The Role of the FTO Gene in Reward System Activation in Obese and Healthy Subjects

Investigating the Role of the FTO Gene in Reward System Activation During Visual Presentation of Food Images With fMRI Technique

Status

UNKNOWN

Phases

Study type

Interventional

Source

ClinicalTrials.gov

Registry ID

NCT01863212

Acronym

FTO

Enrollment

500

Registered

2013-05-27

Start date

2010-09-30

Completion date

2014-09-30

Last updated

2013-05-27

For informational purposes only — not medical advice. Sourced from public registries and may not reflect the latest updates. Terms

Conditions

Obesity, Eating Behavior

Brief summary

In order to investigate if individuals, carrying genetic variants predisposing to obesity, respond differently to visual presented food images than non-carriers the investigators aim to screen 500 people for a common risk variant in the FTO gene. From those 500 screened 40 subjects, 20 homozygous for the risk allele and 20 homozygous for a non risk allele will be selected for the second step in the study. This part involves the fMRI technique to visualize the brain response, focus on reward system activation, when food images are visually presented in the scanner. Factors regarding eating behavior, sleep, physical exercise and relation to food are investigated in the first part of the study as well as clinical parameters such as BMI.

Interventions

PROCEDUREBlood sampling for genetic analyse

Blood sampling are performed at the initiation visit in order to screen for allele variants

BEHAVIORALStroop test

Selective attention test where subjects, in one minute, names the ink color of several words without naming the word itself.

OTHERfMRI

Functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging, performed to view brain activity

Study design

Allocation

NON_RANDOMIZED

Intervention model

PARALLEL

Primary purpose

BASIC_SCIENCE

Masking

NONE

Eligibility

Sex/Gender

ALL

Age

18 Years to 37 Years

Healthy volunteers

Yes

Inclusion criteria

* No medications (except contraceptives including estrogen) * No metabolic disorders/diseases * Right handed * Color vision * Normal sleep-wake rhythm (eg. shift workers can not participate)

Exclusion criteria

* Specific preferences of food, for example vegetarians * Grandparents originating from country outside the Nordic area * Metallic implants

Design outcomes

Primary

Measure	Time frame
Genotyping for variants in the FTO gene associated with overweight and obesity	Blood sampling for genetic analyse is performed at the initiation visit

Countries

Sweden

Contacts

Primary ContactChristian Benedict, PhD

christian.benedict@neuro.uu.se

Outcome results

None listed

Source: ClinicalTrials.gov · Data processed: Feb 4, 2026