The Effect of Exercise on Appetite and Serum Ghrelin: Implications for Weight Control

Ghrelin، the only known appetite stimulating hormone in humans، may be one factor involved in increased appetite، cravings and food intake following weight loss. Innovative strategies for suppressing ghrelin and decreasing appetite during weight loss maintenance are needed. Knowledge about the relationship between exercise and appetite is important both for athletes wishing to optimize performance and for those interested in maintaining a healthy body weight. The purpose of the current review was to describe the current status of evidence about ghrelin and lifestyle factors and to discuss implications for obesity treatment.

This study was a narrative review in which papers of clinical trial designs were selected using data bases and scientific search engines such as PubMed and Elsevier with the keywords ghrelin، appetite، exercise، weight، and obesity. All the papers were published from 2000 to 2012.

Evidence suggested that chronic exercise training typically causes a partial compensation in energy intake perhaps due to changes in appetite regulating hormones. Many studies have demonstrated that acute exercise transiently suppresse appetite and this has been termed ‘exercise induced anorexia’. From a practical standpoint athletes should not feel concerned that exercise will cause overeating as there is limited evidence to support this.

For desiring weight loss there may be some merit in performing exercise in the postprandial period as a means of enhancing the satiating effect of a meal. Chronic exercise training typically causes a partial compensation in energy intake perhaps due to changes in ghrelin hormone. Additional evidence is required to confirm the effectiveness of this strategy.