NCT06015490

The Impact of the Physiological Response to Sugar on Brain Activity and Behavior

• Status: Completed
• Phase: N/A
• Study type: Interventional
• Enrollment: 7 (actual)
• Sponsor: Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University · Academic / Other
• Sex: All
• Age: 18 Years – 45 Years
• Healthy volunteers: Accepted

Summary

The goal of this pilot study is to test the feasibility of assessing how biological factors and chemical properties of sugars may influence metabolism and food reward in humans. The main questions it aims to answer are: • Can differences in appetitive responses and neural activations to sucrose (table sugar) and its chemical components (glucose and fructose) be measured and quantified? This study is a crossover design, meaning every participant will complete every condition. Participants will consume beverages containing sucrose, glucose, or fructose, which are each novelly flavored, 6 times within a week. During one of the consumption times, energy expenditure, carbohydrate oxidation, and blood glucose will be measured in the lab before and for 2 hours after consumption. After participants have consumed each condition, they will undergo a tasting task in the MRI scanner, neural responses to receipt of the beverages are measured.

Detailed description

Prior studies in humans indicate that while energy expenditure response is similar after consumption of equal amounts of fructose, glucose, and sucrose (a dimer of glucose + fructose), carbohydrate oxidation and blood glucose responses differ. Elevated carbohydrate oxidation responses appear to be driven by the presence of fructose, and elevated blood glucose responses appear to be driven by the presence of glucose. Prior work also suggests that post-ingestive signals of glucose availability, measure specifically as blood glucose levels, intestinal glucose transporter activity, and carbohydrate oxidation rate, are all associated with elevated brain response to calorie-predictive flavor cues and reward learning of these flavor cues. However, in animal models, glucose has been shown to repeatedly and reliably condition these calorie-predictive learning responses, but fructose does not. Human work has indicated that oxidation of glucose is critical for these responses. Thus, it is unclear what roles fructose and glucose each play in conditioning reward responses and flavor-calorie learning. We hypothesize that fructose plays a synergistic role in enhancing flavor-calorie learning without itself conditioning the reward response.

Conditions

• Food Preferences
• Appetitive Behavior

Interventions

Type	Name	Description
OTHER	Sucrose drink	Participants will consume flavored beverage solutions containing 110 calories of sucrose in 6 exposure sessions within 1 week. One exposure session will include pre- and post-consumption blood draws and indirect calorimetry measurements inside a metabolic chamber over a 2-hour period. The other 5 exposure sessions will occur at specified times outside the laboratory sessions. Subjective ratings of internal state (i.e., hunger, fullness, and thirst) will be collected throughout each exposure. Subjective ratings of liking and wanting of each beverage will also be assessed.
OTHER	Glucose drink	Participants will consume flavored beverage solutions containing 110 calories of glucose in 6 exposure sessions within 1 week. One exposure session will include pre- and post-consumption blood draws and indirect calorimetry measurements inside a metabolic chamber over a 2-hour period. The other 5 exposure sessions will occur at specified times outside the laboratory sessions. Subjective ratings of internal state (i.e., hunger, fullness, and thirst) will be collected throughout each exposure. Subjective ratings of liking and wanting of each beverage will also be assessed.
OTHER	Fructose drink	Participants will consume flavored beverage solutions containing 110 calories of fructose in 6 exposure sessions within 1 week. One exposure session will include pre- and post-consumption blood draws and indirect calorimetry measurements inside a metabolic chamber over a 2-hour period. The other 5 exposure sessions will occur at specified times outside the laboratory sessions. Subjective ratings of internal state (i.e., hunger, fullness, and thirst) will be collected throughout each exposure. Subjective ratings of liking and wanting of each beverage will also be assessed.

Timeline

• Start date: 2023-09-01
• Primary completion: 2024-07-22
• Completion: 2024-07-22
• First posted: 2023-08-29
• Last updated: 2025-09-11
• Results posted: 2025-09-11

Locations

1 site across 1 country: United States