BMI>40NCT07613255
Evaluating Metabolic Health in Individuals With Extreme Obesity
An observational study of BMI>40, run by Pennington Biomedical Research Center.
Trial summary
This research will evaluate energy metabolism (expenditure and fat oxidation), metabolic flexibility (response to a high-fat test meal) in 10 individuals with a BMI ≥60 kgm2 using gold-standard assessments of energy metabolism, metabolic flexibility, and body composition. Read more about this study
- Who is it for?
- Ages 18 to 80 yearsHealthy volunteers can take part
- Conditions the study is for
- BMI>40
- What is being tested?
- High-fat test meal
- How many people
- 10 participants
- Where
- No sites listed yet
- Study dates
- 1 Oct 2026to 1 Apr 2027
- Phase
- Observational
Key requirements
Who can take part, as listed by the sponsor. Only the study team can confirm whether you are eligible, so take this list to your doctor.
- Ages 18 to 80 years
- All sexes
- Healthy volunteers accepted
- Adult, Older adult
Study population: The population for this study is individuals aged 18 to 80 years old who have a BMI greater than or equal to 60 kg/m2 who are willing to consume pre-prepared meals and are willing to have biospecimens and images stored for future use. The reason for seeking to evaluate this specific population is because individuals with extreme obesity possess high surgical and comorbidity risks, but there is a very small amount of research conducted in these individuals.
Who may be able to join
- Healthy male or female
- Between 18 - 80 years of age
- BMI ≥60 kg/m2
- Willing to consume pre-prepared meals
- Willing to comply with the study procedures.
- Willing to have biospecimens and images stored for future use.
Who cannot join
- Diabetic individuals with complications such as:
- Diabetic eye disease requiring laser treatment
- Diabetic nerve disease associated with foot ulcers or amputations
- Diabetic vascular disease associated with gangrene or amputation
- Diabetic kidney disease accompanied by a creatinine greater than 2.0 mg/dL
- Individuals with prior gastrointestinal surgery except appendectomy or cholecystectomy
Show all 12Show fewer
- Individuals with untreated thyroid disease
- Individuals with untreated or poorly controlled binge eating disorder, bulimia, substance abuse or dependence, mania, and psychosis.
- Women who are pregnant, trying to become pregnant, or currently breastfeeding.
- Individuals with major organ system failure like cirrhosis, hepatic insufficiency, portal hypertension, severe renal insufficiency or on dialysis, severe arterial insufficiency, dementia or the inability to give an informed consent.
- Being unwilling to comply with the study procedures.
- Not willing to have biospecimens and/or images stored for future research use.
Trial locations and contacts
No sites are listed yet. Contact the study team or a site near you to ask about taking part.
About this study
Official title: Evaluating Energy Metabolism and Metabolic Health in Individuals With Extreme Obesity
This research will evaluate energy metabolism (expenditure and fat oxidation), metabolic flexibility (response to a high-fat test meal) in 10 individuals with a BMI ≥60 kgm2 using gold-standard assessments of energy metabolism, metabolic flexibility, and body composition. Males and females (18-80 y) with extreme obesity (BMI: ≥60 kg/m2) will be recruited from Baton Rouge, Louisiana. Exclusion criteria include major organ failure, uncontrolled endocrine disease, severe psychiatric illness, pregnancy, and inability to comply with study procedures. The total duration of participation for each individual is estimated at approximately 10 days. If qualified, participants (BMI≥60 kg/m2; n=10) will complete one outpatient visit and one inpatient visit with 36hr metabolic chamber testing.
Read the detailed description
For visit 1, Subjects will arrive at the outpatient clinic following an overnight fast (nothing to eat or drink, except water, for 10 hours) and the following tests will be performed: anthropometry, blood pressure, pulse rate, temperature, pregnancy test for women, collection of fasting and timed urine samples, fasting and timed blood draws, isotope dilution for sodium bromide, dual-energy X-ray absorptiometry, bioelectrical impedance analysis, ultrasound, accelerometer distribution, and completion of multiple questionnaires. Then, participants will wear the accelerometer and complete an ASA24 questionnaire from Visit 1 to Visit 2-D1, in which participants will return for the first metabolic chamber stay. For D3-Creatine assessment, participants will be instructed to collect an additional urine sample within 5-6 days of Visit 1 that will be dropped off when they arrive for their V2-D1 visit at Pennington Biomedical.
For Visit 2-D1, seven days after being dosed with DLW, subjects will arrive at the inpatient clinic following an overnight fast (nothing to eat or drink, except water, for at least 10 hours). The purpose of this visit is to collect urine samples for D3, DLW, remove the accelerometer, and complete the first overnight metabolic chamber visit, employing a high-fat test meal to assess metabolic flexibility. During this visit, the following tests will be performed: anthropometry, blood pressure, pulse rate, temperature, fasting urine sample, fasting blood draw, accelerometer removal, standardized breakfast and lunch, 13-h overnight stay in the metabolic chamber with a high-fat dinner, urine collection throughout the chamber stay, and VAS before and after lunch and dinner.
