Clinical Research Directory

Probiotic Intervention on Body Weight

This study is a randomized controlled trial with 120 overweight or obese (body-mass index, BMI, ≥ 24 kg/m²) participants and 20 normal-weight participants. Twelve weeks of energy-restricted nutritional and lifestyle intervention with placebo, Lactobacillus paracasei LC-19 (LC-19), or semaglutide (a glucagon-like peptide-1 receptor agonist, GLP-1RA) will be randomly conducted in the overweight or obese participants. The primary goal is to clarify the roles of LC-19 and semaglutide in weight reduction and in improving energy, glucose, and lipid metabolism, while also comparing side effects, adverse events, and long-term outcomes such as weight regain between these two interventions. In addition, the study will explore key factors affecting intervention response to provide evidence for optimizing individualized intervention strategies.

Energy Metabolism Profiles Over Weight-loss and Eating Responses

This is an exploratory controlled before-after study, which involves 112 participants, of whom 28 are with normal weight and 84 are overweight or obese. Twelve weeks of caloric-restriction dietary intervention will be conducted in the overweight or obese participants. Before and after the 12-week intervention, metabolic health will be characterized by metabolic homeostasis, determined via comprehensive measurements of dynamic postprandial metabolic responses to a standardized mixed macronutrient tolerance test (75 g glucose, 60 g fat, 20 g protein) in a whole-room indirect calorimeter. The objectives of this study are 1. to characterize dynamic metabolic response elicited by acute nutritional and acute exercise challenges, 2. to elucidate biological mechanisms underlying inter-individual heterogeneity in these responses, 3. to predict prospective weight loss over the intervention using heterogeneous metabolic responses to acute challenges