Effects of Physical Activity and Sedentary Behavior on Brain Response to High-Calorie Food Cues in Young Adults
Open accessAbstract
Objective: Physical activity (PA) promotes weight maintenance, potentially because of its beneficial effects on feeding behavior regulation via diminished food cue reactivity within brain reward regions. This study examined how levels of PA and sedentary behavior (SB) relate to brain responses to food cues. Methods: Participants (22 lean, 18 with obesity) completed three to five PA recalls over 2 months. Average minutes per day of moderate to vigorous PA (MVPA) and SB were calculated. Participants completed a functional magnetic resonance imaging session, viewing food and nonfood images following glucose ingestion. Region of interest (ROI) analysis examined associations between MVPA and brain percent signal change in response to food versus nonfood 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 (β = −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 (β = 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.
The claims and statistics of this paper haven’t been checked yet.
Run the check — free, no account needed. It reads the open-access text and checks the sources it cites.
Integrity signals
Registry
Cites
Statistics
Claims the paper makes
The claims and statistics of this paper haven’t been checked yet.
Run the check — free, no account needed. It reads the open-access text and checks the sources it cites.
Claims other papers make about this one
Each is checked against this paper’s own text: does it say what the citing paper says it does?
Transient factors and states such as time of day, surrounding environment, sleep duration, psychological stress, emotional state, physical activity, and appetite-regulating hormones are associated with varying levels of food cue reactivity.
“Similarly, transient factors and states, such as the time of day, surrounding environment, sleep duration, level of psychological stress, emotional state, physical activity, and levels of appetite-regulating hormones (e.g., circulating levels of leptin, ghrelin, PYY, endogenous GLP-1, and GLP-1RAs), have been associated with varying levels of food cue reactivity [46,51,52,53,54,55,56,57,58,59,60,”
From What Is Food Noise? A Conceptual Model of Food Cue Reactivity (2023) · cites this paper as [58]
Self-check
Percentages, sums and reported differences re-computed from the paper’s own numbers.
The self-check needs the paper’s full text.
Cites
(1985) · Europe PMC (PubMed Central) · Cited by 9,143 · see citing works
A global optimisation method for robust affine registration of brain images
Jenkinson, M., & Smith, S. M. (2001) · Medical Image Analysis · doi:10.1016/s1361-8415(01)00036-6 · Cited by 6,806 · see citing works
2011 Compendium of Physical Activities: A Second Update of Codes and MET Values
AINSWORTH, B. E., HASKELL, W. L., HERRMANN, S. D., MECKES, N., BASSETT, D. R., TUDOR-LOCKE, C., GREER, J. L., VEZINA, J., WHITT-GLOVER, M. C., & LEON, A. S. (2011) · Medicine & Science in Sports & Exercise · doi:10.1249/mss.0b013e31821ece12 · Cited by 6,317 · see citing works
Saliency, switching, attention and control: a network model of insula function
Menon, V., & Uddin, L. Q. (2010) · Brain Structure and Function · doi:10.1007/s00429-010-0262-0 · Cited by 5,592 · see citing works
Interoception: the sense of the physiological condition of the body
(Bud) Craig, A. (2003) · Current Opinion in Neurobiology · doi:10.1016/s0959-4388(03)00090-4 · Cited by 2,556 · cited 1× · see citing works
“The insula is involved in visceral interoceptive processing (29) and is part of the brain salience network (30).”
S<scp>UCCESSFUL</scp> W<scp>EIGHT</scp> L<scp>OSS</scp> M<scp>AINTENANCE</scp>
Wing, R. R., & Hill, J. O. (2001) · Annual Review of Nutrition · doi:10.1146/annurev.nutr.21.1.323 · Cited by 1,382 · see citing works
Changes in brain activity related to eating chocolate: From pleasure to aversion
Small, D. M. (2001) · Brain · doi:10.1093/brain/124.9.1720 · Cited by 1,179 · cited 1× · see citing works
“Specific to eating behavior, studies have reported that the insula is responsive to food cravings (31) and that brain activity in the insula is modulated by the hunger state (32,33).”
