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Development of an Eating Behavior Risk Score

NCT07266506 · Status: NOT_YET_RECRUITING · Phase: NA · Type: INTERVENTIONAL · Enrollment: 420

Last updated 2025-12-05

No results posted yet for this study

Summary

This study will explore how children's eating behaviors are connected to brain activity and body fat levels. Researchers are especially interested in a behavior pattern called the PACE phenotype, which includes how much children eat when offered large portions, how quickly they eat, their appetite traits, and their ability to control eating. The goal is to better understand why some children are more likely to gain weight than others.

The study will include children between the ages of 7 and 9 and will follow them for one year. Researchers will use brain scans, lab-based meal observations, and questionnaires to study how children respond to food and how their eating patterns relate to body fat at the start of the study and one year later. The study will also look at how family background, parenting, and other factors might protect some children from gaining excess weight even if they show risky eating behaviors. Results may help identify which children are most at risk for obesity and guide future strategies for prevention.

Conditions

Interventions

BEHAVIORAL

Assessment of PACE Eating Phenotype and Related Behavioral and Neurobiological Measures

This study does not involve an active intervention. The exposures of interest include the children's eating behaviors as measured by the PACE phenotype score, which encompasses portion size responsiveness, appetite traits, loss of control eating, and eating rate. Brain responses to food cues assessed by fMRI, body composition measured by DXA, and family socioeconomic status will also be evaluated as key exposures. These measures will be collected at baseline and at 12-month follow-up to examine associations with adiposity and behavioral outcomes.

Sponsors & Collaborators

  • Penn State University

    lead OTHER

Principal Investigators

  • Kathleen L Keller, Ph.D. · Penn State University

Study Design

Allocation
NA
Purpose
BASIC_SCIENCE
Masking
NONE
Model
SINGLE_GROUP

Eligibility

Min Age
7 Years
Max Age
9 Years
Sex
ALL
Healthy Volunteers
Yes

Timeline & Regulatory

Start
2026-07-01
Primary Completion
2031-06-30
Completion
2032-06-30

Countries

  • United States

Study Locations

More Related Trials

Entities

Diseases

Read the full study record

This page highlights key information. For complete eligibility criteria, study locations, investigator contacts, and the full protocol, visit the original record on ClinicalTrials.gov.

View NCT07266506 on ClinicalTrials.gov