Acute high-intensity interval exercise attenuates incubation of craving for foods high in fat

Abstract

Objective: Food-seeking behaviors can be driven by food-associated cues, and palatable food seeking in response to food cues is a risk factor for obesity development. Cue-induced food seeking increases following a period of abstinence, a behavioral phenomenon known as "incubation of craving," which may contribute to an individual's difficulty abstaining from palatable foods. Pharmacological and environmental manipulations have been employed to try and reduce incubation of craving, albeit primarily in drug abuse paradigms. The goal of this study was to determine whether forced exercise can attenuate incubation of high-fat food craving.

Methods: Male Sprague Dawley rats learned to self-administer high-fat pellets (60%) in combination with a compound cue (light + tone). The influence of high-intensity interval exercise on the time-dependent increase in cue-induced lever responding was investigated 30 days after the first cue test.

Results: Rats exposed to exercise during abstinence did not express incubation of craving.

Conclusions: The results suggest that high-intensity exercise can prevent the establishment of incubation of craving for foods high in fat and may reduce cue-induced maladaptive food-seeking behaviors that contribute to overeating and obesity.

Figure 1

(A) Experimental design for incubation of craving model (refer to methods). (B) Experimental design for involuntary high intensity interval exercise training (refer to methods). (C) Comparison of (+) exercise (black circle) and (−) exercise (white circle) body weight throughout the duration of the experiment. (+) exercise animals showed a significant plateau in weight compared to the (−) exercise group (p<0.0001). (D) Training responses for active lever presses (+) exercise (black circle) and (−) exercise (white circle) and inactive lever presses (+) exercise (black square) and (−) exercise (white square). Data are represented as mean ± SEM

Figure 2

(A) Exercise during abstinence attenuated active lever pressing during test 2. (B) Exercise during abstinence did not have a significant impact on inactive lever pressing. Data are represented as mean ± SEM. *p<0.05. Individual subjects are represented as aligned dot plots with subjects matched to test day 1 and 2.