Chronic Exercise Training and Circulating Irisin in Adults: A Meta-Analysis
Abstract
Background Irisin is a newly discovered hormone that is proposed to be a promising therapeutic target in obesity and type 2 diabetes. It has received remarkable attention recently, while inconsistent results have been shown regarding its association with chronic exercise training in adults. Objective The aim of this study was to evaluate the effects of chronic exercise training on circulating (plasma/serum) irisin in adults by meta-analyzing randomized controlled trials (RCTs) and non-randomized studies (NRSs) separately. Methods We conducted a search of the PubMed, Web of Science and Cochrane Library databases from January 2012 to September 2014 for studies published in English. Studies were included if they had an assessment of chronic (≥8 weeks) exercise training effects on circulating irisin in the general or clinical population (mean age ≥18 years) with reported outcomes of circulating irisin, and involved more than five participants. Pooled effect sizes (Cohen's d) with 95 % confidence intervals (CIs) for changes in circulating irisin were calculated by a random-effects model. Subgroup analyses were performed to evaluate the association between exercise modes and changes in circulating irisin. Results Of the 181 articles screened, 12 studies in eight articles were included, of which three were RCTs and nine were NRSs. In the three RCTs (a total of 173 healthy, untrained participants), chronic exercise training was associated with a moderate and significant overall effect in decreasing circulating irisin compared with the control (d = -0.46; 95 % CI -0.76 to -0.15). Chronic resistance exercise training showed a moderate and significant effect in decreasing circulating irisin compared with the control (d = -0.41; 95 % CI -0.75 to -0.06), while endurance exercise training only had a trend (d = -0.64; 95 % CI -1.32 to 0.04). In the nine NRSs (a total of 113 intervention participants), chronic exercise training was associated with a trivial and non-significant overall effect in decreasing circulating irisin compared with baseline (d = -0.04; 95 % CI -0.30 to 0.23). Conclusions Chronic exercise training leads to significantly decreased circulating irisin levels in the RCTs, while evidence remains inconclusive in the NRSs. Well-designed RCTs that measure dietary intake and report changes of body fat percentage or insulin sensitivity/resistance index following chronic exercise training are required to confirm these findings.
Integrity signals
Registry
Cites
Statistics
Claims the paper makes
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?
A meta-analysis has described a decrease in irisin levels with resistance training and a tendency to decrease with endurance training.
“A meta-analysis has described a decrease in irisin levels with resistance training and a tendency to decrease with endurance training [41].”
A meta-analysis of randomized controlled trials showed lower irisin levels after training than before training.
“A meta-analysis of several randomized controlled trials even showed lower levels of irisin after training than before training88.”
From Exerkines in health, resilience and disease (2022) · cites this paper as [88]
Cites
Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses: the PRISMA statement
Moher, D., Liberati, A., Tetzlaff, J., Altman, D. G., & for the PRISMA Group (2009) · BMJ · doi:10.1136/bmj.b2535 · Cited by 83,823 · see citing works
Preferred reporting items for systematic reviews and meta-analyses: the PRISMA Statement.
(2009) · PubMed Central · Cited by 44,859 · see citing works
Preferred reporting items for systematic reviews and meta-analyses: The PRISMA statement
Moher, D., Liberati, A., Tetzlaff, J., Altman, D. G., & the PRISMA Group* (2009) · Annals of Internal Medicine · doi:10.7326/0003-4819-151-4-200908180-00135 · Cited by 37,554 · see citing works
A PGC1-α-dependent myokine that drives brown-fat-like development of white fat and thermogenesis
Boström, P., Wu, J., Jedrychowski, M. P., Korde, A., Ye, L., Lo, J. C., Rasbach, K. A., Boström, E. A., Choi, J. H., Long, J. Z., et al. (2012) · Nature · doi:10.1038/nature10777 · Cited by 4,810 · see citing works
How should meta‐regression analyses be undertaken and interpreted?
