Obesity Clinical Trials in United Kingdom

The aim of this project is to understand the impact of a four week preoperative exercise programme on fitness and metabolic rate and weight before surgery. A multi-site randomised trial sponsored by UCL, recruiting patients awaiting bariatric surgery for obesity at University College London Hospital (UCLH), Whittington Health NHS Trust, or Homerton University Hospital NHS Foundation Trust. The investigators will measure fitness, metabolic rate, body weight/composition and grip strength in all participants, before and after a four-week supervised physical activity intervention. The investigators will also interview participants about their participation in the study in regard to the planning of future studies. Read Less

In this trial, the aim is to assess the clinical benefits and harms, as well as cost-effectiveness of an intensive weight loss (IWL) intervention that includes total dietary replacements, behavioural support and weight-loss medication compared with existing weight management programmes within primary care for people with obesity class I or uncomplicated obesity class II or higher. Read Less

In this trial, the aim is to assess the clinical benefits and harms, as well as cost-effectiveness of an intensive weight loss (IWL) intervention that includes total dietary replacements, behavioural support and weight-loss medication compared with existing weight management programmes within primary care for people with severe and complex obesity. Read Less

With this trial, the aim is to assess the benefits and harms of a non-surgical intensive weight loss intervention that includes total dietary replacements, behavioural support and weight-loss medication compared with bariatric surgery for people with severe and complex obesity. The interpretation of the results will help inform future care pathways for people with obesity in whom bariatric surgery is currently the only available effective treatment option. Read Less

The PREDICT 3 study will build on previous research in over 2,000 individuals to further refine machine learning models that predict individual responses to foods, with the aim of advancing precision nutrition science and individualized dietary advice. The study incorporates both standardized and controlled dietary intervention, for the purpose of testing postprandial responses to specific mixed meals, in addition to a free-living period with a dietary record for measuring responses to a large variety of meals consumed in a realistic context, where the role of external factors (e.g. exercise, sleep, time of day) on postprandial responses may be determined. For the first time this PREDICT study is built on top of a commercial product which will allow access to a much larger group of participants who are already collecting large amounts of data through digital and biochemical devices that can contribute to science. Read Less

Health inequality and genetic disparity are a significant issue in the United Kingdom (UK). This study focuses on diseases that are associated with significant morbidity and mortality in the UK, and specifically examines the extent and basis of treatment failure in different patient populations. The vast majority of drug registration clinical trials have under-representation of ethnic minority populations. In addition, the wider Caucasian populations have reasonably different clinical characteristics to the population that participated in the drug licencing clinical trials. A consequence of this is that drugs are licensed for use in real-world general patient populations where the clinical trial results are simply not statistically significant to specifically demonstrate efficacy or safety in populations that were either absent or under-represented in the drug registration clinical trials. When these facts are considered alongside data that supports significant under-reporting of adverse events in the real-world setting within the UK (and globally, e.g the USA and Europe), it highlights that pharmacovigilance systems are unable to capture drug effectiveness and safety data in a manner that can reasonably assure appropriate prescribing in the wider patient populations. This large real-world research study aims to identify whether commonly prescribed drugs are effective in treating illnesses that cause significant poor health and death in the different patient populations that represent the UK. The goal of this study is to generate large quantitative data-sets that may inform clinical practice to reduce the existing health inequality and genetic disparity in the UK. Read Less

Exercise increases energy expenditure and impacts appetite and energy intake. Some appetite-related hormones such as oxyntomodulin suppress appetite whilst other hormones such as ghrelin stimulate appetite. This study will investigate whether acute continuous walking/jogging influences these hormone concentrations, and whether exercise-induced changes in the hormones correlate with perceptions of appetite, nutritional intake and brain activity in individuals varying in weight status. Read Less

This study looks at the effects of weight loss in people who have heart failure with reduced ejection fraction (HFpEF) and are overweight or obese. The main questions it aims to answer are whether weight loss in this group of people improves: * The heart's shape and how well it pumps blood * The person's quality of life and how much they can exercise Participants will attend 2 study visits, separated by 3-6 months. The intervention period takes place in between the 2 study visits. Each study visit may involve measurements including: Symptom and quality of life questionnaires Body measurements such as height and weight Blood tests Ultrasound scans of the heart (echocardiogram) Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI) scans of the heart 6 minute walk test Participants are randomly allocated (in other words, by lottery) to either 'diet' or 'control' groups. The control group will continue standard care. The diet group will be enrolled in a weight loss program supervised by the study team. Participants in the diet group will replace their usual meals with meal replacement products specifically designed to deliver a low calorie diet for weight loss. The products will consist of formula soups, shakes and porridges. This diet would last 8 weeks, followed by a guided period of food reintroduction and maintenance. Read Less