Encoding Predictive Reward Value in Human Amygdala and Orbitofrontal Cortex
Gottfried, J. A., O'Doherty, J., & Dolan, R. J. (2003) · Science · doi:10.1126/science.1087919 · Cited by 1,165 · see citing works
The Effects of Physical Activity on Serum C-Reactive Protein and Inflammatory Markers
Kasapis, C., & Thompson, P. D. (2005) · Journal of the American College of Cardiology · doi:10.1016/j.jacc.2004.12.077 · Cited by 1,149 · see citing works
Physical Activity of Moderate Intensity and Risk of Type 2 Diabetes
Jeon, C. Y., Lokken, R. P., Hu, F. B., & van Dam, R. M. (2007) · Diabetes Care · doi:10.2337/dc06-1842 · Cited by 758 · see citing works
Ghrelin Modulates Brain Activity in Areas that Control Appetitive Behavior
Malik, S., McGlone, F., Bedrossian, D., & Dagher, A. (2008) · Cell Metabolism · doi:10.1016/j.cmet.2008.03.007 · Cited by 677 · see citing works
Images of desire: food-craving activation during fMRI
Pelchat, M. L., Johnson, A., Chan, R., Valdez, J., & Ragland, J. D. (2004) · NeuroImage · doi:10.1016/j.neuroimage.2004.08.023 · Cited by 667 · see citing works
Intensity and Amount of Physical Activity in Relation to Insulin Sensitivity
Mayer-Davis, E. J. (1998) · JAMA · doi:10.1001/jama.279.9.669 · Cited by 598 · see citing works
Food and drug cues activate similar brain regions: A meta-analysis of functional MRI studies
Tang, D., Fellows, L. K., Small, D. M., & Dagher, A. (2012) · Physiology & Behavior · doi:10.1016/j.physbeh.2012.03.009 · Cited by 457 · see citing works
Hunger selectively modulates corticolimbic activation to food stimuli in humans
LaBar, K. S., Gitelman, D. R., Parrish, T. B., Kim, Y.-H., Nobre, A. C., & Mesulam, M. M. (2001) · Behavioral Neuroscience · doi:10.1037/0735-7044.115.2.493 · Cited by 444 · see citing works
Lynch, B. M. (2010) · Cancer Epidemiology Biomarkers & Prevention · doi:10.1158/1055-9965.epi-10-0815 · Cited by 374 · see citing works
Effects of exercise on gut peptides, energy intake and appetite
Martins, C., Morgan, L., Bloom, S. R., & Robertson, M. D. (2007) · Journal of Endocrinology · doi:10.1677/joe-06-0030 · Cited by 356 · see citing works
Gastrointestinal hormones regulating appetite
Chaudhri, O. B., Small, C. J., & Bloom, S. R. (2006) · Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society B Biological Sciences · doi:10.1098/rstb.2006.1856 · Cited by 347 · see citing works
Broom, D. R., Batterham, R. L., King, J. A., & Stensel, D. J. (2008) · American Journal of Physiology-Regulatory, Integrative and Comparative Physiology · doi:10.1152/ajpregu.90706.2008 · Cited by 325 · see citing works
Blundell, J. E., Stubbs, R. J., Hughes, D. A., Whybrow, S., & King, N. A. (2003) · Proceedings of The Nutrition Society · doi:10.1079/pns2003286 · Cited by 299 · see citing works
Physical Activity and Insulin Sensitivity
Balkau, B., Mhamdi, L., Oppert, J., Nolan, J. J., Golay, A., Porcellati, F., Laakso, M., Ferrannini, E., & on behalf of the EGIR-RISC Study Group (2008) · Diabetes · doi:10.2337/db07-1605 · Cited by 260 · see citing works
Howard, R. A., Freedman, D. M., Park, Y., Hollenbeck, A. R., Schatzkin, A. G., & Leitzmann, M. F. (2008) · Cancer Causes & Control · doi:10.1007/s10552-008-9159-0 · Cited by 237 · see citing works
Circulating glucose levels modulate neural control of desire for high-calorie foods in humans
Page, K. A., Seo, D., Belfort-DeAguiar, R., Lacadie, C., Dzuira, J., Naik, S., Amarnath, S., Constable, R. T., Sherwin, R. S., & Sinha, R. (2011) · Journal of Clinical Investigation · doi:10.1172/jci57873 · Cited by 212 · see citing works
Self-citationSex-based differences in the behavioral and neuronal responses to food