Lastly, for Visit 2-D2, upon completing the first overnight inpatient stay in the metabolic chamber (previous 13 hours), participants will exit the chamber at 0700 for one hour to allow for re-calibration of the chambers. Participants will be fasted since their high-fat dinner meal the previous night (approximately 11.5 hours) and will have their metabolic weight taken along with a fasting blood draw. They will then re-enter the metabolic chamber at 0800 and begin a 23-h chamber stay consisting of controlled meals throughout the stay. The purpose of this visit is to collect 23-h chamber data pertaining to various metrics of energy expenditure (e.g., BMR, RMR, TEF, SMR, etc.) and substrate oxidation (i.e., respiratory quotient). During this visit, the following tests will be performed: anthropometry, blood pressure, pulse rate, temperature, fasting blood draw, 23-h stay in the metabolic chamber with controlled meals, urine collection throughout the chamber stay, and VAS before and after lunch and dinner.
After completing of the second overnight chamber stay (Visit 2-D2), participants will exit the metabolic chamber and have their metabolic weight taken.
- Conditions
- BMI>40
- Being tested
- High-fat test meal
- Keywords
- metabolic flexibility, metabolism, extreme obesity, body composition
- Medical subject headings
- Obesity, Morbid
What participants receive
What participants receive. In a randomised study each person is assigned to one group by chance.
High-fat test mealOther
Also called metabolic flexibility
At Visit 2-D1, subjects will enter the chamber at approximately 17:30 and exit the following morning at 07:00. Energy expenditure, respiratory exchange ratio (RER), and 12-h oxidation of CHO, fat, and protein will be calculated per standard PBRC protocols. While in the chamber, participants will collect all their urine for measurement of urinary nitrogen. Subjects will be served one high-fat meal while they are in the chamber (40% of the daily energy requirements).
| Study group | Role | What they receive |
|---|---|---|
| Metabolic Flexibility | Ten Males and females (18-80 y) with extreme obesity (BMI: ≥60 kg/m2) will complete one outpatient visit and one inpatient visit with 36 hours of metabolic chamber testing evaluate energy metabolism (expenditure and fat oxidation), metabolic flexibility (response to a high-fat test meal) using gold-standard assessments of energy metabolism, metabolic flexibility, and body composition. Receives: Other: High-fat test meal |
What is being measured
The primary outcome is the main question the study is designed to answer.
24-hour Energy Expenditure
24-hour energy expenditure will be assessed from participants spending 23 hours in a metabolic chamber.
Measured: Day 9
24-hour Fat Oxidation
This will be collected from the 23-hour chamber stay during Visit 2, Day 2. Specifically, this represents the total grams of fat oxidized over the 23-hour stay, calculated from indirect calorimetry stoichiometry.
Measured: Day 9
Basal Energy Expenditure
This represents the amount of energy expended under strict basal conditions: post-absorptive (typically 10-12h fasted), thermoneutral, fully awake but supine and motionless, no recent physical activity. This will be collected from the 23-hour metabolic chamber stay.
Measured: Day 9
Resting Energy Expenditure
This is the energy expended at rest but under less stringent conditions than basal: seated or supine, awake, post-absorptive but with less rigor about prior activity, temperature, and emotional state. This will be collected from the 23-hour metabolic chamber stay.
Measured: Day 9
Sleeping Metabolic Rate
This is the energy expenditure during sleep, typically computed from the lowest stable ~3-hour window between roughly 02:00 and 05:00 when arousal and movement are minimal. Per our Standard Operating Procedures, this will be computed between 01:00 and 05:00.
Measured: Day 9
Thermic Effect of Food
This represents the postprandial rise in energy expenditure above the pre-meal baseline, integrated over the period until energy expenditure returns to baseline (typically 4-6 hours for a mixed meal). This reflects the energy cost of digestion, absorption, and substrate processing, plus a sympathetic activation component.
Measured: Day 9
Spontaneous Physical Activity
This is the energy expended on non-volitional movement: fidgeting, postural adjustments, small spontaneous movements during otherwise sedentary periods in the chamber. It is commonly measured by radar/Doppler motion sensors and quantified either as a fraction of chamber time active (% activity) or as the energy cost of activity above sleeping metabolic rate.
Measured: Day 9
Free-living Total Daily Energy Expenditure
This is the gold-standard free-living EE measurement: participants drink a dose of ²H₂¹⁸O, and the differential elimination rates of the two isotopes over ~7-14 days yield CO₂ production and therefore EE under habitual living conditions. It captures everything the chamber misses: occupational and recreational activity, environmental temperature variation, real meal patterns.
Measured: Day 1 to Day 8
Secondary outcomes (5)
Time to Food Quotient
This is the amount of minutes from meal ingestion until RER first reaches (or crosses) the meal's FQ. This represents the speed of the switch of fuel oxidation rather than its endpoint. A flexible system gets there quickly; an inflexible one takes hours or never arrives.
