Clinical trial NCT03631992: Snacks, Smiles and Taste Preferences
Official title: Downshifting Sweet Preference and Added Sugar Intake During Snacking
Study type: INTERVENTIONAL
Overall status: COMPLETED
Phase: NA
Conditions: Development, Child
Keywords: Children
Sugar
Taste
Snacking
Biomarker
Mothers
Lead sponsor: Temple University
Sponsor class: OTHER
Collaborators: name: Monell Chemical Senses Center
name: National Institute on Deafness and Other Communication Disorders (NIDCD)
First posted: 2018-08-15
Enrollment: 172
Sex: ALL
Minimum age (years): 3
Maximum age (years): 6
Standard ages: CHILD
Accepts healthy volunteers: yes
Allocation: RANDOMIZED
Intervention model: PARALLEL
Intervention model description: The intervention group will receive snacks lower in added sugar and sweetness (children) and educational lessons on dental care, food labels, added sugar, and portion size (mothers) whereas the control group will receive typical snacks (children) and educational lessons on portion size, sleep, screen time, and physical activity (mothers). Control group will receive the educational lessons of the intervention group at the end of the trial.
Primary purpose: BASIC_SCIENCE

Brief summary: The research study is designed is to determine whether children's acceptance of low sugar snacks, most preferred level of sweet and salty taste, and dietary intake of added sugars changes after repeated exposure to snacks lower in sweetness when compared to the control group.

Detailed description: This is a longitudinal, randomized, within- and between- subject study of children and their mothers to determine whether children's repeated exposure to snacks lower in sweetness and mothers' educational lessons about dental health and nutrition (intervention group) affects children's acceptance of low sugar snacks, most preferred level of sweet and salty taste, and dietary intake of added sugars when compared to the control group.

Eligibility criteria: Inclusion Criteria:

* English speaking mother 18 years or older
* Mother has primary responsibility for the eligible child's care
* Mother has primary responsibility for feeding the eligible child
* Mother is responsible for purchasing food for the family
* Mother must be willing to refrain from eating food and beverages high in added sugars in the eligible child's presence for the duration of the study

Exclusion Criteria:

* Child is in full-day daycare or school
* Child is currently on a special diet (e.g. weight management programs)
* Child has severe food allergies (e.g. gluten, peanuts)
* Child has medical conditions know to affect growth or eating (e.g. diabetes, cystic fibrosis)
* Mother is a current smoker

