How Does Eating Behavior and Hunger in Virtual Reality Meals Compare to Real Meals?

Karolinska Institute

Status: Completed

Conditions: Hunger

Treatments: Behavioral: Real food; Behavioral: Virtual food

Study type: Interventional

Funder types: Other

Identifiers

NCT05734209

2019-04249

Details and patient eligibility

About

Objective: To investigate the differences between eating virtual and real-life meals and test the hypothesis that eating a virtual meal can reduce hunger among healthy women.

Methods: Twenty healthy women will be recruited and partake in a randomized crossover study. The subjects will be asked to eat one introduction meal, two real meals, and two virtual meals, all containing real or virtual meatballs and potatoes. The real meals will be eaten on a plate placed on a scale which communicates with analytical software on a computer. The virtual meals will be eaten in a room, where participants are seated on a real chair in front of a real table, and fitted with the virtual-reality equipment. The eating behavior for both the real and virtual meals will be filmed. Hunger will be measured before and after the meals using questionnaires.

Enrollment: 24 patients

Sex: Female

Ages: 18 to 28 years old

Volunteers: Accepts Healthy Volunteers

Inclusion criteria

• BMI between 18.5 kg/m2 to 29 kg/m2
• "normal" physical activity (measured using the short version of the international physical activity questionnaire, IPAQ)

Exclusion criteria

• pregnant or breastfeeding
• smoker
• temporomandibular disorder
• recent serious dental surgery (last 6 months)
• undergoing treatments known to affect appetite (e.g., use of some psychotropic drugs)
• previous history of eating disorders
• vegetarian
• aversion to the food served

Trial design

Primary purpose: Basic Science

Allocation: Randomized

Interventional model: Crossover Assignment

Masking: None (Open label)

---

24 participants in 2 patient groups

Virtual, then real meal

Experimental group

Description:

Participant first had two lunch sessions eating virtual food (meal), with a wash-out period of three days. Participants then had two lunch sessions eating real food (meal), with a wash-out period of three days.

Treatment:

Behavioral: Real food

Behavioral: Virtual food

Real, then virtual meal

Experimental group

Description:

Participant first had two lunch sessions eating real food (meal), with a wash-out period of three days. Participants then had two lunch sessions eating virtual food (meal), with a wash-out period of three days.

Treatment:

Behavioral: Real food

Behavioral: Virtual food