Thompson, S. G., & Higgins, J. P. T. (2002) · Statistics in Medicine · doi:10.1002/sim.1187 · Cited by 3,026 · see citing works
Huh, J. Y., Panagiotou, G., Mougios, V., Brinkoetter, M., Vamvini, M. T., Schneider, B. E., & Mantzoros, C. S. (2012) · Metabolism · doi:10.1016/j.metabol.2012.09.002 · Cited by 1,040 · see citing works
Irisin and FGF21 are cold-induced endocrine activators of brown fat function in humans
Lee, P., Linderman, J. D., Smith, S., Brychta, R. J., Wang, J., Idelson, C., Perron, R. M., Werner, C. D., Phan, G. Q., Kammula, U. S., et al. (2014) · Cell Metabolism · doi:10.1016/j.cmet.2013.12.017 · Cited by 802 · see citing works
Moreno-Navarrete, J. M., Ortega, F., Serrano, M., Guerra, E., Pardo, G., Tinahones, F., Ricart, W., & Fernández-Real, J. M. (2013) · The Journal of Clinical Endocrinology & Metabolism · doi:10.1210/jc.2012-2749 · Cited by 788 · see citing works
Miller, W., Koceja, D., & Hamilton, E. (1997) · International Journal of Obesity · doi:10.1038/sj.ijo.0800499 · Cited by 686 · see citing works
FNDC5/irisin is not only a myokine but also an adipokine
Roca-Rivada, A., Castelao, C., Senin, L. L., Landrove, M. O., Baltar, J., Crujeiras, A. B., Seoane, L. M., Casanueva, F. F., & Pardo, M. (2013) · PLoS ONE · doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0060563 · Cited by 612 · see citing works
Norheim, F., Langleite, T. M., Hjorth, M., Holen, T., Kielland, A., Stadheim, H. K., Gulseth, H. L., Birkeland, K. I., Jensen, J., & Drevon, C. A. (2014) · The FEBS Journal · doi:10.1111/febs.12619 · Cited by 563 · see citing works
Circulating irisin in relation to insulin resistance and the metabolic syndrome.
Park, K., Zaichenko, L., Brinkoetter, M. T., Thakkar, B., Sahin-Efe, A., Joung, K., Tsoukas, M. A., Geladari, E., Huh, J., Dinçer, F., et al. (2013) · Journal of Clinical Endocrinology and Metabolism · doi:10.1210/jc.2013-2373 · Cited by 527 · see citing works
Lower circulating irisin is associated with type 2 diabetes mellitus
Liu, J., Wong, M. D. S., Toy, W. C., Tan, C., Liu, S., Ng, X. W., Subramaniam, T., Sum, C. F., & Lim, S. C. (2013) · Journal of Diabetes and its Complications · doi:10.1016/j.jdiacomp.2013.03.002 · Cited by 446 · see citing works
Stengel, A., Hofmann, T., Goebel-Stengel, M., Elbelt, U., Kobelt, P., & Klapp, B. (2013) · Peptides · doi:10.1016/j.peptides.2012.11.014 · Cited by 439 · see citing works
Kurdiova, T., Balaz, M., Vician, M., Maderova, D., Vlcek, M., Valkovic, L., Srbecky, M., Imrich, R., Kyselovicova, O., Belan, V., et al. (2014) · The Journal of Physiology · doi:10.1113/jphysiol.2013.264655 · Cited by 401 · cited 8× · see citing works
“The time periods for drawing blood samples to determine irisin levels after the last bout of exercise training were as follows: five studies reported at least 48 h [7, 8, 11], two reported around 12 h (overnight) [9], two reported 3 h [17], one reported 30 min [10], and two did not report this information [18, 19].”
