight/ obesity;
• Children with food sensitivities or allergies to dairy, gluten or any foods used in the study;
• Children with any diagnosed learning, emotional, or behavioural disabilities;
• Children taking any medications that may influence cognitive performance.

Trial design

Primary purpose: Prevention

Allocation: Randomized

Interventional model: Crossover Assignment

Masking: None (Open label)

---

54 participants in 5 patient groups

Fat-free milk

Experimental group

Description:

Treatment

Treatment:

Other: Fat-free milk

Fat-free yogurt

Experimental group

Description:

Treatment

Treatment:

Other: Fat-free yogurt

Low-fat cheese

Experimental group

Description:

Treatment

Treatment:

Other: Low-fat cheese

Fruit juice

Experimental group

Description:

Treatment

Treatment:

Other: Fruit juice

Snack skipping

Experimental group

Description:

Treatment

Treatment:

Other: Snack skipping