Popular weight loss strategies often involve reducing an individual's consumption of carbohydrates or fat. However, no controlled study has been carried out to evaluate the effects of reducing carbohydrate versus fat consumption while keeping the other nutrients at standard levels to maintain an individual's weight. Researchers are interested in investigating how different restrictions of carbohydrates or fats affect the many processes involved in weight loss, including brain activity and blood and brain chemical composition.
Popular weight loss strategies often prescribe a targeted reduction of dietary carbohydrate or fat. But surprisingly, no controlled human feeding study has ever investigated the effects of a selective reduction of dietary carbohydrate versus fat while keeping the other dietary macronutrients at their baseline weight-maintenance values. The present study was designed to address this knowledge gap and improve our understanding of how selective reduction of dietary fat versus carbohydrate may differentially impact the many feedback control processes that act to resist weight loss. Objectives: \- To determine the comparative effects of two controlled fat- or carbohydrate-restricted diets and an outpatient weight loss program on blood and brain chemical composition, weight loss (fat and lean body mass), and regional brain activity in lean and obese individuals. Eligibility: \- Healthy individuals between 18 and 45 years of age who are either lean (body mass index between 18.5 kg/m(2) and 25 kg/m(2)) or obese (body mass index above 30.0 kg/m(2), weight less than 350 pounds) and are right-handed. Design: * Lean participants: Participants will be screened with a medical history, physical examination, blood and urine tests, and weight maintenance observations (food diaries and physical activity monitors). For the scanning visit, participants will receive balanced meals from the National Institutes of Health to consume for 2 days before the visit. During the scanning visit, participants will continue to eat the weight maintenance diet, complete questionnaires, and have a series of imaging studies (including positron emission tomography and magnetic resonance imaging tests) to evaluate brain response to food and other stimuli. * Obese participants: Participants will be screened with a medical history, physical examination, blood and urine tests, and weight maintenance observations (food diaries and physical activity monitors). During the first inpatient visit, obese participants will eat a weight-maintenance diet for 5 days to establish baseline measurements. After several days of eating a weight-maintenance diet, 20 obese adult volunteers (BMI above 30 kg/m2) will be admitted to the metabolic clinical research unit (MCRU) and, after 5 additional days of the baseline diet, their diets will be modified to result in either 85% reduction of the baseline dietary fat or a 60% reduction of the baseline dietary carbohydrate for the next 6 days. These diet modifications produce an equivalent caloric reduction. The primary outcome measurements will be changes of metabolism, brain reward circuitry and regional brain activity in response to food stimuli measured during the baseline and reduced calorie diet phases. Immediately following each controlled diet, we will measure 3 days of ad-libitum food intake using a computerized vending machine system. The subjects will return to the MCRU after a 2-10 week washout period to receive the opposite reduced calorie diet. Twenty control subjects with normal body weight (BMI between 18.5 - 25 kg/m2) will have measurements of brain reward circuitry and regional brain activity in response to food stimuli while on a balanced, weight-maintenance diet. Immediately following the second in-patient visit, all of the obese subjects will be assigned to a 12 week out-patient weight loss program with the goal of achieving at least 5% weight loss. We will investigate the relationship between short-term fat imbalances measured during the in-patient phases, and the body weight and fat changes during the weight loss program. We will evaluate the effects of weight loss on metabolism, brain reward circuitry, and regional brain activity in response to food stimuli. Finally, if the subjects are available for long-term follow-up, then we will investigate their metabolic phenotype, brain reward circuitry, and regional brain activity in response to food stimuli yearly over the subsequent 5 years following the weight loss intervention. This study will result in an improved understanding of the physiological mechanisms that sense and respond to negative energy balance acutely, after several weeks, and after several years, and may eventually lead to increased long-term success of obesity treatment.
RF (selective reduction of 85% of baseline fat calories per day)
RC (selective reduction of 60% of baseline carbohydrate calories per day)
Dopamine D2 receptor availability is measured by positron emission tomography (PET) using the positron emitting compound \[18F\] fallypride which binds competitively with dopamine to the D2 receptor.
National Institutes of Health Clinical Center, 9000 Rockville Pike
Bethesda, Maryland, United States
Change in Respiratory Quotient (RQ)
Respiratory quotient was calculated as the ratio of carbon dioxide production to oxygen consumption as measured in a metabolic chamber for at least 23 continuous hours on days 2 and 5 of the baseline diet and days 1, 4, and 6 of the reduced-energy diets.
Time frame: Baseline and day 14
Change in 24 Hour Energy Expenditure
24 hour energy expenditure was measured in a respiratory chamber.
Time frame: Baseline and 14 days
Change in Cumulative Fat Imbalance
Measured as the difference between dietary fat intake and fat oxidation by the body as measured in the respiratory chamber
Time frame: Baseline and 14 days
Caudate Dopamine D2-like Receptor Binding Potential (D2BP)
The time-activity curves for \[18F\]fallypride tracer concentration in the ROIs were measured by PET and kinetic parameters were fit to a four compartment mathematical model (with the cerebellum used as the reference tissue). D2BP was expressed as the dimensionless ratio of rate constants quantifying binding and unbinding of tracer in the regions of interest.
Time frame: Day 2 of in-patient admission
Putamen Dopamine D2-like Receptor Binding Potential (D2BP)
The time-activity curves for \[18F\]fallypride tracer concentration in the ROIs were measured by PET and kinetic parameters were fit to a four compartment mathematical model (with the cerebellum used as the reference tissue). D2BP was expressed as the dimensionless ratio of rate constants quantifying binding and unbinding of tracer in the regions of interest.
Time frame: Day 2 of in-patient admission
Accumbens Dopamine D2-like Receptor Binding Potential (D2BP)
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Study Type
INTERVENTIONAL
Allocation
RANDOMIZED
Purpose
TREATMENT
Masking
NONE
Enrollment
43
Functional MRI (fMRI) will be used to measure the effects of diet and weight loss on regional brain activity
Positron emission tomography (PET) will be used to assess whether To assess whether brain activity and reward pathways are altered
The time-activity curves for \[18F\]fallypride tracer concentration in the ROIs were measured by PET and kinetic parameters were fit to a four compartment mathematical model (with the cerebellum used as the reference tissue). D2BP was expressed as the dimensionless ratio of rate constants quantifying binding and unbinding of tracer in the regions of interest.
Time frame: Day 2 of in-patient admission