Exercise counteracts the effects of short-term overfeeding and reduced physical activity independent of energy imbalance in healthy young men

Walhin JP, Richardson JD, Betts JA, Thompson D. J Physiol. 2013 Dec 15;591(Pt 24):6231-43 PMID 24167223 So, given what occurred at Thursday's departmental party and today's lab lunch, this study seems amazingly appropriate. The human participants were broken into sedentary and active groups (less than 4,000 steps/day vs 45 mins of treadmill time, respectively). Sedentary subjects increased their caloric intake by 50% while active groups increased by 75% so that both groups would have a caloric excess. They were then monitored for changes in glucose tolerance, cholesterol, and adipose tissue gene expression at the beginning and end of a 7-day protocol. The results showed that even though both groups saw increases in fat mass and systolic blood pressure, only the sedentary group increased their insulinemic response to a glucose challenge (2hr insulin area-under-the-curve). The seds also showed greater increases in total and LDL cholesterol, white blood cells, adiponectin, beta-cell function, along with gene expression of Fatty Acid Synthase, glucose transporter 4, and a number of other markers for poor health. The take-home message is that, among making life better in a billion other ways, exercise helps your body get better at dealing with short-term binge eating... just like we all tend to do over the holidays. Fine, I'll TRY to get on my exercise bike... but I can't promise that I'll pedal it much. -DH