Cornier, M.-A., Salzberg, A. K., Endly, D. C., Bessesen, D. H., & Tregellas, J. R. (2010) · Physiology & Behavior · doi:10.1016/j.physbeh.2010.01.008 · Cited by 196 · see citing works
The Effect of Physical Activity on Body Weight
Jakicic, J. M. (2009) · Obesity · doi:10.1038/oby.2009.386 · Cited by 184 · see citing works
Marsh, S., Mhurchú, C. N., & Maddison, R. (2013) · Appetite · doi:10.1016/j.appet.2013.08.017 · Cited by 175 · see citing works
Effects of exercise on energy-regulating hormones and appetite in men and women
Hagobian, T. A., Sharoff, C. G., Stephens, B. R., Wade, G. N., Silva, J. E., Chipkin, S. R., & Braun, B. (2009) · American Journal of Physiology-Regulatory, Integrative and Comparative Physiology · doi:10.1152/ajpregu.90671.2008 · Cited by 173 · see citing works
Exercise and Cognitive Function
Loprinzi, P. D., & Kane, C. (2015) · Mayo Clinic Proceedings · doi:10.1016/j.mayocp.2014.12.023 · Cited by 159 · see citing works
Aerobic exercise reduces neuronal responses in food reward brain regions
Evero, N., Hackett, L. C., Clark, R. D., Phelan, S., & Hagobian, T. A. (2012) · Journal of Applied Physiology · doi:10.1152/japplphysiol.01365.2011 · Cited by 150 · see citing works
The effects of exercise on the neuronal response to food cues
Cornier, M.-A., Melanson, E. L., Salzberg, A. K., Bechtell, J. L., & Tregellas, J. R. (2012) · Physiology & Behavior · doi:10.1016/j.physbeh.2011.11.023 · Cited by 144 · see citing works
Gustat, J., Srinivasan, S. R., Elkasabany, A., & Berenson, G. S. (2002) · Journal of Clinical Epidemiology · doi:10.1016/s0895-4356(02)00427-4 · Cited by 135 · see citing works
Knaeps, S., Bourgois, J., Charlier, R., Mertens, E., Lefevre, J., & Wijndaele, K. (2016) · British Journal of Sports Medicine · doi:10.1136/bjsports-2016-096083 · Cited by 126 · see citing works
Long, S. J., Hart, K. H., & Morgan, L. (2002) · British Journal Of Nutrition · doi:10.1079/bjnbjn2002560 · Cited by 121 · see citing works
The role of physical activity in prevention and treatment of body weight gain in adults
Jakicic, J. M. (2002) · The Journal of Nutrition · doi:10.1093/jn/132.12.3826s · Cited by 118 · see citing works
LUO, S. H., Monterosso, J. R., Sarpelleh, K., & Page, K. A. (2015) · Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences · doi:10.1073/pnas.1503358112 · Cited by 118 · see citing works
Self-citationThe effects of high-intensity exercise on neural responses to images of food
Crabtree, D. R., Chambers, E. S., Hardwick, R. M., & Blannin, A. K. (2013) · American Journal of Clinical Nutrition · doi:10.3945/ajcn.113.071381 · Cited by 75 · see citing works
Validity of 24-h Physical Activity Recall
Welk, G. J., Kim, Y., Stanfill, B., Osthus, D., Calabro, M. A., Nusser, S. M., & Carriquiry, A. L. (2014) · Medicine & Science in Sports & Exercise · doi:10.1249/mss.0000000000000314 · Cited by 75 · see citing works
LUO, S. H., Romero, A., Adam, T. C., Hu, P., Monterosso, J. R., & Page, K. A. (2013) · Obesity · doi:10.1002/oby.20344 · Cited by 42 · see citing works
Self-citationPhysical exercise and brain responses to images of high-calorie food
Killgore, W. D. S., Kipman, M., Schwab, Z. J., Tkachenko, O. N., Preer, L. A., Gogel, H., Bark, J. S., Mundy, E. A., Olson, E. A., & Weber, M. (2013) · Neuroreport · doi:10.1097/wnr.0000000000000029 · Cited by 34 · see citing works
Flagged first, then by citations
Cited by
Sorted by citations
Beaulieu, K., Oustric, P., & Finlayson, G. (2020) · Current Obesity Reports · doi:10.1007/s13679-020-00372-3 · Cited by 93 · see citing works
