Free Fatty Acids: Short Exposure Study

Not Applicable

Completed

• Conditions: Hypogeusia
• Interventions: Other: NEFA; Other: Sucrose

• Registration Number: NCT01686113
• Lead Sponsor: Purdue University

Brief Summary

This study will examine whether or not short, daily exposures change a person's ability to detect free fatty acids in a solution by its taste. Repeated exposure should improve a person's ability to detect free fatty acids.

Detailed Description

The possibility that humans can taste non-esterified fatty acids (NEFA) - so-called fat taste - is a relatively new area of research. Previous work suggests that subjects require an average of between two and three testing sessions of approximately an hour each before they can reliably detect NEFA, and the average number of visits to get the lowest threshold is six. Streamlining this process is of great interest to researchers who wish to test many people as quickly as possible. Other taste qualities, including umami and sweet, have shown improvement in detection sensitivity in subjects that have undergone ten second exposures to these taste qualities for 10 days upon subsequent re-testing. We seek to determine if the same improvements can be seen with fat taste.

Study Timeline

• Study Start: 2012-05
• Study First Submitted: 2012-09-12
• Study First Submitted QC: 2012-09-14
• Study First Posted: 2012-09-17
• Primary Completion: 2014-05
• Study Completion: 2014-05
• Status Verified: 2014-11
• Last Update Submitted: 2014-11-20
• Last Update Posted: 2014-11-21

Recruitment & Eligibility

• Status: COMPLETED
• Sex: All
• Target Recruitment: 100

Inclusion Criteria

• good health
• available for multiple testing visits

Exclusion Criteria

• have participated in a fat taste study in the past 6 months

Study & Design

• Study Type: INTERVENTIONAL
• Study Design: PARALLEL

Arm && Interventions

Group	Intervention	Description
NEFA	NEFA	Participants swish and spit 5 mL of an oleic acid solution everyday for 10 days.
Control	Sucrose	Participants swish and spit 5 mL of sucrose solution everyday for 10 days.

Primary Outcome Measures

Name	Time	Method
NEFA detection threshold	10 days

Secondary Outcome Measures

Name	Time	Method
BMI	1 day
Hunger	2 days	Visual analog scale assessment of hunger level prior to testing
Taste descriptor	10 days	Description of NEFA taste by participant, e.g., sour, bitter, etc.

Trial Locations

Locations (1)

Purdue University; 🇺🇸 West Lafayette, Indiana, United States