Exercise and the Timing of Snack Choice: Healthy Snack Choice is Reduced in the Post-Exercise State

Authors

Christopher R. Gustafson, University of Nebraska-LincolnFollow
Nigina Rakhmatullaeva, University of Nebraska - LincolnFollow
Safiya E. Beckford, University of Nebraska - LincolnFollow
Ajai Ammachathram, University of Nebraska - LincolnFollow
Alexander Cristobal, University of Nebraska - LincolnFollow
Karsten Koehler, University of Nebraska-LincolnFollow

ORCID IDs

0000-0001-6894-9456

0000-0002-9618-2069

Document Type

Article

Date of this Version

2018

Citation

Nutrients 2018, 10, 1941

Comments

© 2018 by the authors.

Open access

doi:10.3390/nu10121941

Abstract

Acute exercise can induce either a compensatory increase in food intake or a reduction in food intake, which results from appetite suppression in the post-exercise state. The timing of food choice—choosing for immediate or later consumption—has been found to influence the healthfulness of foods consumed. To examine both of these effects, we tested in our study whether the timing of food choice interacts with exposure to exercise to impact food choices such that choices would differ when made prior to or following an exercise bout. Visitors to a university recreational center were equipped with an accelerometer prior to their habitual workout regime, masking the true study purpose. As a reward, participants were presented with a snack for consumption after workout completion. Participants made their snack choice from either an apple or chocolate brownie after being pseudo-randomly assigned to choose prior to (“before”) or following workout completion (“after”). Complete data were available for 256 participants (54.7% male, 22.1 ± 3.1 years, 24.7 ± 3.7 kg/m2) who exercised 65.3 ± 22.5 min/session. When compared with “before,” the choice of an apple decreased (73.7% vs. 54.6%) and the choices of brownie (13.9% vs. 20.2%) or no snack (12.4% vs. 25.2%) increased in the “after” condition (X² = 26.578, p < 0.001). Our results provide support for both compensatory eating and exercise-induced anorexia. More importantly, our findings suggest that the choice of food for post-exercise consumption can be altered through a simple behavioral intervention.