BackgroundMethodResultInfluentialHuh, J. Y., Mougios, V., Kabasakalis, A., Fatouros, I., Siopi, A., Douroudos, I. I., Filippaios, A., Panagiotou, G., Park, K. H., & Mantzoros, C. S. (2014) · The Journal of Clinical Endocrinology & Metabolism · doi:10.1210/jc.2014-1437 · Cited by 363 · see citing works
Evidence against a Beneficial Effect of Irisin in Humans
Raschke, S., Elsen, M., Gassenhuber, J., Sommerfeld, M. R., Schwahn, U., Brockmann, B., Jung, R., Wisløff, U., Tjønna, A. E., Raastad, T., et al. (2013) · PLoS ONE · doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0073680 · Cited by 322 · see citing works
Pekkala, S., Wiklund, P. K., Hulmi, J. J., Ahtiainen, J. P., Horttanainen, M., Pöllänen, E., Mäkelä, K. A., Kainulainen, H., Häkkinen, K., Nyman, K., et al. (2013) · The Journal of Physiology · doi:10.1113/jphysiol.2013.263707 · Cited by 292 · see citing works
Irisin and exercise training in humans – Results from a randomized controlled training trial
Hecksteden, A., Wegmann, M., Steffen, A., Kraushaar, J., Morsch, A., Ruppenthal, S., Kaestner, L., & Meyer, T. (2013) · BMC Medicine · doi:10.1186/1741-7015-11-235 · Cited by 250 · see citing works
Irisin is inversely associated with intrahepatic triglyceride contents in obese adults
Zhang, H.-J., Zhang, X.-F., Ma, Z.-M., Pan, L.-L., Chen, Z., Han, H.-W., Han, C.-K., Zhuang, X.-J., Lu, Y., Li, X.-J., et al. (2013) · Journal of Hepatology · doi:10.1016/j.jhep.2013.04.030 · Cited by 234 · see citing works
Pardo, M., Crujeiras, A. B., Amil, M., Agüera, Z., Jiménez‐Múrcia, S., Baños, R., Botella, C., de la Torre, R., Estivill, X., Fagundo, A. B., et al. (2014) · International Journal of Endocrinology · doi:10.1155/2014/857270 · Cited by 216 · see citing works
Anastasilakis, A. D., Pοlyzos, S. A., Saridakis, Z. G., Kynigopoulos, G., Skouvaklidou, E. C., Molyvas, D., Vasiloglou, M. F., Apostolou, A., Karagiozoglou‐Lampoudi, Τ., Siopi, A., et al. (2014) · The Journal of Clinical Endocrinology & Metabolism · doi:10.1210/jc.2014-1367 · Cited by 186 · see citing works
Wang, L., Mascher, H., Psilander, N., Blomstrand, E., & Sahlin, K. (2011) · Journal of Applied Physiology · doi:10.1152/japplphysiol.00086.2011 · Cited by 181 · see citing works
Irisin as a muscle-derived hormone stimulating thermogenesis – A critical update
Hofmann, T., Elbelt, U., & Stengel, A. (2014) · Peptides · doi:10.1016/j.peptides.2014.01.016 · Cited by 162 · see citing works
Sesti, G., Andreozzi, F., Fiorentino, T. V., Mannino, G. C., Sciacqua, A., Marini, M. A., & Perticone, F. (2014) · Acta Diabetologica · doi:10.1007/s00592-014-0576-0 · Cited by 142 · see citing works
Irisin: A renaissance in metabolism?
Polyzos, S. A., Kountouras, J., Shields, K., & Mantzoros, C. S. (2013) · Metabolism · doi:10.1016/j.metabol.2013.04.008 · Cited by 131 · see citing works
Irisin as a predictor of glucose metabolism in children: sexually dimorphic effects
Al‐Daghri, N. M., Alkharfy, K. M., Rahman, S., Amer, O. E., Vinodson, B., Sabico, S., Piya, M. K., Harte, A. L., McTernan, P. G., Alokail, M. S., et al. (2013) · European Journal of Clinical Investigation · doi:10.1111/eci.12196 · Cited by 111 · see citing works
Irisin Levels During Pregnancy and Changes Associated With the Development of Preeclampsia
Garcés, M. F., Franco, J. J. P., Ruíz-Linares, C. E., Lozano, A. R., Poveda, N. E., Torres‐Sierra, A. L., Eslava-Schmalbach, J. H., Álzate, J. P., Sánchez, A. Y., Sánchez, E., et al. (2014) · The Journal of Clinical Endocrinology & Metabolism · doi:10.1210/jc.2013-4127 · Cited by 99 · see citing works
