NCT07133529

Decision-making and Food Intake

Decision-making and Food Intake ("Buffet Study")

• Status: Recruiting
• Phase: N/A
• Study type: Interventional
• Enrollment: 45 (estimated)
• Sponsor: German Institute of Human Nutrition · Academic / Other
• Sex: Female
• Age: 18 Years – 35 Years
• Healthy volunteers: Accepted

Summary

The study will investigate how the expectation of food availability impacts the response to food cues, mood, interoceptive awareness, and consumption of food intake in healthy, naturally cycling women.

Detailed description

In this within-subjects, randomized crossover study, we will probe how perceived meal availability shapes eating behavior, cognition, and metabolic markers in healthy, naturally cycling women. Each woman attends two appointments in the afternoon (starting at 12 pm after an overnight fast): one in which meal timing and duration are fully disclosed ("certain" condition) and one in which that information is intentionally withheld ("uncertain" condition). During each appointment, participants first undergo a set of cognitive and behavioral tests, then are invited to sample ad libitum from a 30-item buffet under the respective certainty or uncertainty instructions. Venous blood is collected at six fixed intervals to measure fluctuations in ghrelin, leptin, insulin, glucose, and cortisol. To capture real-world eating patterns, participants also log all intake in a smartphone food-tracking app for three days leading up to the initial session.

Conditions

• Behavior
• Hormones
• Stress
• Cognition
• Food Intake

Interventions

Type	Name	Description
BEHAVIORAL	Perceived food uncertainty	Participants remain unaware of both the scheduled time and the length of the next meal.
BEHAVIORAL	Perceived food certainty	Participants are aware of both the scheduled time and the length of the next meal.

Timeline

• Start date: 2025-08-04
• Primary completion: 2026-07-31
• Completion: 2026-07-31
• First posted: 2025-08-21
• Last updated: 2025-08-21

Locations

1 site across 1 country: Germany