Altered metabolic and hormonal responses to moderate exercise in overweight/obesity

An adequate metabolic and hormonal response to the switch from rest to exercise is critical for the health benefits of exercise interventions. Previous work suggests that this response is impaired with overweight/obesity but the specific differences between overweight/obese and lean individuals remain unclear.

We compared glucose and non-esterified fatty acid (NEFA) regulation and the changes of key homeostatic hormones during 45 min of moderate exercise between 17 overweight/obese and 28 lean premenopausal women. For this comparison, we implemented an exercise protocol at 60% of individual peak oxygen uptake, with frequent blood sampling and under fasting conditions.

We found that at the same exercise intensity in the overweight/obese and the lean group of women, the metabolic and hormonal response differed. In contrast to the lean group, the overweight/obese group portrayed an activation in the stress axis (adrenocorticotropic hormone (ACTH)/cortisol) and a lower growth hormone (hGH) response and exercise-increase of plasma NEFA. Both groups, however, displayed increased insulin sensitivity during exercise that was accompanied by a normalization of the elevated fasting glucose in the overweight/obese group after 15-20 min.

We conclude that the response to exercise in overweight/obese subjects indeed differs from that in lean individuals. Additionally, we demonstrate that exercise can elicit beneficial (improved glucose regulation) and unwanted effects (stress axis activation) in overweight/obese subjects at the same time. This second finding suggests that exercise interventions for overweight/obese subjects need careful consideration of intensity and dose in order to achieve the intended results and avoid acute, undesired reactions.