Primary outcomes:
measure: Change is being assessed in the children's liking of snacks low in sweetness
timeFrame: From timepoint 0 (baseline Temple visit at start of intervention) to T1 (1 month), T2 (2 month), T3 (3 month), T4 (4 month, end of intervention) and T5 (5 month, which is 1 month post-intervention delay)
measure: Change is being assessed in the children's intake of snacks low in sweetness
timeFrame: From timepoint 0 (baseline Temple visit at start of intervention) to T1 (1 month), T2 (2 month), T3 (3 month), T4 (4 month= end of intervention) and T5 (5 month which is 1 month, post-intervention delay)
measure: Change is being assessed in dietary intake of energy from added sugar
timeFrame: From timepoint 0 (baseline Temple visit at start of intervention) to T1 (1 month), T2 (2 month), T3 (3 month), T4 (4 month, end of intervention) and T5 (5 month, which is 1 month post-intervention delay)
Secondary outcomes:
measure: Change is being assessed in levels of hair biomarker for added sugar intake
timeFrame: From timepoint 0 (baseline Temple visit at start of intervention) to T4 (4 month visit=end of intervention)
measure: Change is being assessed in liking-based dietary intake survey
timeFrame: From timepoint 0 (baseline Temple visit at start of intervention) to T1 (1 month), T2 (2 month), T3 (3 month), T4 (4 month, end of intervention) and T5 (5 month, which is 1 month post-intervention delay)
measure: Monitoring of individual differences in parenting feeding styles
timeFrame: From timepoint 0 (baseline visit at start of intervention) to T1 (1 month), T2 (2 month), T3 (3 month), T4 (4 month, end of intervention) and T5 (5 month, which is 1 month post-intervention delay)
measure: Monitoring of individual differences in children's appetitive drive
timeFrame: From timepoint 0 (baseline visit at start of intervention) to T1 (1 month), T2 (2 month), T3 (3 month), T4 (4 month, end of intervention) and T5 (5 month, which is 1 month post-intervention delay)
measure: Monitoring of individual differences in children's palatable eating motivation
timeFrame: From timepoint 0 (baseline visit at start of intervention) to T1 (1 month), T2 (2 month), T3 (3 month), T4 (4 month, end of intervention) and T5 (5 month, which is 1 month post-intervention delay)
measure: Monitoring of individual differences in mothers' palatable eating motivation
timeFrame: From timepoint 0 (baseline visit at start of intervention) to T1 (1 month), T2 (2 month), T3 (3 month), T4 (4 month, end of intervention) and T5 (5 month, which is 1 month post-intervention delay)
measure: Monitoring of weight
timeFrame: From timepoint 0 (baseline visit at start of intervention) to T1 (1 month), T2 (2 month), T3 (3 month), T4 (4 month= end of intervention) and T5 (5 month which is 1 month, post-intervention delay)
measure: Monitoring of height
timeFrame: From timepoint 0 (baseline visit at start of intervention) to T1 (1 month), T2 (2 month), T3 (3 month), T4 (4 month= end of intervention) and T5 (5 month which is 1 month, post-intervention delay)
measure: Monitoring of body mass index
timeFrame: From timepoint 0 (baseline visit at start of intervention) to T1 (1 month), T2 (2 month), T3 (3 month), T4 (4 month= end of intervention) and T5 (5 month which is 1 month, post-intervention delay)
Other outcomes:
measure: Concordance of hair biomarker for added sugar intake among mother-child dyads
timeFrame: Relationship between hair biomarker levels at timepoint 0 (baseline Temple visit at start of intervention) and at T4 (4 month visit=end of intervention)
Locations:
city: Philadelphia
country: United States
facility: Monell Chemical Senses Center
state: Pennsylvania
city: Philadelphia
country: United States
facility: Temple University
state: Pennsylvania
Study officials:
affiliation: Monell Chemical Senses Center
name: Julia Mennella, PhD
role: PRINCIPAL_INVESTIGATOR
affiliation: Temple University
name: Jennifer O Fisher, PhD
role: PRINCIPAL_INVESTIGATOR
References:
citation: Mennella JA, Lukasewycz LD, Griffith JW, Beauchamp GK. Evaluation of the Monell forced-choice, paired-comparison tracking procedure for determining sweet taste preferences across the lifespan. Chem Senses. 2011 May;36(4):345-55. doi: 10.1093/chemse/bjq134. Epub 2011 Jan 12.
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citation: Mennella JA, Finkbeiner S, Lipchock SV, Hwang LD, Reed DR. Preferences for salty and sweet tastes are elevated and related to each other during childhood. PLoS One. 2014 Mar 17;9(3):e92201. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0092201. eCollection 2014.
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citation: Hughes SO, Power TG, Orlet Fisher J, Mueller S, Nicklas TA. Revisiting a neglected construct: parenting styles in a child-feeding context. Appetite. 2005 Feb;44(1):83-92. doi: 10.1016/j.appet.2004.08.007. Epub 2004 Nov 13.
citation: Sharafi M, Rawal S, Fernandez ML, Huedo-Medina TB, Duffy VB. Taste phenotype associates with cardiovascular disease risk factors via diet quality in multivariate modeling. Physiol Behav. 2018 Oct 1;194:103-112. doi: 10.1016/j.physbeh.2018.05.005. Epub 2018 May 8.
citation: Martignon S, Gonzalez MC, Tellez M, Guzman A, Quintero IK, Saenz V, Martinez M, Mora A, Espinosa LF, Castiblanco GA. Schoolchildren's tooth brushing characteristics and oral hygiene habits assessed with video-recorded sessions at school and a questionnaire. Acta Odontol Latinoam. 2012;25(2):163-70.
citation: Mennella JA, Pepino MY, Lehmann-Castor SM, Yourshaw LM. Sweet preferences and analgesia during childhood: effects of family history of alcoholism and depression. Addiction. 2010 Apr;105(4):666-75. doi: 10.1111/j.1360-0443.2009.02865.x. Epub 2010 Feb 9.