ClinicalTrials.gg
RecruitingNCT07550140ETASCANUpdated Apr 24, 2026

ETASCAN Project: ETAS Project 2

An interventional study of ETAS® and Placebo in Cognition, Affect (Mental Function) and Sleep, sponsored by University of Reading. Recruiting at 1 site in United Kingdom. Open to participants aged 60 Years to 80 Years, including healthy volunteers. Per ClinicalTrials.gov, last updated 2026-04-24.

Sponsored by University of Reading · Not applicable, Interventional, and Basic science

Phase
Not applicable
Study type
Interventional
Enrollment
60
Allocation
Randomized
Ages
60 Years to 80 Years
Sex
All
01

Study summary

This study aims to investigate the chronic effects of ETAS® on cognitive, affective and neural outcomes in healthy adults aged 60-80 years with mild to moderate subjective cognitive complaints.

Read the detailed description

This study will employ a double-blind, randomised, placebo-controlled parallel design to investigate the chronic effects of 12-week-long ETAS® consumption on affective, inflammatory, metabolic, and anthropometric outcomes in healthy older adults with mild to moderate subjective cognitive complaints. Sixty participants will be randomised to Intervention or Placebo groups where they will be consuming capsules containing 1500mg ETAS® or placebo, respectively, for 12-weeks. Outcome measures will be acquired before and after a 12-week chronic supplementation. These will include cognitive measures of overall cognitive functioning, executive function, and language/memory; affective measures of depression and anxiety symptomatology; and sleep; gastrointestinal symptomatology ; systolic and diastolic blood pressure, as well as height, weight, hip and waist circumference. Brain structure, function, and chemistry at both time points. Furthermore, random selection of participants (n=30, 15 in each group) will receive at home stool sample collection kits and microbiome diversity and compoisiton will be analysed at two time points.

02

Conditions studied

  • Cognition
  • Affect (Mental Function)
  • Sleep
  • MRI
  • fMRI
  • Magnetic Resonance Spectroscopy

Keywords

  • grey matter
  • brain structure
  • brain function
  • neurochemistry
  • executive function
  • language
  • ETAS®
  • depression
  • anxiety
  • sleep
  • gut microbiome
03

In context

Language

243 studies on the registry are indexed under Language; 76 are open to participants now.

This study's planned enrollment of 60 is close to the median of 65 across 158 interventional studies indexed under Language.

Browse Language studies →

Lead sponsor

University of Reading is the lead sponsor of 150 studies on the registry; 21 are open to participants now.

Counted across the registry records on this site, refreshed daily.

04

Who can participate

Ages eligible
60 Years to 80 Years
Sexes eligible
All
Accepts healthy volunteers
Yes

Go through the criteria one by one — yes, no or not sure — and take the list to your doctor or the study team. Kept in this browser only.

Inclusion criteria

  • Aging between 60-80 years old
  • Having normal vision and hearing
  • Having a between 18.5 and 30
  • Having mild to moderate subjective cognitive complaints

Exclusion criteria

Exclusion Criteria:

  • Smoking
  • Having food allergies
  • Following restrictive and/or unbalanced diets (Appendix 6: Are you vegetarian or vegan? Yes / No; Are you currently on a weight-reducing or other special diet? Yes/No If 'Yes', please give details.)
  • Being diagnosed with any psychiatric or neurologic conditions (e.g. schizophrenia, depression, dementia) including eating disorders
  • Being diagnosed with any cardiometabolic diseases (including type II diabetes and cardiovascular disease), or hypertension or thrombosis related disorders or suffer from thyroid disease
  • Currently taking anticoagulants, antiplatelet medication, antidepressants, proton-pump inhibitors
  • Currently consuming prebiotic or probiotic supplements
  • Continuous antibiotic use for > 3 days within 1 month prior to enrolment
  • Continuous use of weight-loss drug for > 1 month before screening
  • Having a significant gastrointestinal (GI) condition affecting absorption including (but not limited to) inflammatory bowel disease; total colectomy or bariatric surgery; irritable bowel disease; end stage renal disease; active cancer, or treatment for any cancer, in last 3 years
  • History of claustrophobia
  • Fitted with a pacemaker or artificial heart valve
  • Have active implants, such as cochlear, ocular, or penile implant
  • Experience of metal fragments e.g. shrapnel in your eyes or any other part of your body
  • Drug infusion pump installed
  • Have any surgically implanted metal in any part of your body, other than dental fillings and crowns (e.g. joint replacement or bone re-construction)
  • Have had any surgery that might have involved metal implants
  • Current or historical experience of epilepsy
  • Have stimulators for nerves, brain or bone installed
  • Have an intrauterine device installed (IUD)
  • Wear transdermal patches containing metal
  • Wear a filling, crown, dental post (entirely within the tooth) associated with root canal treatment, retainer, bridge or braces
  • For scanning, would need to remove coloured contact lenses, nail polish and makeup.
  • Hearing aid wearer
  • Body piercings that you cannot or will not remove for the scanning session
  • Have tattoos or permanent makeup
Terms in these criteria, in plain language(2)

