Body Composition, Energy Intake and Energy Expenditure in PKU People
Research type
Research Study
Full title
Body Composition, Energy Intake and Expenditure in People with Phenylketonuria
IRAS ID
205652
Contact name
Konstantinos Gerasimidis
Contact email
Sponsor organisation
NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde
Clinicaltrials.gov Identifier
N/A, N/A
Duration of Study in the UK
3 years, 0 months, 0 days
Research summary
Phenylketonuria (PKU) is an incurable genetic condition identified immediately after birth. The current management is based on a special diet (‘PKU-type diet’) which restricts substantially intake of natural protein in food and requires supplementation with 'synthetic' protein in order to meet body requirements.
Recent studies found that obesity is common among PKU people but the underlying cause remains unknown and it is likely to be different to the cause of obesity in the general population. Also some studies found a higher amount of fat in PKU people compared with healthy people of the same size. More research is required to address the causes of obesity in people with PKU, which may be related to an imbalance between energy intake from diet and body energy requirements for body basal function and physical activity. This study will explore whether PKU people have higher body fatness (adiposity) and differences in dietary intake and physical activity compared with healthy, age, gender and BMI matched controls. People (10 – 45 years old) with PKU will be recruited from hospitals in Glasgow and will be asked to visit our laboratory at the University of Glasgow. An equal number of healthy people (controls) will be recruited from the general population. Body composition, body basal needs, physical activity energy expenditure and intake will be measured and compared between the two groups.REC name
South West - Frenchay Research Ethics Committee
REC reference
16/SW/0288
Date of REC Opinion
21 Oct 2016
REC opinion
Further Information Favourable Opinion