School of Psychology
Investigating the relationship between nutrition, well-being and mental performance. Female participants aged 18-50 required.
Females who:
- are aged 18-50
- have a BMI of between 18.5 to 30
- consume snacks, or are willing to consume snack products provided
- have no food allergies or intolerances
- are not pregnant
- are not post-menopausal
are needed to take part in a five-week study.
What will happen to me if I take part?
You will be invited to visit the Human Appetite Research Unit (HARU) for a procedure screening visit in which you will sign a consent form if you agree to take part.
You will be asked to complete a Recruitment Questionnaire to inform us about your general health and allow us to assess your suitability to take part. This questionnaire will ask you about any food allergies you may have and will also ask for your contact details.
You will then be asked to complete two Eating Habits Questionnaires (to inform us about your usual eating habits), and you will be asked to practise completing tests of mental performance (in order to familiarise yourself with the procedure). These are simple computerised tests of memory and reaction time and take approximately 30 minutes to complete.
You will also be asked to complete a questionnaire to report your mood during these cognitive ability tests.
Lastly, you will have your height, weight and body fat measured by the researcher. This will be kept completely confidential and will be carried out individually.
This whole visit will take approximately 60 minutes.
Baseline – duration = 1 week: You will be asked to fill in a simple online well-being questionnaire at the end of every day, with NO CHANGE TO YOUR DIET. The questionnaire will ask questions regarding self-esteem, mental and physical energy, body image, bowel activity and mood. Ideally, the questionnaire should be completed as late as possible before going to bed. It should not be completed when under the influence of alcohol, so if you are planning to go out and consume alcohol, the questionnaire should be completed beforehand. It should also be completed on the day in question i.e. not after midnight. The questionnaire will show the time at which it was completed, so please be honest. It will take approximately 10 minutes to complete, and as it is available online, you will not be required to come into the HARU for this. You will be sent a daily email to remind you to complete it. Please complete the questionnaire alone and with no other distractions.
N.B. You will be required to complete this online questionnaire at the end of every day within the complete study period (five weeks in total – baseline and four weeks of dietary intervention).
At the end of the baseline week, when you return to the HARU for further instruction, you will complete another set of cognitive tests and the mood questionnaire.
At the start of weeks 1 and 2: You will need to visit the HARU to sample the foods that are available in the study and to choose your study foods (3 cereals and 15 snack bars/bites per week) from a wider selection. These foods are all commercially available and will be provided in their usual packaging.
For each of the two weeks, you will then consume the foods provided instead of your usual snacks and/or breakfast. You should aim to do this at least twice a day (although you can consume more of the products if desired). You should try and consume both cereals and snacks during the week and drink plenty of water. You can consume any of the foods at any time of day as a substitute for your usual foods.
You will need to complete the online well-being questionnaire every evening, with the same guidelines applying. There will be an information sheet provided with the foods, to remind you of the study requirements and a table to help you remember when and what foods you ate.
At the end of week 2: You will need to visit the HARU to collect more cereals and snacks and complete the process for another week. You will have the opportunity to choose different snacks if you feel it necessary.
At this point, you will also be asked to complete another set of the cognitive tasks plus the mood questionnaire that you completed during the initial screening process and at the end of the baseline week.
At the start of weeks 3 and 4: You will need to visit the HARU to collect more cereals and snacks and complete the process for another week. You will have the opportunity to choose different snacks if you feel it necessary.
At the end of week 4, you will be asked to return to the HARU to complete the two Eating Habits Questionnaires and the cognitive tests and mood questionnaire again, along with another questionnaire based on your thoughts about the study, and you will also receive a full debrief about the study. Your height and weight will be measured again.
At this point, if you have any concerns or questions you will have the opportunity to discuss these with the co-investigators. This will take approximately 60 minutes.
- Contact: Rachael Moss & Shan Zhao - pscfood@leeds.ac.uk
- Ethical approval reference number: 15-0136
- Closing date for participants: 01 September 2015