Comparison of the digestive tolerance of an oligomeric versus a polymeric oral nutritional supplement in people with anorexia nervosa. A randomised crossover clinical trial.

What Was Tested

The paper reports a study of Copper (Supplement), published as a randomized controlled trial.

Their aim was to compare an oligomeric versus a polymeric nutritional supplement in pAN in terms of worsening of digestive symptoms after ingestion (primary objective) and in terms of sensory perception of the supplement (secondary objective).

Why It Was Studied

Most people with anorexia nervosa (pAN) have digestive symptoms, which affect tolerance to nutritional treatment.

Oligomeric oral nutritional supplements may be better absorbed and tolerated than polymeric ones.

Who Took Part

PubMed indexes the participants as children, teenagers, young adults, adults and middle-aged adults, both men and women.

Inclusion criteria were: male or female aged 12-50 years with anorexia nervosa treated at the Eating Disorders Unit of the Hospital Regional Universitario de Málaga, Spain.

Participants were randomised to first receive one container of the oligomeric or polymeric supplement.

How the Study Was Run

The design is described as randomized, double-blind and crossover.

The participants were allocated by chance, so the Copper (Supplement) group and the comparison group should start out alike.

Neither the participants nor the staff measuring them knew who was on Copper (Supplement), so expectations could not easily colour the readings.

In the crossover set-up each of the participants took both Copper (Supplement) and the comparison in turn, acting as their own control.

A randomised, crossover, double-blind, controlled clinical trial was conducted.

A digestive symptom questionnaire was administered, which they completed again after taking the supplement, together with a questionnaire for sensory evaluation of the supplement.

One week later, they received a container of the other type of supplement, and the process was repeated.

Analysis was performed on a per protocol basis.

What Was Measured

Topics PubMed links to this paper include Dietary Supplements, Anorexia Nervosa, Polymers, Spain, Digestion, Surveys and Questionnaires and Taste.

What This Means in Plain Language

The paper is a randomized, double-blind and crossover study of Copper (Supplement).

Its findings take up roughly 6 sentences of the abstract and are left out here on purpose; the source paper is the place to read them.

The publication is from 2025 (European journal of clinical nutrition), a journal based in England.

More context: the Copper (Supplement) compound page, all human trials.