Acute and Chronic Effects of Exercise on Appetite, Energy Intake, and Appetite-Related Hormones: The Modulating Effect of Adiposity, Sex, and Habitual Physical Activity

Abstract

Exercise facilitates weight control, partly through effects on appetite regulation. Single bouts of exercise induce a short-term energy deficit without stimulating compensatory effects on appetite, whilst limited evidence suggests that exercise training may modify subjective and homeostatic mediators of appetite in directions associated with enhanced meal-induced satiety. However, a large variability in responses exists between individuals. This article reviews the evidence relating to how adiposity, sex, and habitual physical activity modulate exercise-induced appetite, energy intake, and appetite-related hormone responses. The balance of evidence suggests that adiposity and sex do not modify appetite or energy intake responses to acute or chronic exercise interventions, but individuals with higher habitual physical activity levels may better adjust energy intake in response to energy balance perturbations. The effect of these individual characteristics and behaviours on appetite-related hormone responses to exercise remains equivocal. These findings support the continued promotion of exercise as a strategy for inducing short-term energy deficits irrespective of adiposity and sex, as well as the ability of exercise to positively influence energy balance over the longer term. Future well-controlled studies are required to further ascertain the potential mediators of appetite responses to exercise.

Baseline Habitual Physical Activity Predicts Weight Loss, Weight Compensation, and Energy Intake During Aerobic Exercise

“…Habitual PA was measured with validated accelerometers that allow an estimation of the intensity and EE of habitual PA. Additionally, EE and EI (via DLW) and RMR (via indirect calorimetry) were measured with the gold‐standard methods to comprehensively assess all aspects of energy balance. The assessment of EI via validated laboratory‐based FI tests and via DLW over 2 weeks is a particularly major strength, as self‐reported EI, which is still commonly used in many trials today, has been found to be fundamentally inaccurate . A limitation of this analysis is that although PA assessment at follow‐up was performed while participants were still exercising at their prescribed dose, we did not measure habitual MVPA, steps per day, and PAEE continuously throughout the intervention period and thus have no record of the effect of the exercise training on these outcomes over the course of the intervention.…”

High-intensity Interval Training Promotes the Shift to a Health-Supporting Dietary Pattern in Young Adults

“…However, for the sake of completeness, Hazell et al [32] did not find any change in overall energy nor macronutrients intake, after six weeks of sprint interval training in respect to pre-training. Furthermore, studies [38] focusing on the effect of physical exercise on appetite did not reach a definitive consensus: indeed, inconsistent results have been obtained regarding the effect of physical exercise in altering macronutrients and micronutrients intake. In this regard, it could be speculated that a major limitation of these studies contributing to the inconsistency of the results may reside in self-reported food diaries and questionnaires on food frequencies, together with short time data collection.…”

Plasma Nesfatin-1 and Insulin Resistance Changes Immediately After Circuit-Resistance Exercise and During Recovery Periods in Healthy Men

“…Based on data form Nakata et al, a significant increase in plasma nesfatin-1 in this condition may be one of the reasons for increasing insulin secretion and IR immediately after exercise. An increase nesfatin-1 after acute resistance exercise may be one of the mechanisms that can explain short-term anorexia after acute exercise which is reported by most studies (16,27). Data from control session showed a considerable decrease in nesfatin-1 in response to fasting condition.…”

“…Impact of physical activity and different types of exercise on the release of hormones involved in food intake and energy homeostasis showed the beneficial role of exercise and physical activity on appetite regulation (12). Exercise training in different modes can decrease adiposity and affect whole-body fat metabolism (13) This is an important aspect of exercise, whose main consequences are enhancing energy expenditure and release/suppression of hormones like orexigenic (NPY , ghrelin) and anorexigenic peptide/protein (obestatin, leptin, and visfatin) in central and peripheral tissues (14)(15)(16). Furthermore, some investigations suggest that appetite suppression in acute exercise is greatly intensity related and more intense exercises can cause greater stimulation of anorexigenic signals (14).…”