Evaluation of Changes in Skin Carotenoid Scores in Medical Students Following Dietary Interventions

NCT02163928 | Completed

• 2 other identifiers: L14-128CRI14-042 Skin Carotenoids
• Study Type: observational
• Target: 40
• Locations: 1 country
• Sites: 1

Brief Summary

Skin Carotenoid Scores (SCS) are a biomarker of overall antioxidant status. This study will use Raman Spectroscopy to examine the ability of increased dietary intake of fruits and vegetables to increase SCS in medical students. This will be an observational, non-invasive study examining skin carotenoid levels over time in individuals who have increased their intake by dietary adjustments. Thirty medical students meeting study inclusion criteria will be asked to increase their intake of high antioxidant fruits and vegetables to 4-6 cups per day over an eight week period of time. Students will self-select their fruits and vegetables from a given list and will receive supermarket gift cards to offset the cost of the increased food. Students will be asked to follow their usual diet for one week. Then increase their intake of high antioxidant fruit and vegetable to 4-6 cups per day for eight weeks. Then return to their usual diet for 2 weeks. SCS scores will be taken at baseline and week 1. At the beginning of week 2, students will be asked to increase fruit and vegetable intake to 4-6 cups per day. SCS will be measured every two weeks during the 8-week intervention phase. Students will return to their usual diet for 2 weeks and SCS will be measured at the end of that 2-week period.

Conditions

Health Behavior

Keywords

Antioxidants; Carotenoids; Diet

Outcome Measures

Primary Outcomes (1)

• Skin Carotenoid Scores (SCS)

  Skin Carotenoid Scores (SCS) are a biomarker of overall antioxidant status. The purpose of this study is to measure changes in SCS in medical students when fruit and vegetable consumption is increased. SCS will measured using a Bio-photonic Scanner. This scanner non-invasively measures carotenoid levels in the skin using optical signals. By placing the palm of the hand in front of a low-energy blue light for less than two minutes, the scanner can determine the SCS.

  Baseline, 2,4,6,8,10,12 weeks

Secondary Outcomes (1)

• Body weight

  Baseline, 2,4,6,8,10,12 weeks

Interventions

Food-based intervention; increased fruits and vegetables OTHER

4-6 cups of fruits and vegetables daily for 8-weeks

Also known as: Whole-diet intervention

Eligibility Criteria

• Age: 18 Years - 89 Years
• Sex: all
• Healthy Volunteers: Yes
• Age Groups: Adult (18-64), Older Adult (65+)
• Sampling Method: Non-Probability Sample

Study Population

Medical students from Texas Tech University School of Medicine.

You may qualify if:

• Medical student from any year at Texas Tech University School of Medicine willing to maintain the increased consumption of fruits and vegetables for the entire eight-week experimental period, to maintain logs and to report at each of the times that measurements will be taken.

You may not qualify if:

• Pregnancy
• Smoker
• BMI =/\> 30
• Chronic disease such as diabetes, heart disease, or metabolic disorder

Sponsors & Collaborators

• Texas Tech University Health Sciences Center: lead

Study Sites (1)

Texas Tech University Health Sciences Center

Lubbock, Texas, 79430, United States

Location

Related Publications (5)

• Ermakov IV, Ermakova MR, McClane RW, Gellermann W. Resonance Raman detection of carotenoid antioxidants in living human tissues. Opt Lett. 2001 Aug 1;26(15):1179-81. doi: 10.1364/ol.26.001179.

  PMID: 18049555 BACKGROUND

• Ermakov IV, Gellermann W. Validation model for Raman based skin carotenoid detection. Arch Biochem Biophys. 2010 Dec 1;504(1):40-9. doi: 10.1016/j.abb.2010.07.023. Epub 2010 Aug 1.

  PMID: 20678465 BACKGROUND

• Mayne ST, Cartmel B, Scarmo S, Lin H, Leffell DJ, Welch E, Ermakov I, Bhosale P, Bernstein PS, Gellermann W. Noninvasive assessment of dermal carotenoids as a biomarker of fruit and vegetable intake. Am J Clin Nutr. 2010 Oct;92(4):794-800. doi: 10.3945/ajcn.2010.29707. Epub 2010 Aug 4.

  PMID: 20685953 BACKGROUND

• Mayne ST, Cartmel B, Scarmo S, Jahns L, Ermakov IV, Gellermann W. Resonance Raman spectroscopic evaluation of skin carotenoids as a biomarker of carotenoid status for human studies. Arch Biochem Biophys. 2013 Nov 15;539(2):163-70. doi: 10.1016/j.abb.2013.06.007. Epub 2013 Jun 30.

  PMID: 23823930 BACKGROUND

• Meinke MC, Darvin ME, Vollert H, Lademann J. Bioavailability of natural carotenoids in human skin compared to blood. Eur J Pharm Biopharm. 2010 Oct;76(2):269-74. doi: 10.1016/j.ejpb.2010.06.004. Epub 2010 Jun 15.

  PMID: 20558286 BACKGROUND

MeSH Terms

Conditions

Health Behavior

Interventions

Vegetables

Condition Hierarchy (Ancestors)

Behavior

Intervention Hierarchy (Ancestors)

Food; Diet, Food, and Nutrition; Physiological Phenomena; Food and Beverages

Study Officials

• Kathy Chauncey, PhD, RDN

  Texas Tech University Health Sciences Center

  PRINCIPAL INVESTIGATOR

Study Design

• Study Type: observational
• Observational Model: COHORT
• Time Perspective: PROSPECTIVE
• Sponsor Type: OTHER
• Responsible Party: SPONSOR

Study Record Dates

• First Submitted: June 12, 2014
• First Posted: June 16, 2014
• Study Start: June 1, 2014
• Primary Completion: December 14, 2016
• Study Completion: December 14, 2016
• Last Updated: February 5, 2020

Record last verified: 2020-01

Locations

US (1)