Underlined terms in the criteria open these too. Explained by clinicaltrials.gg, not part of the registry record. The study team decides who can take part.

BMI (body mass index)

Weight in kilograms divided by height in metres squared. Example: 70 kg and 1.75 m gives 70 ÷ (1.75 × 1.75) ≈ 22.9.

What counts as overweight or obesity differs between countries (some use lower cut-offs), so go by the range the study states.

Contraception

Ways of preventing pregnancy. “Highly effective” methods fail less than 1% of the time a year when used correctly — for example an IUD or an implant.

Criteria usually say which methods count and how long to keep using them after the last dose, sometimes for male participants too. Some studies accept a partner’s vasectomy if it was confirmed successful and that person is the participant’s only sexual partner.

05

Study design

Phase
Not applicable
Primary purpose
Basic science
Allocation
Randomized
Intervention model
Parallel assignment
Masking
Quadruple (Participant, Care provider, Investigator, Outcomes assessor)
Enrollment
60 participants (estimated)

Study arms

  • Experimental
    ETAS® (1500mg)

    Subjects will consume 1500mg ETAS®/day (capsule).

    Dietary Supplement: ETAS®

  • Placebo comparator
    Matched placebo

    Subjects will consume a matched placebo capsule.

    Dietary Supplement: Placebo

Interventions

  • Dietary supplementETAS®

    1500mg ETAS®

  • Dietary supplementPlacebo

    Matched placebo capsule

06

What researchers measure

Primary outcomes

  1. Montreal Cognitive Assessment (MoCA) score

    Composite measure of global cognitive function

    Time frame: From baseline (pre intervention) to week 12 (post intervention)

  2. fMRI

    Functional brain activity will be analysed during cognitive tasks.

    Time frame: From baseline (pre intervention) to week 12 (post intervention)

  3. MRS

    MRS will be used to assess neurochemistry of the medial temporal lobe and medial frontal cortex at rest.

    Time frame: From baseline (pre intervention) to week 12 (post intervention)

Secondary outcomes

  1. Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index Scores

    A validated self-report measure of sleep quality.

    Time frame: From baseline (pre intervention) to week 12 (post intervention)

  2. Immediate Word Recall from the Rey Auditory Verbal Learning Task

    Participants will be presented with a sequential list of 15 words, at a rate of 1 word per second. The participant will then have 60s to say out loud as many of these words as possible, with the resulting score recorded as a percentage of accuracy.

    Time frame: From baseline (pre intervention) to week 12 (post intervention)

  3. Delayed Word Recall from the Rey Auditory Verbal Learning Task

    After a period of time subject are asked to recall as many words as possible from list A

    Time frame: From baseline (pre intervention) to week 12 (post intervention)

  4. Gastrointestinal Symptom Rating Scale Scores

    A validated self-report measure of gastrointestinal symptoms that includes 15-items (combined into five symptom clusters depicting Reflux, Abdominal pain, Indigestion, Diarrhoea and Constipation)

    Time frame: From baseline (pre intervention) to week 12 (post intervention)

  5. Brain structure

    Grey and white matter volume analysis of the brain will be conducted.

