Exercise, Appetite and Appetite-Regulating Hormones: Implications for Food Intake and Weight Control

Knowledge about the relationship between exercise and appetite is important both for athletes wishing to optimise performance and for those interested in maintaining a healthy body weight. A variety of hormones are involved in appetite regulation including both episodic hormones, which are responsive to episodes of feeding, and tonic hormones, which are important regulators of energy storage over the longer term (e.g. insulin and leptin). Notable among the episodic appetite-regulating hormones is ghrelin, which plays a unique role in stimulating appetite and energy intake. Many studies have demonstrated that acute bouts of moderately vigorous exercise transiently suppress appetite and this has been termed ‘exercise-induced anorexia’. The mechanisms by which acute exercise suppresses appetite are not fully understood but may involve lowered concentrations of ghrelin and increased concentrations of satiety hormones, notably peptide YY and glucagon-like peptide 1. Evidence suggests that chronic exercise training typically causes a partial but incomplete compensation in energy intake perhaps due to beneficial changes in appetite-regulating hormones. The Published online: February 22, 2011 Dr. David Stensel School of Sport, Exercise and Health Sciences Loughborough University Loughborough, LE11 3TU (UK) Tel. +44 1509 226 344, Fax +44 1509 226 301, E-Mail D.J.Stensel @ lboro.ac.uk © 2011 S. Karger AG, Basel 0250–6807/10/0576–0036$26.00/0 Accessible online at: www.karger.com/anm D ow nl oa de d by : 54 .7 0. 40 .1 1 11 /2 3/ 20 17 2 :1 6: 09 P M