NCT07095166Recruiting
Monitoring Eating Across Locations (MEAL) - Timing, Intake, and Mealtime Evaluation (TIME)
Source: ClinicalTrials.gov · Last updated 6 Mar 2026
Brief summary (registry, in English)
Increased availability of high-energy dense foods has contributed to a pediatric obesity epidemic, with 23% of United States children currently presenting with the disease. How children eat contributes to both overconsumption and greater adiposity. However, it is unclear if laboratory measures of children's eating style generalize to the home environment, where children consume two thirds of their total energy. The study will 1) test if child eating styles observed in the lab generalize to more ecologically valid home environments and 2) identify aspects of home food environment that amplify obesogenic eating behaviors. We will assess laboratory and home eating styles (e.g., bite rate) in 100 prepubertal 6-9-year-old children to constrain variability in energy requirements. Children will be video-recorded while consuming identical study-provided meals at home and in the laboratory (counter-balanced order) in addition to a 'typical' meal at home. To study how adiposity relates to "obesogenic" styles of eating, gold standard dual x-ray absorptiometry will be used.
- Status (registry)
- Recruiting
- Study type
- Interventional
- Enrollment
- 100 (estimated)
- First submitted
- 9 Jul 2025
- Start date
- 15 Nov 2025
- Primary completion date
- 15 Jun 2027
- Lead sponsor
- Penn State University
- Diseases
- Obesity
- NCT number
- NCT07095166
What you commit to
- Study type: Interventional
- Planned participants: 100
- From 15 Nov 2025 to the primary completion date, 15 Jun 2027
- 1 site in 1 country
- Visits and tests: ask the trial team, the registry does not list them
Built from the registry fields of ClinicalTrials.gov. It describes the study, not your situation.
Who cannot take part
Copied verbatim from ClinicalTrials.gov and grouped by topic. Only the trial team decides who can take part.
Prior treatment
- child received an X-ray in the previous year (to avoid excess radiation exposure due to the DXA scans performed in the research)
Other illness
- If children are taking cold or allergy medication, or other medications known to influence cognitive function, taste, appetite, or blood flow.
- If children have a learning disability, ADD/ADHD, language delays, autism or other neurological or psychological conditions.
- If children have a pre-existing medical condition such as type I or type II diabetes, rheumatoid arthritis, Cushing's syndrome, Down's syndrome, severe lactose intolerance, Prader-Willi syndrome, HIV, cancer, renal failure, or cerebral palsy.
- If children are allergic to foods or ingredients used in the study.
Age
- Children are not within the age requirements (\<6 years old or \> 9 years old)
Other
- If children don't speak English.
- If children are colorblind.
Who the study is looking for
- children must be between the ages of 6-9 years-old
- children are of good health with no learning disabilities (e.g., ADHD, determined by parent report)
- children are not on any medications known to impact body weight, taste, food intake, behavior, or blood flow
- parents report that children like and are willing to eat study foods
Age in the registry: 6 years to 9 years · Sex: All · Accepts healthy volunteers
Sites (1)
Sites in registry order. Pick your city on the disease page to sort them by distance.
| Site | City | Country | Site status |
|---|---|---|---|
| Pennsylvania State University Coordinator of this site? Confirm its status | State College | United States | Recruiting |
This page is information, not medical advice. Discuss any trial with your doctor.