Abnormal Eating and Taste Perception in Subjects With Obesity

Food Addiction, Binge Eating Disorder and Taste Perception in Subjects With Obesity

Status

Recruiting

Phases

Unknown

Study type

Observational

Source

ClinicalTrials.gov

Registry ID

NCT05772052

Acronym

TASTEOB

Enrollment

300

Registered

2023-03-16

Start date

2020-11-02

Completion date

2026-12-31

Last updated

2025-10-03

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

Conditions

Obesity

Keywords

Taste; Obesity; Food addiction; Binge eating; sweet; salty

Brief summary

The identification of safe and effective strategies for weight loss and long-term maintenance is critical to reduce the alarming prevalence of obesity worldwide and mitigate obesity-associated health risks. Specifically, Binge Eating (BE) and Food Addiction (FA) behaviors are well known causes of failed weight loss and weight regain. The definitions of their clinical phenotypes are currently evolving. Recent evidence suggests that food choices, behavior and reward may be driven also by taste perception. The hypothesis of this study is that subjects with dysfunctional eating behavior have different taste thresholds compared to obese subjects without eating disorders, and that this characteristic influences food choice and eating behavior. Identifying a difference in the taste thresholds between obese with and without eating disorder will allow us to understand why certain individuals over-consume or binge on densely caloric foods and to give them a tailored dietary treatment so as to maintain weight loss for a long time. The Binge eating and Food Addiction is assessed using Binge Eating Scale and Yale Food Addiction Scale 2.0. Subjects with obesity recruited are divided in 4 groups: without eating disorder, with food addiction (FA), with binge eating (BE) and with FA + BE. In these groups sweet and salty taste will be measured with the 3-Alternative-Forced-Choice method.

Interventions

None listed

Study design

Observational model

COHORT

Time perspective

CROSS_SECTIONAL

Eligibility

Sex/Gender

ALL

Age

18 Years to 60 Years

Healthy volunteers

Inclusion criteria

* BMI\>30 kg/m2 and \<45 kg/m2

Exclusion criteria

* uncooperative patients * heavy smokers * pregnancy or recent (in the last 6 months) childbirth * thyroid disorders * presence of endocrine abnormalities associated with obesity * current or recent oral, nasal or sinus infections * major psychiatric disorder even in pharmacological compensation * patients who had undergone bariatric surgery

Design outcomes

Primary

Measure	Time frame	Description
sweet taste recognition threshold	baseline	The sweet taste recognition threshold is assessed in subjects without eating disorders, with FA,with BE and FA+ BE
salt taste recognition threshold	baseline	The salt taste recognition threshold is assessed in subjects without eating disorders, with FA,with BE and FA+ BE

Secondary

Measure	Time frame	Description
prevalence of binge eating (BE)	baseline	percentage of subjects recruited with BE
prevalence of Food Addiction (FA)	baseline	percentage of subjects recruited with FA
prevalence of Food Addiction (FA) + Binge Eating (BE)	baseline	percentage of subjects recruited with FA+BE

Countries

Italy

Contacts

Primary ContactLuisa Gilardini, MF

l.gilardini@auxologico.it+0261911

Outcome results