What Is Food Noise? A Conceptual Model of Food Cue Reactivity
Hayashi, D., Edwards, C., Emond, J. A., Gilbert-Diamond, D., Butt, M., Rigby, A., & Masterson, T. D. (2023) · Nutrients · doi:10.3390/nu15224809 · Cited by 80 · see citing works
Suliga, E., Cieśla, E., Rębak, D., Kozieł, D., & Głuszek, S. (2018) · Medical Science Monitor · doi:10.12659/msm.907582 · Cited by 52 · see citing works
Exercise Training Reduces Reward for High-Fat Food in Adults with Overweight/Obesity
Beaulieu, K., Hopkins, M., Gibbons, C., Oustric, P., Caudwell, P., Blundell, J. E., & Finlayson, G. (2019) · Medicine & Science in Sports & Exercise · doi:10.1249/mss.0000000000002205 · Cited by 38 · see citing works
Microbiota–gut–brain axis: the mediator of exercise and brain health
Kang, P., & Wang, A. (2024) · Psychoradiology · doi:10.1093/psyrad/kkae007 · Cited by 31 · see citing works
Smith, K. E., Haedt‐Matt, A. A., Mason, T. B., Wang, S. D., Yang, C., Unick, J. L., Bond, D. S., & Goldschmidt, A. B. (2020) · Journal of Behavioral Medicine · doi:10.1007/s10865-020-00152-3 · Cited by 27 · see citing works
FATORES ASSOCIADOS À OBESIDADE: UMA BREVE REVISÃO NARRATIVA
do Nascimento, O. V., do Nascimento, W. M., Melo, C. D. S., & Lima, É. S. (2022) · RECISATEC - REVISTA CIENTÍFICA SAÚDE E TECNOLOGIA · doi:10.53612/recisatec.v2i5.108 · Cited by 19 · see citing works
Smith, K. E., Mason, T. B., Wang, W., Schumacher, L. M., Pellegrini, C. A., Goldschmidt, A. B., & Unick, J. L. (2021) · Appetite · doi:10.1016/j.appet.2021.105706 · Cited by 18 · see citing works
Smith, K. E., Mason, T. B., Anderson, L. M., Schaefer, L. M., Crosby, R. D., Engel, S. G., Crow, S. J., Wonderlich, S. A., & Peterson, C. B. (2020) · Eating Disorders · doi:10.1080/10640266.2020.1746121 · Cited by 16 · see citing works
Smith, K. E., O’Connor, S. M., Mason, T. B., Wang, S. D., Dzubur, E., Crosby, R. D., Wonderlich, S. A., Salvy, S., Feda, D. M., & Roemmich, J. N. (2020) · Pediatric Obesity · doi:10.1111/ijpo.12720 · Cited by 16 · see citing works
Self-citationCarbine, K. A., Anderson, J., Larson, M. J., LeCheminant, J. D., & Bailey, B. W. (2020) · International Journal of Psychophysiology · doi:10.1016/j.ijpsycho.2020.10.011 · Cited by 15 · see citing works
Dera, A. M., Shen, T., Thackray, A. E., Hinton, E. C., King, J. A., James, L. J., Morgan, P. S., Rush, N., Miyashita, M., Batterham, R. L., et al. (2023) · Neuroscience & Biobehavioral Reviews · doi:10.1016/j.neubiorev.2023.105247 · Cited by 14 · see citing works
Yao, P., Osman, S., Sabri, M. F., Zainudin, N., & Li, Y. (2023) · Heliyon · doi:10.1016/j.heliyon.2023.e19131 · Cited by 12 · see citing works
Akkaya, K. U., Uslu, B., & Özcan, B. A. (2022) · Topics in Clinical Nutrition · doi:10.1097/tin.0000000000000267 · Cited by 10 · see citing works
Fenton, J. M., King, J. A., McLeod, C. J., Hoekstra, S. P., Finlayson, G., & Goosey-Tolfrey, V. L. (2022) · Appetite · doi:10.1016/j.appet.2022.106384 · Cited by 10 · see citing works
Factors associated with emotional eating in female college students
ÖZTÜRK, M. E., Yılmaz, H. Ö., Er, N. T., Doğan, G., Meriç, Ç. S., & Ayhan, N. Y. (2024) · Nutrition & Food Science · doi:10.1108/nfs-10-2023-0233 · Cited by 9 · see citing works
On computing critical factors based healthy behavior index for behavior assessment
Bilal, H. S. M., Amin, M. B., Hussain, J., Ali, S. I., Hussain, S., Sadiq, M., Razzaq, M. A., Abbas, A., Choi, C., & Lee, S. (2020) · International Journal of Medical Informatics · doi:10.1016/j.ijmedinf.2020.104181 · Cited by 9 · see citing works
When behaviour meets biology: if obesity is a chronic medical disease what is obesity management?
