Measuring the effect of exercise on appetite, food intake and appetite-associated hormones

Holliday, Adrian (2014). Measuring the effect of exercise on appetite, food intake and appetite-associated hormones. University of Birmingham. Ph.D.

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Abstract

The aim of this thesis was to investigate appetite responses to exercise in highly-trained endurance athletes and to assess the effect of different exercise characteristics in mediating these responses. Chapter 3 introduce a novel tool – The Visual Meal Creator – that is shown to be a valid measure of subjective appetite and may prove a strong predictor of food intake. Chapters 4 and 5 demonstrate that an exercise-induced suppression of appetite is experienced in highly-trained athletes, although there does appear a blunting to this response. It may be that an elevated fitness level, resulting in reduced physiological and metabolic perturbations during exercise mediates this blunting. Any exercise-induced appetite suppression response would appear independent of the duration, or energy cost of exercise. This is partly supported by findings of Chapter 6: a suppression of appetite after very-low volume sprint interval cycling exercise in overweight and obese individuals. In no instance was a suppression enduring and feeding was not influenced by exercise in any study of this thesis. The responses to exercise of appetite-associated hormones were also investigated throughout Chapters 4 to 6. Acylated ghrelin and GLP-1 exhibited profound, anorexigenic responses to high-intensity exercise, with the GLP-1 response exhibiting some degree of duration or energy cost dependency. However, there appeared a dissociation between changes in appetite-associated hormone concentration and changes in both subjective appetite and energy intake. This questions the well-held belief of the importance of appetite-associated hormones in mediating post-exercise appetite regulation.

Type of Work:

Thesis (Doctorates > Ph.D.)

Award Type:

Doctorates > Ph.D.

Supervisor(s):