Active clinical trials for "Feeding and Eating Disorders"

Energy-restricted diets often require dieting rules, which forced the dieter to eat according to cognitive norms, which increase his vulnerability to external food cues. Allowing the recognition of internal hunger and satiety cues by using conscious food tasting could be helpful among restrained eaters to facilitate an internalized regulation of food intake. The objectives of the proposed study are to investigate among restrained women whether conscious food tasting can influence 1) attitudes and behaviors associated with food and eating; 2) reliance on hunger and satiety signals; and 3) development of taste and olfactory memory. Females (n=50) will be randomly assigned to: 1) experimental group (conscious food tasting intervention) (n=24), or 2) control group (n=26). The conscious food tasting intervention will be conducted by a registered dietitian into groups of ten to twelve women during six weekly 2-hour workshops. Women in the control group will not receive any intervention. Measurements will be taken at baseline, at the end of the intervention period, and at 12-week post-intervention. Restraint Scale, Three-Factor Eating Questionnaire, Mindful Eating Questionnaire, Intuitive Eating Scale, Body-Esteem Scale and Rosenberg Self-Esteem Scale will measure attitudes and behaviors associated with food and eating as well as some aspects related to psychological functioning. The Intuitive Eating Scale and a snack-meal taste rating task (visual analogue scales) will assess internal hunger/satiety cues. Vocabulary used to describe the foods will be recorded from the snack-meal taste rating task and use to assess taste and olfactory memory. Sensory capabilities will be assessed by odour detection and identification test, and a taste detection test. The proposed study will provide a better understanding of the effects of conscious food tasting on eating attitudes and behaviors, which is relevant to dietetic practice as it could help to promote sustainable healthy eating habits.

Most college students with mental disorders do not receive treatment, and over 80% of those who die by suicide have never made contact with campus mental health services. Knowledge, stigma, and other health beliefs represent significant barriers to help-seeking for many of these students. However, there have been no large-scale intervention studies for reducing these barriers to mental health treatment on college campuses. This project will fill this gap by determining whether a community mental health education program, Mental Health First Aid (MHFA), is an effective method to increase number of students who seek mental health services on college campuses. MHFA is an international, 12-hour training program that has been shown to increase knowledge of mental illnesses and their treatments, decrease stigma, and increase helping behaviors in community members. However, it has not been tested in a college setting in the United States. To determine the effectiveness of MHFA in US colleges, the proposed project will involve a randomized control trial of the MHFA training program on 32 campuses representing a range of higher education institutions, from community colleges in rural areas to research universities in large, urban areas. The MHFA training program will be administered to peer supports such as residential advisors. Administrative data from campus mental health services and pre- and post-intervention surveys will be used to collect outcome data on service utilization, knowledge, attitudes, and other measures. Data analyses will focus on identifying changes in students' behaviors, knowledge, and attitudes toward mental illnesses that can be attributed to the MHFA training. In addition to testing a novel and timely mental health intervention for college students, this project will result in improved data collection measures for college populations, and will lay the foundation for stronger connections and future collaborations between diverse campus communities. If the MHFA program is successful in reducing stigma and increasing general on-campus awareness and early treatment of emerging mental health problems, then it may provide a cost-effective means for enabling more students to seek early treatments for developing mental health problems.

Mother's milk does not come in contact with the oropharyngeal pouch of preterm infants during gavage feeding. We hypothesized that stimulation of the oropharyngeal pouch using small amount of the mother's milk 5 minutes before initiation of regular gavage feeding will increase the level of GIT hormones.

This pilot study will assess the effectiveness of an original oral health education program on affecting the behaviors of patients diagnosed with eating disorders.

This study will examine the effects of almonds consumed by adults with different body fat distributions on indices of carbohydrate and lipid metabolism.

