Gastroenterology, Hepatology & Nutrition

Improving children’s lives through comprehensive care, world-renowned medical education, and cutting-edge research.

Active Clinical Trials

iROC

The UC San Diego Center for Healthy Eating and Obesity Research is recruiting overweight children ages 8-13 for the iROC study. This study utilizes cue-exposure therapy techniques in a treatment for overweight children which teaches them skills and strategies to control their cravings to promote healthier eating behaviors and diet. Parent and child are randomized into treatment groups meeting once a week for 8 or 16 weeks. These meetings will last 45 minutes to one hour. There will also be two initial assessments and one follow-up assessment. After completion of the study, families will also be given an opportunity to participate in an optional no-cost behavior based diet and exercise eight loss treatment program. Participants will be compensated for time and effort.

Participating children must:

• Be between the ages of 8 and 13 years.
• Be overweight (BMI between the 85th and 99th percentile).
• Have a demonstrated tendency to eat in the absence of physical hunger or show strong stimulation toward food cues.
• Not have any food allergies.

The parent and child must also be available to attend weekly meetings for 16 weeks.

For more information, please call 1-855-UCSD -4-W8 or email at kidsweight@ucsd.edu.

Behavioral Weight Loss for Emotional Eaters

The UC San Diego Center for Healthy Eating and Obesity Research is recruiting overweight children ages 13-17 for behavioral weight loss study for emotional eaters. This treatment will focus on weight loss in addition to learning healthy strategies for managing emotions. Treatment will consist of 16 weekly sessions, 90 minutes per session.
Participating children must:

• Be between the ages of 13 and 17.
• Be over weight (BMI greater than the 85th percentile).
• Be an emotional eater (eating more when sad, bored, angry, etc.).
• Must have a parent willing to participate and attend weekly sessions.

For more information, please call 1-855-UCSD -4-W8 or email at kidsweight@ucsd.edu.

Computer Program Treatment Study

The UC San Diego Center for Healthy Eating and Obesity Research is recruiting overweight adult’s ages 18-30 who engage in binge eating for a research study to evaluate a computer program targeting food choices. Qualifying adults will attend 3 sessions (length of each session about 2 hours), which will take place in La Jolla. During these sessions, participants will complete surveys and computer tasks (dinner provided). Participants will then complete a brief computer program at home twice a week and in the lab in La Jolla or at SDSU once a week. Participants must speak and write in English. Participants may be compensated up to $50 in gift cards.

Participants must:

• Be between 18-30 years old.
• Be overweight (BMI≥ 25).
• Engage in binge eating.
• Be fluent in spoken and written English.

For more information, please call 1-855-UCSD -4-W8 or email at kidsweight@ucsd.edu.