Teen Nutrition Study
Would you like to take part in The Teen Nutrition Study?
We are looking for 13-18 year old volunteers to take part in an 8-week nutrition study which will examine if following a nutrition programme can improve the health of teenagers who carry extra body weight.
What’s the point of this research?
Unhealthy food choices and carrying extra weight can cause the body to produce unhealthy substances, which travel around in the blood. These substances are not good for us. Foods such as fish, fruit and vegetables can lower the number of these unhealthy substances. However, some teenagers do not eat these foods regularly.
In this research study, we want to test whether a supplement containing important nutrients that are found in foods such as fruits, vegetables and fish, can reduce the number of these unhealthy substances in the body and improve teenage health.
Who can take part in this research?
Teenagers who are overweight and aged between 13 and 18 years may be suitable to take part in this study. There are also some reasons why teenagers might not be suitable to take part. For example, taking treatment for asthma is one reason why teenagers would not be suitable for the study. An eligibility test will be carried out on all teenagers before they start the study.
What does the nutrition programme involve?
The nutrition programme involves taking one carton of fruit juice and 4 small tablets every day for 8 weeks. Teens will also follow a healthy eating plan. All nutrition programme products will be provided to teens free of charge.
How will the nutrition programme be tested?
The nutrition programme will be tested at 5 study visits over the 8 week period. These study visits can take place at various locations in Dublin.
Over the course of the 5 study visits, information relating to teenage health such as weight, dietary intake and physical activity level will be gathered.
In order to examine whether the supplement is effective at reducing the number of unhealthy substances in the blood, a blood sample will also be taken at 2 of the 5 study visits. The amount of blood taken at each occasion is equivalent to about 5 tablespoons.
You can find out more information about each of the study visits at the bottom of this page.
Want to find out more?
To enquire about booking a place in this study, or for answers to any of your questions, please complete our online enquiry form.
You can also phone/text the Research Dietitian Aoibheann on 086-7213854 or email teen.nutrition@tcd.ie.
Frequently Asked Questions
What’s involved in each of the study visits?
Visit 1
- At the first study visit, we will double check that you and your parent/guardian are happy for you to take part in the study.
- After we make sure that you are happy to continue, we will ask questions about you, your health as well as any tablets or medications that you take.
- We will then give you a food diary. We will ask you to bring this diary home with you and write in it everything that you eat and drink for 4 days.
- We will also give you a small physical activity monitor to bring home with you. We will ask you to wear this monitor for one week before you return for visit 2. This will tell us how much physical activity that you do.
- The visit will last about 20 minutes.
Visit 2
- At this visit, you will return the food diary that you completed after visit 1. You will also give us back the physical activity monitor.
- We will then measure your weight, height and body composition (how much muscle you have).
- So that we can see whether the supplement is a good way to fight the effects of extra weight, we would also like to look at your blood. At this visit we will ask you to give 74ml or about 5 tablespoons of blood. For this, a needle will be inserted into a vein of your arm and the blood will be taken. By giving us this blood, we can look at whether the supplement is able to lower the number of certain substances that often travel in blood as a result of extra weight. We will also be able to look at some of the traits that your parents passed onto you. We will ask that you do not eat from the night before this visit. This is because food affects what travels in your blood.
- Finally, we will talk to you about the healthy eating plan and give you enough supplements to last until your next visit.
- This visit to the clinic will last about 1 hour.
Visits 3 and 4
- Your 3rd visit will take place about 2 weeks after you begin the study and your 4th visit will take place about one month after you begin the study.
- Each of the visits will last about 15 minutes.
- At these visits, we will ask you about how you have been finding the study so far and you can ask us any questions or tell us about any problems that you have about any aspect of the study.
- We will also check your weight and ask you a few questions about what you have been eating.
Visit 5
- This will be your final study visit. At this visit, we will measure everything that we measured at visit 2, again. This will allow us to see if anything changed by taking the supplement.
- This visit will last about 45 minutes.
Is there a chance that I could be asked to take a dummy supplement?
Half of all teenagers who wish to take part in this study will be given a dummy supplement. This dummy supplement will look and taste the same as the real supplement, but will not contain the ingredients that may help to fight against the effects of extra weight. The reason that a dummy supplement is given to some people, is so that we can look at whether the real supplement improves teenage health more than the dummy supplement. All teenagers, whether they are taking the real supplement or the dummy supplement will follow the healthy eating plan.
Could anything bad happen to me if I agree to take part?
- The supplement in this study is safe for teenagers to take. However, some people may find that changing their eating habits will cause stomach or bowel upset. This should settle after the first few days.
- There is also the possibility that some people might find that giving blood is uncomfortable, and it might cause bruising. The person taking your blood will try to make the experience as easy as possible.
- We do not know what could happen to an unborn baby from this research study. This means that girls in this research study should not be pregnant.
Will I benefit from taking part in this study?
We hope to learn something from this study. We do not know yet if the supplement will improve teenage health. The health of some teenagers in this study may improve by taking the supplement, but we are not certain of this yet. This is why we are doing this research study. We do hope that you will benefit from this study by following the healthy eating plan.
Have you been granted permission to do this research on teenage health?
Yes, this trial has hospital Research Ethics Committee approval.
Anything else I should know?
Taking part in this study is completely voluntary and you may quit at any time.
For more information about the study, please fill out this online enquiry form.
Alternatively, you can call/text Aoibheann on 086-7213854 or email teen.nutrition@tcd.ie.
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