Conn, V. S., Koopman, R. J., Ruppar, T. M., Phillips, L. J., Mehr, D. R., & Hafdahl, A. R. (2014) · Journal of Primary Care & Community Health · doi:10.1177/2150131913520328 · Cited by 99 · see citing works
Irisin: A new potential hormonal target for the treatment of obesity and type 2 diabetes
Sanchis‐Gomar, F., Lippi, G., Mayero, S., Pérez-Quilis, C., & García‐Giménez, J. L. (2012) · Journal of Diabetes · doi:10.1111/j.1753-0407.2012.00194.x · Cited by 96 · see citing works
Ellefsen, S., Vikmoen, O., Slettaløkken, G., Whist, J. E., Nygaard, H., Hollan, I., Rauk, I., Vegge, G., Strand, T. A., Raastad, T., et al. (2014) · European Journal of Applied Physiology · doi:10.1007/s00421-014-2922-x · Cited by 89 · see citing works
Irisin in humans: recent advances and questions for future research
Boström, P., Fernández‐Real, J. M., & Mantzoros, C. S. (2013) · Metabolism · doi:10.1016/j.metabol.2013.11.009 · Cited by 77 · see citing works
Resistance Exercise Training does not Affect Plasma Irisin Levels of Hemodialysis Patients
Moraes, C., Leal, V. D. O., Marinho, S. M., Barroso, S. G., Rocha, G. D. S., Boaventura, G. T., & Mafra, D. (2013) · Hormone and Metabolic Research · doi:10.1055/s-0033-1354402 · Cited by 77 · see citing works
Lopez‐Legarrea, P., de la Iglesia, R., Crujeiras, A. B., Pardo, M., Casanueva, F. F., Zulet, M. Á., & Martínez, J. A. (2014) · Nutrition and Diabetes · doi:10.1038/nutd.2014.7 · Cited by 70 · see citing works
de la Iglesia, R., Lopez‐Legarrea, P., Crujeiras, A. B., Pardo, M., Casanueva, F. F., Zulet, M. Á., & Martínez, J. A. (2013) · Clinical Endocrinology · doi:10.1111/cen.12383 · Cited by 64 · see citing works
Scalzo, R. L., Peltonen, G. L., Giordano, G., Binns, S. E., Klochak, A. L., Paris, H. L. R., Schweder, M. M., Szallar, S. E., Wood, L. M., Larson, D. G., et al. (2014) · PLoS ONE · doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0090696 · Cited by 59 · see citing works
Irisin Does Not Mediate Resistance Training–Induced Alterations in Resting Metabolic Rate
Scharhag‐Rosenberger, F., Meyer, T., Wegmann, M., Ruppenthal, S., Kaestner, L., Morsch, A., & Hecksteden, A. (2014) · Medicine & Science in Sports & Exercise · doi:10.1249/mss.0000000000000286 · Cited by 59 · see citing works
Elbelt, U., Hofmann, T., & Stengel, A. (2013) · Current Opinion in Clinical Nutrition & Metabolic Care · doi:10.1097/mco.0b013e328363bc65 · Cited by 30 · see citing works
Pimenta, N. M., Santa‐Clara, H., Sardinha, L. B., & Fernhall, B. (2013) · Obesity · doi:10.1002/oby.20273 · Cited by 19 · see citing works
Maternal inheritance of circulating irisin in humans
Al‐Daghri, N. M., Al-Attas, O. S., Alokail, M. S., Alkharfy, K. M., Yousef, M., Vinodson, B., Amer, O. E., Alnaami, A. M., Sabico, S., Tripathi, G., et al. (2014) · Clinical Science · doi:10.1042/cs20130426 · Cited by 18 · see citing works
Flagged first, then by citations
Cited by
Sorted by citations
Exerkines in health, resilience and disease
Chow, L. S., Gerszten, R. E., Taylor, J. M., Pedersen, B. K., van Praag, H., Trappe, S., Febbraio, M. A., Galis, Z. S., Gao, Y., Haus, J. M., et al. (2022) · Nature Reviews Endocrinology · doi:10.1038/s41574-022-00641-2 · Cited by 927 · see citing works
Gonzalez-Gil, A. M., & Elizondo-Montemayor, L. (2020) · Nutrients · doi:10.3390/nu12061899 · Cited by 278 · see citing works
“A meta-analysis has described a decrease in irisin levels with resistance training and a tendency to decrease with endurance training [41].”