Obesity, defined as BMI> 30kg / m2, is a major public health problem, with devastating medical and psychological consequences. 30% of obese suffer from BED type of eating disorders. The optimal treatment of obesity remains bariatric surgery, failed in 20% of cases. Many arguments are in favor of the involvement of the reward circuitry, with the central role of NAc in the pathophysiology of BED and obesity. The recent application and effectiveness of DBS (Deep Brain Stimulation) in refractory psychiatric disorders suggest that DBS may be of interest in treating obesity and BED with potential target for the NAc. This project propose to study fMRI activation of the reward system in response to food stimuli to better direct the DBS targets. This is a pilot study to define indication criteria based on fMRI to obese BED patients are potential candidates for treatment with DBS.

Eating disorders (EDs) have the highest rate of mortality of any mental illness. On U.S. college campuses, an estimated 80% students with clinically significant ED symptoms do not receive treatment. There are likely more than one million students whose EDs go untreated in any given year. Left untreated EDs typically become more severe and refractory to treatment. Given the impact of EDs on mental and physical health and the connection therein with social, academic, and economic outcomes, an effective intervention to increase rates of treatment utilization would have broad societal effects extending well beyond the campus setting. This study is an online intervention designed to identify and increase help-seeking among undergraduates with previously undiagnosed/untreated EDs.

Bulimia Nervosa (BN), Binge Eating Disorder (BED) and Night Eating Syndrome (NES) are Binge Eating Disorders (BE-Dis) in which binge eating episodes are a main symptom. Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT) is the leading evidence-based treatment for patients suffering from these disorders. CBT-E is an "enhanced" trans-diagnostic version of the treatment which appears to be more effective in a variety of Eating Disorders (EDs). The main goals of this treatment are reducing dietary restrictions and EDs symptoms as well as food intake regulation. Self-monitoring (SM) is an important and central tool in this type of treatment considered crucial for its success. Therefore, during treatment, patients are required to monitor their eating, the circumstances, and their thoughts and feelings proximate to the time of eating. Nevertheless, despite the importance of this tool, research has shown that there are many difficulties challenging the clients' adherence to SM, which might reduce this treatment's effectiveness and outcome. Additionally, in recent years there has been cumulative data supporting the use of mindfulness in the treatment of EDs. Mindfulness, as a western psychological approach, is defined as the "unique non-judgmental focus of one's attention at the present moment". Although SM requires the ability to observe, describe and identify occurrences, no studies have yet examined the direct effect of mindfulness skills on SM adherence, and therefore the improvement of treatment outcomes. The main objective of the present study is to examine the effect of a mindfulness based intervention on SM adherence during a CBT intervention for BE-Dis, and on the treatment outcomes as seen in the ED psychopathology and compliance to the nutritional instructions and food intake composition. Other aims include examining the differences between the experimental group and the control group, regarding their level of mindfulness and SM adherence. In addition, mediating and moderating processes between mindfulness and SM adherence will be examined.

Feeding problems are common in individuals with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD).This study was planned to investigate the effect of occupational theraphy on sensory feeding problems in ASD.

This research project aims to explore the feasibility of a computerised training to reduce approach to high energy-dense foods among individuals who binge eat. The computerised intervention used will be an inhibitory control training, particularly, a food-specific go/no-go task. Eighty adults with a diagnosis of bulimia nervosa or binge eating disorder who are currently receiving psychological and/or pharmacological treatment for their eating disorder will be recruited and randomised to receive the computerised training in addition to treatment as usual (experimental group: training + TAU) or treatment as usual only (control group: TAU). Participants will complete questionnaires at baseline (T0), post-intervention (T1; 4 weeks), and follow-up (T2; 8 weeks). Participants will be asked to complete the computerised training for 4 weeks using a mobile app called FoodT. The computerised training consists of completing a food-specific go/no-go task to reduce approach to high energy-dense foods. The results of this study will build steps for future larger-scale interventions and improve understanding of psychological mechanisms involved in binge eating behaviour.