The goal of this interventional study is to measure the blood levels of the gut hormones LEAP2 and acyl ghrelin (AG), appetite and food intake after consuming liquid meals of different caloric sizes, in healthy adults with and without obesity. AG is a stomach-derived homone that increases appetite, and LEAP2 a liver-gut derived hormone that decreases appetite, which interferes the action of AG ant its receptor in the brain called the growth hormone secretagogue receptor (GHSR). Blood levels of AG and LEAP2 change in opposite directions after food intake (AG decreasing, LEAP2 increasing). AG is formed from an inactive version of hormone called desacyl ghrelin (DAG). Previous studies have shown that greater food intake leads to a greater decrease in blood levels of total ghrelin (AG + DAG), but this has not been studied for changes in blood AG or LEAP2 after eating. Blood levels of AG and total ghrelin when fasted and after food intake are lower, while blood levels of LEAP2 are higher, in adults with than those without obesity. The main study questions are: 1. Are there greater increases in blood levels of LEAP2 and greater decreases in blood levels of AG after consuming larger meals (by amount of calories they contain)? 2. Are greater decreases in appetite after connsuming larger meals related to greater increases in blood levels of LEAP2 and greater decreases in blood levels of AG? 3. Are greater decreases in food intake at a buffet lunch after consuming larger meals eaten a few hours previously related to greater increases in blood levels of LEAP2 and greater decreases in blood levels of AG? 4. Do the above findings differ between adults without obesity and with obesity? At each of 4 study days, healthy adults (without and with obesity) will consume one size of a single liquid meal containing different amounts of calories (0, 600, 900 (group without obesity only), 1200, 1800 (group with obesity only) kilocalories, of identical total volume) after an overnight fast and have measurements of blood LEAP2 and AG and appetite ratings from 0 to 180 min, and have food intake at an ad libitum lunch measured at 180 mins. Food will be weighed and converted into kilocalories. All participants will attend for all 4 study visits in a randomised order to receive one of the meal sizes at each visit, so that all 4 meal zizes are consumed over all 4 study visits: 0, 600, 900 (group without obesity), 1200, 1800 (group with obesity) kcal. Read Less

The purpose of this project is to assess the effects of bariatric surgery on muscle structure and function as well as investigating the feasibility of undertaking an exercise intervention post-surgery. Read Less

The goal of this pilot and feasibility study is to is to test the feasibility of conducting a cross-sectional study on adiposity and cardiometabolic and neurocognitive risk factors at Kings College Hospital NHS Foundation Trust (KCH). The main aim is to assess and compare anthropometric measurements of adiposity (weight, Body Mass Index (BMI), Waist Circumference (WC), Waist-to-Hip ratio (WHR), Neck circumference (NC)), liver fat (hepatic steatosis and fibrosis), cardiometabolic risk factors (dyslipidemia, insulin resistance, hypertension) and neurocognitive risk factors among participants, according to their ethnic background. Participants will come at KCH for one visit and will have their anthropometric measurements and cardio-metabolic profile assessed. They will also perform questionnaires on lifestyle, socio-economic status and neuro-cognitive health during their visit. Read Less

This study looks at the effects of weight loss in people who have heart failure with preserved ejection fraction (HFpEF) and are overweight or obese. The main questions it aims to answer are whether weight loss in this group of people improves: 1. The heart's shape, how well it pumps blood and how well it uses fuels 2. The person's quality of life and how much they can exercise Participants will attend 2 study visits, separated by 3-6 months. The intervention period takes place in between the 2 study visits. Each study visit will involve measurements including: * Symptom and quality of life questionnaires * Body measurements such as height and weight * Blood tests * Ultrasound scans of the heart (echocardiogram) * Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI) scans of the heart * Exercise components during the scans * 6 minute walk test Participants are randomly allocated (in other words, by lottery) to either 'diet' or 'control' groups. The control group will continue standard care. The diet group will be enrolled in a weight loss program supervised by the study team. Participants in the diet group will replace their usual meals with meal replacement products specifically designed to deliver a low calorie diet for weight loss. The products will consist of formula soups, shakes and porridges. This diet would last 8 weeks, followed by a guided period of food reintroduction and maintenance. Read Less