Neural Response to Food Cues and Energy Intake Following Exercise in Adolescents: Effect of Weight Status - The 2016 Wingate Congress of Exercise and Sport Sciences

David Thivel ⁴ Nicole Fearnbach ¹ Elodie Chaplais ⁴ Laetitia Silvert ² Martine Duclos ³ Kathleen Keller ¹

¹Department of Nutritional Sciences, The Pennsylvania State University, USA
²LAPSCO, CNRS, UMR 6024, France
³Department of Sport Medicine and Functional Explorations, Clermont-Ferrand University Hospital, France
⁴Laboratory of Metabolic Adaptations to Exercise Under Physiological and Pathological Conditions, Clermont Auvergne University, France

Background: Exercise has been found to favor a transient anorexigenic effect in obese adolescents, which can be explained by gastro-peptides modifications (such as increased PYY_3-36 after exercise). Recent data also showed reduced neural responses to food cues after exercise in adolescents with obesity. However, it remains unknown if the post-exercise modifications of the neural pathways involved in the regulation of food intake are specific to obese youth or are also found in lean ones.

Methods: Body composition and aerobic fitness were assessed among 14 obese and 14 lean adolescents. They were then asked to complete two experimental sessions in a randomized order: 1) a control session without exercise (CON); 2) a session with a 45-minute cycling exercise set at 60% VO₂max (EX). Ad libitum energy intake (EI) was assessed at lunchtime and appetite feelings assessed at regular intervals.

Results: There was no difference in energy intake between CON and EX in lean adolescents, but the obese ones ate significantly less after the exercise (p0.05). The amplitudes of the P3b component evoked by food and non-food visual stimuli were not significantly different between conditions. The response to food cues was significantly lower compared with non-food ones after exercise and not in the CON among obese (p0.01).

Conclusion: An acute exercise bout favors decreased neural response to food cues compared with non-food ones in obese adolescents but not lean ones, which may contribute to their subsequently reduced energy intake.