BackgroundFox, J., Rioux, B. V., Goulet, E. D. B., Johanssen, N. M., Swift, D. L., Bouchard, D. R., Loewen, H., & Sénéchal, M. (2018) · Scandinavian Journal of Medicine & Science in Sports · doi:10.1111/sms.12904 · Cited by 161 · see citing works
Effect of Various Exercise Regimens on Selected Exercise-Induced Cytokines in Healthy People
Domin, R., Dadej, D., Pytka, M., Zybek-Kocik, A., Ruchała, M., & Guzik, P. (2021) · International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health · doi:10.3390/ijerph18031261 · Cited by 79 · see citing works
“Evidence from non-randomized studies is inconclusive [24].”
Cosio, P. L., Crespo-Posadas, M., Velarde-Sotres, Á., & Pelaez, M. (2021) · International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health · doi:10.3390/ijerph18052476 · Cited by 56 · see citing works
Myokines: Metabolic regulation in obesity and type 2 diabetes
Chen, Z.-T., Weng, Z.-X., Lin, J. D., & Meng, Z.-X. (2024) · Life Metabolism · doi:10.1093/lifemeta/loae006 · Cited by 58 · see citing works
Dinas, P. C., Lahart, I. M., Timmons, J. A., Svensson, P.-A., Koutedakis, Y., Flouris, A. D., & Metsios, G. S. (2017) · F1000Research · doi:10.12688/f1000research.11107.2 · Cited by 51 · see citing works
Kazeminasab, F., Sadeghi, E., & Afshari-Safavi, A. (2022) · Oxidative Medicine and Cellular Longevity · doi:10.1155/2022/8235809 · Cited by 43 · see citing works
Khalafi, M., Alamdari, K. A., Symonds, M. E., Nobari, H., & Carlos-Vivas, J. (2021) · HORMONES · doi:10.1007/s42000-020-00245-3 · Cited by 34 · see citing works
Obesity and Exercise: New Insights and Perspectives
James, N. M., & Stanford, K. I. (2025) · Endocrine Reviews · doi:10.1210/endrev/bnaf017 · Cited by 20 · see citing works
Miazgowski, T., Kaczmarkiewicz, A., Miazgowski, B., & Kopeć, J. (2021) · Journal of Endocrinological Investigation · doi:10.1007/s40618-020-01415-1 · Cited by 12 · see citing works
- Authors
- Qiu, S., Cai, X., Sun, Z., Schumann, U., Zügel, M., & Steinacker, J. M.
- Affiliations
- Universität Ulm (DE)
- Zhongda Hospital Southeast University (CN)
- Corresponding author
- Sun, Zilin
- Venue
- Sports Medicine
- Published
- 2015-09-21
- Volume
- 45
- Issue
- 11
- Pages
- 1577-1588
- ISSN
- 0112-1642 (ISSN-L)
- 1179-2035
- OpenAlex
- W1634292063
- Cited by
- 129
- References
- 40
- Citations by year
- 2026: 13 · 2025: 8 · 2024: 11 · 2023: 12 · 2022: 14 · 2021: 18 · 2020: 10 · 2019: 8 · 2018: 10 · 2017: 17 · 2016: 8
- FWCI
- 1.51
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- closed
- Licence
- www.springer.com/tdm (tdm)
- Locations
- Sports Medicine (publishedVersion)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- Topics
- Health Sciences › Medicine › Epidemiology › Adipokines, Inflammation, and Metabolic Diseases
- Health Sciences › Medicine › Rehabilitation › Exercise and Physiological Responses
- Health Sciences › Medicine › Physiology › Adipose Tissue and Metabolism
- Keywords
- irisin, exercise training, resistance training, endurance exercise, plasma biomarkers, obesity, type 2 diabetes, non-randomized studies, randomized controlled trials, fat mass, dietary intake, insulin sensitivity, oxidative stress, mitochondrial biogenesis, skeletal muscle hypertrophy
- MeSH terms
- Fibronectins, Humans, Physical Education and Training, Physical Endurance, Research Design, Randomized Controlled Trials as Topic, Resistance Training
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
