Active clinical trials for "Hyperphagia"

The proposed research will follow healthy weight children who vary by family risk for obesity to identify the neurobiological and appetitive traits that are implicated in overeating and weight gain during the critical pre-adolescent period. The investigator's central hypothesis is that increased intake from large portions of energy dense foods is due in part to reduced activity in brain regions implicated in inhibitory control and decision making, combined with increased activity in reward processing pathways. To test this hypothesis, the investigators will recruit 120 healthy weight children, aged 7-8 years, at two levels of obesity risk (i.e., 60 high-risk and 60 low-risk) based on parent weight status. This will result in 240 participants: 120 children and their parents.

Nutritional intervention in overweight middle aged individuals with subjective memory complaints.

This Phase 2b/3 double-blind, placebo-controlled study will evaluate the safety, tolerability, and effects of livoletide on food-related behaviors in patients with Prader-Willi Syndrome (PWS).

Obesity is worldwide a public health problem. According to World Health Organization (WHO), overweight and obesity are the fifth death risk factor worldwide. At least 2.8 million adults die each year. Food addiction is one of the causes of obesity that may benefit from new therapeutic options.

Excessive weight gain is a cardinal feature of Prader-Willi syndrome (PWS) for which there is presently no effective treatment. It is caused by increased appetite, decreased perception of satiety and obsessive and compulsive behaviour towards food. Ghrelin is a powerful appetite-stimulating hormone. Patients with PWS have markedly elevated ghrelin levels, suggesting that it may be responsible for the increased food intake. The goal of the study is to determine whether treatment with somatostatin (Sandostatin), a hormone that inhibits ghrelin, is an effective treatment for the prevention and treatment of weight excess in patients with PWS.

The purpose of this study is to examine the psychological benefits of chronic exercise as well as the effects of exercise training on eating behaviors and stress-induced overeating in overweight and obese women. Participants will be randomized to an 12-week exercise condition or a delayed exercise condition. Assessments will occur at baseline, 6 weeks, and 12 weeks and will include answering surveys in real-time using smartphones, several assessments of eating behaviors and dietary intake, and questionnaire measures of factors which could mediate the relationship between exercise and eating. Participants will be compensated for completing assessments and for adherence to the exercise protocol.

This project will test whether a food response training intervention produces lasting body fat loss, use objective brain imaging to examine the mechanism of effect of this treatment and investigate the generalizability of the training to non-training foods, and examine factors that should amplify intervention effects to provide a test of the intervention theory. This novel treatment represents a bottom-up implicit training intervention that does not rely on executive control, prolonged caloric deprivation, and expensive clinicians to deliver, like behavioral weight loss treatments that have not produced lasting weight loss. If this computer-based response training intervention produces sustained body fat loss in overweight individuals, it could be easily implemented very broadly at almost no expense, addressing a leading public health problem.

Prader-Willi syndrome (PWS) is the most common syndromic cause of obesity. Individuals with PWS characteristically experience excessive weight gain and severe hyperphagia with food compulsivity in early childhood, which often leads to the onset of obesity and metabolic complications. The pathogenesis of hyperphagia and progressive weight gain in PWS is far from being understood, and thus efficacious interventions are still under development. Emerging evidence indicates an important etiological contribution of dysbiotic gut microbiota in the hyperphagia, obesity and metabolic abnormalities associated with PWS, implicating a potentially effective target for appetite control and alleviation of obesity in PWS. This study aims to evaluate whether dietary fibers can improve hyperphagia and metabolic profile in children with PWS, and further will determine if these improvements correlate with dietary-fiber-induced changes of the gut microbiota. Twenty children with PWS (age 5-17 years) will receive 3-week fiber or placebo treatment and 3-week alternate treatment with a 4-week washout period in between. A validated PWS-specific hyperphagia questionnaire will be used to assess the severity of hyperphagia in participants. Fasting blood and fecal samples will be collected for the analyses of appetite-related hormones, metabolic biomarkers, bacterial composition and gut metabolites. This study should provide potential new approaches for effective non-pharmacologic treatment of excessive weight gain and hyperphagia associated with PWS to improve overall health and quality of life in affected patients.

This project evaluated the effects of a brief manualized mindful eating intervention as a treatment for overeating with individuals with overweight and obesity.

There is a need for effective weight control methods for obese children. Environmental strategies such as reducing the size of dishware and serving utensils, storing food out of view and reducing food consumption while watching television may reduce food intake without requiring conscious, cognitive self-control. The investigators propose to test these methods when added to a current state-of-the-art behavioral program.