Thursday, December 26, 2013

Fascinating. Food. Exercise Infuences Neural response in the Brain



How many times have you heard that cardio or high intensity exercise is important for healthy weight and just groaned? It turns out it's true and for you geeks out there who need convincing to get off the couch, onto the trampoline, into the pool,on the bike or running track,  check out this fascinating study from Usana Health Sciences weekly Essentials of Health bulletin. Your brain is a genius that loves exercise! So get up, get out and work in 25 minutes of exercise daily even if its just walking! Your brain and waistline will thank you!

The effects of high-intensity exercise on neural responses to images of food


At a Glance  Increased physical activity is known to be associated with long-term successful weight loss maintenance due to mechanisms more complex than simply increased energy expenditure. A new study using MRI imaging has shown that intense exercise not only affects energy output, but it also may influence how people respond to food cues.

Read more about this research below.

Short bouts of intense exercise are known to suppress hunger through appetite regulating hormones. In a new study published online in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition, researchers aimed to determine the effects of high-intensity exercise on central (brain) response to visual food stimuli.  The study included 15 healthy men of normal weight that completed two 60 minute experiments: exercise (running at 70% maximum aerobic capacity) and a resting control. After each trial, images of high and low-calorie foods were viewed and the brain response to the foods was measured using an MRI.   After the bout of exercise, thirst and core body temperature were increased while appetite response was significantly suppressed. Exercise significantly suppressed ghrelin (an appetite stimulating hormone) and enhanced the release of peptide YY (an appetite reducing hormone). When compared to the resting control, neural (brain) response in the brain’s reward related regions were stimulated in response to viewing the images of low-calorie foods but suppressed upon viewing images of high-calorie foods. 

This study has shown that high intensity exercise increases neural responses in reward-related regions of the brain in response to images of low-calorie foods and suppresses activation during the viewing of high-calorie foods. These central responses are associated with exercise-induced changes in peripheral signals related to appetite-regulation and hydration status.

Daniel R Crabtree et al. The effects of high-intensity exercise on neural responses to images of food. December 4, 2013, doi: 10.3945/​ajcn.113.071381

No comments:

Post a Comment

Note: Only a member of this blog may post a comment.