Nutrition, Vision, and Cognition in Sport Study: Beef

NCT04427852 | Completed

• 1 other identifier: M1803347
• Study Type: interventional
• Target: 80
• Locations: 1 country
• Sites: 1

Brief Summary

The purpose of this study is to determine whether a 30 day beef intervention can improve peak cognitive performance in young, normally menstruating adult women. The control group will consume a daily portion of macronutrient equivalent vegetable source of protein.

Conditions

Cognitive Change; Nutrient Deficiency; Nutritional Anemia; Visual Spatial Processing; Diet, Healthy; Diet; Deficiency; Dietary Deficiency; Dietary B12 Deficiency; Dietary Zinc Deficiency; Dietary Vitamin B12 Deficiency Anemia; Dietary Deficiency of Selenium and Vitamin E

Outcome Measures

Primary Outcomes (3)

• Mean NeuroTracker Speed Threshold over 300 trials

  Cognitive Performance on the Neurotracker 3D software program that includes 20 trials in each session. Particpants will track 4 of 8 balls with increasing speed if successful and slower if unsuccessful.The speed threshold is optimized performance for that session. Across the 15 sessions, mean speed threshold is defined as the average speed threshold for the 15 sessions.

  15 sessions (300 trials) over 10 days at the end of the nutritional intervention

• Maximal NeuroTracker Speed Threshold over 300 trials

  Cognitive Performance on the Neurotracker 3D software program that includes 20 trials in each session. Particpants will track 4 of 8 balls with increasing speed if successful and slower if unsuccessful. The speed threshold is optimized performance for that session. Across the 15 sessions, maximal speed threshold is defined as the highest speed threshold.

  15 sessions (300 trials) over 10 days at the end of the nutritional intervention

• Change in NeuroTracker Speed Threshold over 300 trials

  Cognitive Performance on the Neurotracker 3D software program that includes 20 trials in each session. Particpants will track 4 of 8 balls with increasing speed if successful and slower if unsuccessful. The speed threshold is optimized performance for that session. Across the 15 sessions, change in speed threshold is defined as the difference between the mean of the first three sessions and the mean of the last three sessions.

  15 sessions (300 trials) over 10 days at the end of the nutritional intervention

Secondary Outcomes (1)

• Blood Markers of anemia

  Day 1 and Day 30 of the intervention

Study Arms (2)

30 day Beef consumption

EXPERIMENTAL

One serving of beef is consumed each day for 30 days.

Dietary Supplement: 30 day Daily consumption of 1 serving of beef

30 day Veggie Patty consumption

PLACEBO COMPARATOR

One serving (1 patty) of a vegetable based protein source is consumed each day for 30 days. The weight of the food, total calories, grams of protein, and total fat are the same as the beef serving.

Dietary Supplement: 30 day Daily consumption of 1 serving of the vegatable protein source

Interventions

30 day Daily consumption of 1 serving of beef DIETARY_SUPPLEMENT

Beef patty will replace one of the participants protein servings each day for 30 days. Each serving is 114 grams of 90% lean ground sirloin given to participants as an uncooked frozen patty.

30 day Beef consumption

30 day Daily consumption of 1 serving of the vegatable protein source DIETARY_SUPPLEMENT

Veggie patty will replace one of the participants protein servings each day for 30 days. No beef will be consumed during this period. The veggie patty is commercially available Morningstar veggie burger and is given to participants in commercial packaging as a frozen precooked patty.

30 day Veggie Patty consumption

Eligibility Criteria

• Age: 18 Years - 40 Years
• Gender Eligibility Details: Biological female, normally menstruating
• Healthy Volunteers: Yes
• Age Groups: Adult (18-64)

You may qualify if:

• year old female
• Eumenorrheic

You may not qualify if:

• Neuroactive medications such as Ritalin, Adderall, antidepressants etc
• Dietary supplements
• Iron intake above 15mg/day
• Protein intake above 1.5 g/kg/day
• More than 1 mild concussion lifetime or 1 mild concussion within the last 12 months
• History of affective disorder
• Visual impairments uncorrected by glasses
• Amenorrhea or dysmenorrhea
• Currently being treated for anemia
• \>3 servings of beef per week
• \<20 BMI or BMI \>35
• Consume \>100mg caffeine/day (\>1 cup of coffee or soda)
• \<1 hour/week physical activity, \>4 hours/week vigorous activity
• Depression score \>18 (Beck Depression Inventory)
• \<20 Kcal/kg/day

Sponsors & Collaborators

• Texas A&M University: lead

Study Sites (1)

Texas A&M University

College Station, Texas, 77845, United States

Location

MeSH Terms

Conditions

Spatial Processing; Malnutrition

Condition Hierarchy (Ancestors)

Spatial Behavior; Behavior; Nutrition Disorders; Nutritional and Metabolic Diseases

Study Officials

• Steve Riechman, PhD

  Texas A&M University

  PRINCIPAL INVESTIGATOR

Study Design

• Study Type: interventional
• Phase: not applicable
• Allocation: RANDOMIZED
• Masking: NONE
• Masking Details: note on masking: The title of the study presented to participants is "IONsport: Women and Protein" and the funding source is withheld to mask from participants our underlying hypothesis. It is open label in the sense that they know what they are eating.
• Purpose: TREATMENT
• Intervention Model: PARALLEL
• Sponsor Type: OTHER
• Responsible Party: PRINCIPAL INVESTIGATOR
• PI Title: Associate Professor

Model Details: Study participants will be randomized to either one serving of beef or a macronutrient equivalent "veggie patty" per day for 30 days.

Study Record Dates

• First Submitted: June 6, 2020
• First Posted: June 11, 2020
• Study Start: January 20, 2020
• Primary Completion: December 31, 2020
• Study Completion: June 1, 2021
• Last Updated: September 29, 2025

Record last verified: 2025-09

Data Sharing

• IPD Sharing: Will not share

Locations

US (1)