Measured: Day 8
Respiratory Exchange Ratio: Food Quotient Ratio
This is the measured respiratory exchange ratio divided by the meal's food quotient (the theoretical RER if the meal were fully oxidized as ingested). A ratio of 1.0 means whole-body substrate oxidation has fully matched the macronutrient composition of what was just eaten; <1.0 means oxidation is lagging behind intake (fat-dominant fuel selection persisting after a mixed or high-carb meal); >1.0 means net lipogenesis or carryover carb oxidation. The FQ of the high-fat test meal will be used.
Measured: Day 8
ΔRespiratory Exchange Ratio Nadir
This represents the drop from a reference RER (typically pre-meal fasting baseline, sometimes overnight minimum) to the lowest RER value observed. In a high-fat meal challenge this captures the magnitude of the fat-oxidation excursion: how far down the RER pushes when the meal is fat-dominant.
Measured: Day 8
Post-meal Respiratory Exchange Ratio Slope
This represents the rate of RER change in the early postprandial window, usually fit as a linear slope over the first 30-90 minutes after ingestion. A steep slope would mean a rapid switch (metabolically flexible) and a shallow slope would indicate impaired metabolic flexibility.
Measured: Day 8
Time to Respiratory Exchange Ratio Nadir
This represents the amount of minutes from high-fat meal meal ingestion until RER reaches its lowest value. Pairing this will the change in RER nadir helps describe the fat oxidation excursion. That is, nadir magnitude expresses how much fat oxidation increased, whereas time-to-nadir exhibits how long it took to get there.
Measured: Day 8
Timeline
From the start of the study to its completion; the mark is today. Estimated dates are the sponsor’s plan.
- First posted29 May 2026
- Study start1 Oct 2026 (estimated)
- Primary completion1 Mar 2027 (estimated)
- Study completion1 Apr 2027 (estimated)
Resources
- Official record on ClinicalTrials.govThe registry entry this page is built from, with its full change history.
- Publications (6)Papers the sponsor has linked to this study.
- Other trials for BMI>40Studies of the same condition, open and under way.
- What the trial phases meanHow a treatment moves from first tests in people to approval.
More details
For doctors and researchers: how the study is designed, who runs it, and its registry IDs.
Study design
- Study type
- Observational
- Observational model
- Cohort
- Time perspective
- Cross-sectional
- Enrolment
- 10 participants (estimated)
Sponsor and investigators
- Lead sponsor
- Pennington Biomedical Research Center
- Sponsor type
- University, hospital or other
- Responsible party
- Principal investigator, Christian Rodriguez, Pennington Biomedical Research Center
- Investigators
- Christian Rodriguez, PhD, Principal investigator, Pennington Biomedical Research Center
IDs, dates and publications
- ClinicalTrials.gov ID
- NCT07613255
- Sponsor's protocol ID
- PBRC 2026-011
- Status last verified
- Sep 2026
- First submitted
- 13 May 2026
- Last updated
- 17 Sep 2026
- Results posted
- No
- Data monitoring committee
- No
- FDA-regulated drug
- No
- FDA-regulated device
- No
- Individual data sharing
- Undecided
Publications
Racette SB, Schoeller DA, Luke AH, Shay K, Hnilicka J, Kushner RF. Relative dilution spaces of 2H- and 18O-labeled water in humans. Am J Physiol. 1994 Oct;267(4 Pt 1):E585-90. doi: 10.1152/ajpendo.1994.267.4.E585.
PubMed 7943308Schoeller DA. Measurement of energy expenditure in free-living humans by using doubly labeled water. J Nutr. 1988 Nov;118(11):1278-89. doi: 10.1093/jn/118.11.1278.
PubMed 3142975McDougal DH, Sanchez-Delgado G, Flanagan EW, Marlatt KL, Sparks JR, Yang S, Redman LM, Ravussin E. Validation of a novel approach to assess metabolic flexibility to a high-fat meal in a whole-body room calorimeter. Obesity (Silver Spring). 2025 Apr;33(4):743-753. doi: 10.1002/oby.24245. Epub 2025 Mar 6.
PubMed 40051190McDougal DH, Marlatt KL, Beyl RA, Redman LM, Ravussin E. A Novel Approach to Assess Metabolic Flexibility Overnight in a Whole-Body Room Calorimeter. Obesity (Silver Spring). 2020 Nov;28(11):2073-2077. doi: 10.1002/oby.22982. Epub 2020 Sep 27.
PubMed 32985108Galgani JE, Fernandez-Verdejo R. Pathophysiological role of metabolic flexibility on metabolic health. Obes Rev. 2021 Feb;22(2):e13131. doi: 10.1111/obr.13131. Epub 2020 Aug 19.
PubMed 32815226Kachmar M, Albaugh VL, Yang S, Corpodean F, Heymsfield SB, Katzmarzyk PT, Freedman DS, Schauer PR. Disproportionate increase in BMI of >/=60 kg/m2 in the USA. Lancet Diabetes Endocrinol. 2025 Jun;13(6):463-465. doi: 10.1016/S2213-8587(25)00069-5. Epub 2025 Apr 24. No abstract available.
PubMed 40288378