Effects of physical activity and sedentary behavior on brain response to high-calorie food cues in young adults

BACKGROUND: Physical activity (PA) promotes weight maintenance, potentially due to its beneficial effects on feeding behavior regulation via diminished food cue reactivity within brain reward regions. We examined how levels of PA and sedentary behavior (SB) relate to brain responses to food cues. METHODS: Participants (22 lean, 18 obese) completed 3–5 PA recalls over 2 months. Average minutes/day of moderate to vigorous PA (MVPA) and SB were calculated. Participants completed a functional magnetic resonance imaging session, viewing food and non-food images following glucose ingestion. Region of interest (ROI) analysis examined associations between MVPA and brain percent signal change in response to food vs. non-food images, controlling for obesity and sex. Secondary analysis examined associations between SB and brain responses to food cues. RESULTS: Greater MVPA was associated with decreased food cue reactivity after glucose across brain ROIs (B=−0.00057, p=0.005), controlling for obesity and sex. Greater SB was associated with increased food cue reactivity after glucose across brain ROIs in unadjusted analyses (B=0.00041, p=0.026). CONCLUSIONS: PA may have beneficial effects on brain regulation of feeding behavior after caloric intake in lean individuals and individuals with obesity.