Vallis, M., & Macklin, D. (2021) · Clinical Obesity · doi:10.1111/cob.12443 · Cited by 9 · see citing works
Li, Y., Xia, X., Yu, A., Xu, H., & Zhang, C. (2022) · Appetite · doi:10.1016/j.appet.2022.105955 · Cited by 7 · see citing works
Mason, T. B., Smith, K. E., Belcher, B. R., Dunton, G. F., & LUO, S. H. (2020) · Frontiers in Psychology · doi:10.3389/fpsyg.2020.578690 · Cited by 5 · see citing works
Self-citationDoes Eating Addiction Favor a More Varied Diet or Contribute to Obesity?—The Case of Polish Adults
Jeżewska-Zychowicz, M., Małachowska, A., & Plichta, M. (2020) · Nutrients · doi:10.3390/nu12051304 · Cited by 3 · see citing works
The effect of broadband internet on children's weight: Evidence from China
Cheng, W., & Xu, H. (2025) · China Economic Review · doi:10.1016/j.chieco.2025.102540 · Cited by 2 · see citing works
Malaikah, S., Alruwaili, A., Sanders, J. P., Thackray, A. E., Stensel, D. J., Thivel, D., Henson, J. J., Rowlands, A. V., Willis, S. A., & King, J. A. (2025) · Nutrients · doi:10.3390/nu17193163 · Cited by 1 · see citing works
Dera, A. M., Hinton, E. C., Batterham, R. L., Davies, M. J., King, J. A., Miyashita, M., Morgan, P. S., Papamargaritis, D., Thompson, J., Stensel, D. J., et al. (2025) · Human Brain Mapping · doi:10.1002/hbm.70192 · Cited by 1 · see citing works
Piñol‐Piñol, D., Solé, S., Rubí‐Carnacea, F., & Bravo, C. (2020) · Preprints.org · doi:10.20944/preprints202002.0282.v1 · Cited by 1 · see citing works
Revue de presse / Press review
Florent, V., & Gaudrat, B. (2018) · Obésité · doi:10.3166/obe-2018-0042
吉川, 貴., 宇治正人, 貴司, 松., 千華, 中., 貴大, 山., 石田, 梨., Takada, K., & 石井聡 (2019) · 体力科學 · doi:10.7600/jspfsm.68.13
Exercise intervention modulates food reward in obesity: efficacy, mechanisms, and prospects
Dongfei, L. I. U., Jiang, Y., Wang, Z., & Mo, X. (2026) · Frontiers in Nutrition · doi:10.3389/fnut.2026.1895299
- Authors
- Luo, S., O’Connor, S. G., Belcher, B. R., & Page, K. A.
- Affiliations
- University of Southern California (US)
- Corresponding author
- Page, Kathleen A.
- Venue
- Obesity
- Publisher
- Wiley
- Published
- 2018-01-19
- Volume
- 26
- Issue
- 3
- Pages
- 540-546
- ISSN
- 1930-7381 (ISSN-L)
- 1930-739X
- PMC
- PMC5821522
- OpenAlex
- W2791922938
- Cited by
- 28
- References
- 39
- Citations by year
- 2026: 1 · 2025: 3 · 2024: 2 · 2023: 3 · 2022: 4 · 2021: 2 · 2020: 9 · 2019: 2 · 2018: 2
- FWCI
- 2.11
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- bronze
- doi.org
- Locations
- Obesity (publishedVersion)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- Europe PMC (PubMed Central) (acceptedVersion)
- PubMed Central (acceptedVersion)
- Funders
- National Institutes of Health (NIDDK R01DK102794 (KAP))
- National Cancer Institute
- National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases
- Topics
- Life Sciences › Neuroscience › Endocrine and Autonomic Systems › Regulation of Appetite and Obesity
- Health Sciences › Medicine › Physiology › Physical Activity and Health
- Social Sciences › Psychology › Clinical Psychology › Eating Disorders and Behaviors
- Keywords
- physical activity, sedentary behavior, food cue reactivity, young adults, glucose ingestion, moderate-to-vigorous physical activity
- MeSH terms
- Adult, Brain, Cues, Feeding Behavior, Female, Humans, Male, Obesity, Exercise, Young Adult, Sedentary Behavior
About these checks
Registry, retraction, Cites and statistics results are computed, not judged, with one exception: a printed reference that no index lists is read once by a model before it counts as a citation error. Claims are extracted by a model and kept only when their quote appears verbatim in the text; each cited source is then checked, with a model’s help, for whether it says what the claim relies on. Those verdicts can be wrong — read the claim’s quote and the cited source before relying on one.
Statistics and arithmetic are recomputed, not judged.
Confidence bands are shown only for fields calibrated on our annotated test set. None is calibrated yet, so no band is shown.
What counts as a claim ›How we measure confidence ›How we check this ›
Are you an author, or do you see a problem with this page? Request a review
