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Impact of Yogurt on Gastrointestinal Health, Regularity, and Thoughts

Not Applicable
Completed
Conditions
Cognition - Other
Gastrointestinal Dysfunction
Physiological Stress
Interventions
Dietary Supplement: Yogurt with B. lactis and added cane sugar
Registration Number
NCT04901390
Lead Sponsor
University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
Brief Summary

This study aims to test the central hypothesis that adding to the diet daily yogurt provides beneficial effects on digestive health and subjective mood in healthy adults.

Detailed Description

This clinical trial will include a 4-week lead-in period and a 2-week treatment period. The lead-in period will be devoid of all supplemental and dietary probiotics, fermented dairy products, and fermented foods. Participants will be asked to refrain from consuming all supplemental and dietary probiotics, fermented dairy products, and fermented foods throughout the entire study. During the treatment period, participants will be given yogurt with sugar. This trial will serve as a continuation of the NECTAR Study (NCT04187950).

Recruitment & Eligibility

Status
COMPLETED
Sex
All
Target Recruitment
66
Inclusion Criteria
  • Males and females
  • Between the ages of 22-64 years at the time of consent
  • Body mass index of 18.5 to 29.9 kg/m^2.
  • Normal or corrected-to-normal vision based on the minimal 20/20 standard in order to complete the cognitive task (below 20/20 vision).
  • Ability to drop off fecal sample within 30 minutes of defecation
  • Have between 3-6 bowel movements per week
  • Have completed the NECTAR Study (NCT04187950)
Exclusion Criteria
  • Current pregnancy, lactation, or post-menopausal
  • Tobacco use
  • Honey allergy or intolerance
  • Dairy allergy, lactose intolerance
  • Food dye allergy/intolerance
  • Prior physician diagnosed gastrointestinal disease (chronic constipation, diarrhea, Crohn's disease, celiac disease, ulcerative colitis, irritable bowel syndrome, diverticulosis, stomach or duodenal ulcers, hepatitis, or gastroesophageal reflux disease (GERD))
  • Current use or use of antibiotics in the past 3 months
  • Current use of any of the following types of medications: laxatives, anti-diarrhea medications, narcotics, enemas, antispasmodics, anticonvulsants, prescription proton pump inhibitors, prokinetic agents, histamine-2 Rc antagonists (prescription GERD medication)
  • Body mass index > 29.9 kg/m^2
  • Prior malabsorptive bariatric surgery (i.e. gastric bypass, sleeve gastrectomy)
  • Restrictive bariatric surgery (i.e. adjustable gastric band) within the past 5 years
  • Concurrent enrollment in another dietary, exercise, or medication study (except for the NECTAR Study (NCT04187950))

Study & Design

Study Type
INTERVENTIONAL
Study Design
SINGLE_GROUP
Arm && Interventions
GroupInterventionDescription
Yogurt with B. lactis and added cane sugarYogurt with B. lactis and added cane sugarParticipants will consume yogurt with B. lactis and added cane sugar twice daily for 14 days.
Primary Outcome Measures
NameTimeMethod
Intestinal transit time measured using colored dye markers2 weeks

Determine the impact of consumption of daily yogurt with sugar on intestinal transit time in vivo. Intestinal transit time will be measured using colored dye markers.

Secondary Outcome Measures
NameTimeMethod
Digestive health measured using daily stool records with the Bristol Stool Scale2 weeks

Determine the impact of consumption of daily yogurt with sugar on digestive health using daily stool records. Within the records, participants rate stool consistency using the Bristol Stool Scale (1=hard to 7=watery).

Mood measured using the Emotional Image Task2 weeks

Determine the impact of consumption of daily yogurt with sugar on mood states using the Emotional Image Task. This task measures response to neutral, positive, and negative image stimuli using participant valence, arousal, and dominance ratings.

Mood measured using the Positive and Negative Affect Schedule (PANAS) questionnaire2 weeks

Determine the impact of consumption of daily yogurt with sugar on mood states using the Positive and Negative Affect Schedule (PANAS) questionnaire. The PANAS assesses general mood using a 20-item scale that includes words associated with either positive (10 words) or negative (10 words) emotions.

Mood measured using the Depression, Anxiety, and Stress Scales-42 (DASS-42) questionnaire2 weeks

Determine the impact of consumption of daily yogurt with sugar on mood states using the Depression, Anxiety, and Stress Scales-42 (DASS-42) questionnaire. The DASS-42 includes subscales with 42 questions regarding negative emotional states and is used to assess mental health over the past week. The rating scale for each question is 0="did not apply to me at all" to 3="applied to me very much, or most of the time." Lower scores indicate none or less symptoms of depression, anxiety, or stress.

Mood measured using Patient-Reported Outcomes Measurement Information System (PROMIS) questionnaires2 weeks

Determine the impact of consumption of daily yogurt with sugar on mood states using Patient-Reported Outcomes Measurement Information System (PROMIS) questionnaires. Specific PROMIS surveys utilized included PROMIS SF v1.0 - Anger 8a, PROMIS SF v1.0 - Anxiety 8a, PROMIS SF v1.0 - Fatigue 8a, PROMIS SF v1.0 - Positive Affect 15a, PROMIS SF v1.0 - Self-Efficacy Manage Emotions 8a, PROMIS SF v1.0 - Fatigue 13a (FACIT-Fatigue), PROMIS SF v1.1 - Global Health, and PROMIS SF v2.0 - Cognitive Function 8a. PROMIS. Surveys were scored using the recommended HealthMeasures Scoring Service.

Gastrointestinal microbiota assessed using relative abundances2 weeks

Determine the impact of daily consumption of yogurt with sugar on the gastrointestinal microbiota. Relative abundances of the gastrointestinal microbiota will be measured with 16S amplicon sequencing.

Digestive health measured using rating scales of additional symptoms in daily stool records2 weeks

Determine the impact of consumption of daily yogurt with sugar on other measures of digestive health using daily stool records. Within the records, ratings of additional gastrointestinal symptoms include ease of passage (1=very easy to 5=very difficult, abdominal pain, bloating, burping, flatulence, nausea, reflux, and rumblings (1=absent to 4=severe).

Digestive health measured using the Gastrointestinal Tolerability questionnaire2 weeks

Determine the impact of consumption of daily yogurt with sugar on other measures of digestive health using the Gastrointestinal Tolerability questionnaire. This questionnaire assesses gastrointestinal health through 6 questions related to gastrointestinal health including nausea, bloating, rumblings, gas/flatulence, abdominal pain, and diarrhea ("no more than usual" to "much more than usual"). Each of the questions pertains to experience of symptoms in the past 7 days.

Digestive health measured using the Gastrointestinal Quality of Life Index (GIQLI) questionnaire2 weeks

Determine the impact of consumption of daily yogurt with sugar on other measures of digestive health using the Gastrointestinal Quality of Life Index (GIQLI) questionnaire. The GIQLI assesses gastrointestinal health through a series of 36 questions pertaining to daily life and gastrointestinal symptoms experienced in the past 2 weeks.

Cognitive function measured using the Spatial Reconstruction Task2 weeks

Determine the impact of consumption of daily yogurt with sugar on cognitive function compared to control (yogurt containing heat-inactivated B. lactis) using the Spatial Reconstruction Task. This task requires participants to successfully encode and retrieve information pertaining to the position of six objects in relation to each other, necessitating recruitment of the hippocampal memory system.

Trial Locations

Locations (1)

University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign

🇺🇸

Urbana, Illinois, United States

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