How Altered Gut-Brain-Axis Influences Food Choices: Part 2 (BrainFood)

Lia Bally

Status: Active, not recruiting

Conditions: Obesity; Food Preferences

Treatments: Other: Collection of digital receipts from grocery shopping; Other: Questionnaire (Survey and Food Frequency Questionnaire (FFQ))

Study type: Observational

Funder types: Other

Identifiers

NCT04788836

BrainFood Part 2

Details and patient eligibility

About

Obesity is currently one of the most substantial health burdens. Due to the production of marked and sustained weight loss, bariatric surgery is an increasingly used therapeutic modality to combat obesity and its comorbidities. Surgical rearrangement of the gastrointestinal tract remarkably alters metabolism and hormones acting on neurological and hypothalamic signalling, involved in food decision-making and eating behaviour. In this context, many patients who underwent bariatric surgery self-report changes in appetite, satiety and food preferences. Furthermore, new gut hormone-based (e.g. GLP-1 receptor agonist or GLP-1-RA) pharmacotherapies which mimic the effect of bariatric surgery show impressive efficacy on weight reduction by modulation of food behaviour. However, the mechanisms of such functional changes, and how they relate to food decision-making and food purchase behaviour remain unknown.

In Part 2 of the BrainFood-project, the investigators propose a novel approach using digital receipts from loyalty card to unravel the effect of obesity treatments (surgical and non-surgical) on eating and food purchase behaviour in daily life.

Full description

The overall aim of this project is to elucidate the changes in food behaviour among obese adults undergoing obesity treatments.

The main objective is to observe the effect of obesity treatments on food purchase behaviour using digital receipts from grocery shopping. The investigators hypothesize that bariatric surgery leads to changes in food purchase behaviour in obese adults.

The further objective is to compare food purchase behaviour between obese adults against values of an existing reference population, and to assess whether these differences tend to be reduced after the start of the treatment among obese participants.

Enrollment: 61 patients

Sex: All

Ages: 18+ years old

Volunteers: No Healthy Volunteers

Inclusion criteria

• Female and male subjects aged 18 years or older
• Proficient in German (including written)
• BMI≥30kg/m2 or BMI≥28kg/m2 with adiposity-related comorbidities (prediabetes, type 2 diabetes mellitus, hypertension, dyslipidemia)
• Referred for obesity treatment or who started obesity treatment within 6 months (surgical or non-surgical)
• Primary grocery shopping at the Swiss biggest grocery retailers (Coop, Migros), and regularly using a loyalty card (Cumulus and/or Supercard)

Exclusion criteria

• Incapacity to give informed consent
• Primary shopping in other food retailers (e.g. Aldi, Lidl, outside of Switzerland, etc.)

Trial design

61 participants in 2 patient groups

Obesity treatment Group

Description:

60 (minimum) to 150 (maximum) overweight/obese adults referred for or who started obesity (surgical or non-surgical) treatment within 6 months

Treatment:

Other: Collection of digital receipts from grocery shopping

Other: Questionnaire (Survey and Food Frequency Questionnaire (FFQ))

Control Group

Description:

Comparison of food purchase behaviour with control subjects will be performed using an already existing cohort from a previous study. This does not required recruiting control subjects.