    Time frame: From baseline (pre intervention) to week 12 (post intervention)

  6. Patient Healthcare Questionnaire 8 (PHQ-8)

    A validated self-report measure of depressive symptoms that includes 8-items

    Time frame: From baseline (pre intervention) to week 12 (post intervention)

  7. Generalised anxiety disorder 7 item scale (GAD-7)

    A validated self-report measure of anxiety symptoms that includes 7-items

    Time frame: From baseline (pre intervention) to week 12 (post intervention)

  8. EPIC Norfolk Food Frequency Questionnaire (FFQ)

    The FFQ is a validated tool for gauging the average habitual dietary intake of micro and macronutrients of an individual in the UK. Data will be processed using the FETA software.

    Time frame: From baseline (pre intervention) to week 12 (post intervention)

  9. Blood Pressure

    Systolic and diastolic blood pressure (in mmHg) will be measured.

    Time frame: From baseline (pre intervention) to week 12 (post intervention)

  10. Hip and waist circumference

    Hip and waist circumference (in cm) will be measured.

    Time frame: From baseline (pre intervention) to week 12 (post intervention)

  11. Body mass index

    Weight (in kg) and height (in m) will be combined to report Body Mass Index in kg/m\^2.

    Time frame: From baseline (pre intervention) to week 12 (post intervention)

Other outcomes

  1. Telephone Interview for Cognitive Status-40

    A questionnaire that assesses cognitive status. It will be used to screen participants.

    Time frame: Baseline (pre intervention)

  2. Gut microbiome diversity

    In a random subsample of participants, stool samples will be collected to measure gut microbiome diversity. Indices of alpha and beta diversity will be analysed (16s sequencing).

    Time frame: From baseline (pre intervention) to week 12 (post intervention)

  3. Gut microbiome composition

    In a random subsample of participants, stool samples will be collected to measure gut microbiome composition (genus and species) (16s sequencing).

    Time frame: From baseline (pre intervention) to week 12 (post intervention)

07

Study locations

1 of 1 sites recruiting
08

References and documents

Individual participant data

Plan to share: No

No publications or documents are linked to this record.

09

Timeline

Tracking since Sep 25, 2026
ElapsedEstimatedEstimated, not yet reachedSimilar studies: half by the dot; the band is the middle halfHalf of similar studies reached it by the dot; the band is the middle half, from a quarter to three quarters

Start is estimated for May 2026; primary completion for Dec 2027, 19 months later.

Of 89 non-industry interventional studies with no phase under Language, half reached primary completion within 32 months of starting (the median), counting those still running; a quarter within 17 and three quarters within 64. This study's planned 19 months is below that.

Counting every sponsor, half of 93 studies reached it within 33 months; a quarter within 17 and three quarters within 64.

How these figures are worked out, and which studies are left out of them.

Registered
Apr 17, 2026
First posted
Apr 24, 2026
StartEst.
May 5, 2026
Primary completionEst.
Dec 31, 2027
CompletionEst.
Dec 31, 2027
Last update
Apr 24, 2026
What these dates mean
Start.
When the first participant enrolled; while estimated, when the study expects to open to recruitment.
Primary completion.
When the last participant was examined or treated to collect data for the study's main question, its primary outcome. A study that stopped early gives the date its data collection stopped.
Completion.
When the last participant's last visit took place, for every outcome, secondary ones and side effects included: the end of the study. Often later than primary completion, sometimes the same day.
Actual and Est.
Actual means the registry says the date has happened. Est. (estimated) is a date the sponsor plans or expects. It can still move, and the sponsor is expected to change it to actual once it has passed.
No changes since tracking began. The registry record was last updated on Apr 24, 2026, before this site started recording changes on Sep 25, 2026. Its history is on ClinicalTrials.gov ↗
10

Registry details

Key details

Study ID
NCT07550140
Collaborators
Amino Up Chemicals Co., Ltd.
Responsible party
Piril Hepsomali (Principle Investigator, University of Reading) — Principal investigator
First posted
Apr 24, 2026
Start date
May 5, 2026 (estimated)
Primary completion
Dec 31, 2027 (estimated)
Completion
Dec 31, 2027 (estimated)
Last update
Apr 24, 2026

Study contacts

Piril Hepsomali, PhD
Contact
p.hepsomali@reading.ac.uk
+44 118 378 5818

Oversight

Data monitoring committee
No
FDA-regulated drug
No
FDA-regulated device
No
View the source record on ClinicalTrials.gov ↗

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