Differences in neurocognitive performance and metabolic and inflammatory indices in male adults with obesity as a function of regular exercise

Abstract

Obesity has been shown to be highly associated with deterioration in executive functions, elevated energy metabolic indices and low-grade systemic inflammation. Exercise has the capacity to reduce these negative phenomena. This work examined the effect of regular exercise on neurocognitive deficits and metabolic/inflammatory markers in obesity. Fifty-four participants were divided into three groups: healthy-weight (HW), obesity with regular exercise (ORE) and obesity with sedentary lifestyle (OSL), according to their BMI and frequency of exercise. Dual-energy X-ray absorptiometry was applied to assess the whole-body composition of the participants.The assessment included neurocognitive measures during the Posner paradigm test and fasting blood measurements. Relative to the HW group, only the OSL group showed significantly longer reaction times and smaller P3 amplitudes, even when controlling for the cardiorespiratory fitness co-variable. Although the OSL group exhibited a greater N2 amplitude than the HW group, when controlling for cardiorespiratory fitness the difference between the two groups disappeared. The OSL group showed greater levels of metabolic indices (i.e. leptin, insulin and glucose) than the HW group. The three groups had comparable interleukin (IL)-1 and IL-6 levels. However, the ORE and OSL groups showed higher levels of C-reactive protein than the HW group. The OSL group exhibited higher tumour necrosis factor-levels than the HW and ORE groups. P3 amplitude was negatively correlated with the levels of leptin in the ORE group. Individuals with obesity can still obtain advantages with regard to neurocognitive and metabolic/inflammatory indices through engaging in regular exercise, possibly due to reduced serum leptin levels. K E Y W O R D Scognition, event-related potential, exercise, inflammatory cytokine, metabolic, obesity

Effects of Acute Aerobic Exercise Combined with Resistance Exercise on Neurocognitive Performance in Obese Women

“…In this study, no relationship was observed between acute exercise and behavioral performance in the obese participants. One plausible reason for the present finding could be that obese individuals with a sedentary lifestyle often exhibit worse VO 2max [ 7 , 35 ], and previous studies have suggested that cardiorespiratory fitness, but not acute exercise, could be an important factor modulating cognitive performance [ 55 , 56 ]. This conjecture is somewhat speculative, but provides a basis for future research.…”

“…Drollette et al [ 62 ] found smaller N2 amplitudes induced by acute exercise only for individuals with lower inhibitory capacity but not among those with higher capacity [ 63 , 64 ]. Increased adiposity has been linked with poorer inhibitory control abilities [ 4 , 5 , 7 , 35 ]. Although some studies examining the effects of acute exercise on executive function using a neurophysiological approach failed to observe alterations in N2 amplitude after acute aerobic exercise [ 9 , 55 ], the results of the present study showed that the decreased N2 amplitude following acute exercise in the EG was in line with the previous findings [ 62 , 65 ], implying that 30-min of supervised moderate-intensity aerobic dance combined with resistance exercise could enhance response inhibition associated with conflict monitoring [ 66 ] in obese women.…”

“…Obesity is caused by a number of multidimensional factors [ 33 ] and results in deficits in neural circuits related to inhibitory control [ 4 , 7 , 22 , 34 ]. Obese adults have been shown to obtain advantages related to neurocognitive performance through engaging in regular exercise as compared to obese individuals with a sedentary lifestyle [ 35 ], suggesting that obesity does not preclude benefits derived from physical exercise and cardiorespiratory fitness to cognitive functions and neural networks. Although a number of studies have reported that a combination of aerobic and resistance exercise mode may effectively improve cognitive behavioral performance in overweight inactive male adults [ 16 ] and in patients with stroke [ 27 ] and dementia [ 28 ], thus far, a paucity of data exist on the possible additive effects of an acute bout combining these two exercise modes on behavioral and cognitive electrophysiological performance involving inhibitory control in obese female individuals.…”

Neurocognitive Inhibitory Control Ability Performance and Correlations with Biochemical Markers in Obese Women

“…However, they still exhibited deviant neurophysiological performance in underlying neural systems modulating motor response inhibition and cognitive interference inhibition and higher levels of inflammatory cytokines. Regular exercise has been demonstrated to be effective to improve higher levels of inflammatory cytokines and compromised neural activity in obese adults [93]. Determining how to control the adiponectin/leptin ratio through a healthy lifestyle (e.g., performing physical activity and exercise) to mitigate the deficit in neural processes of motor response inhibition could be an important issue in clinical practice.…”

Behavioral and Cognitive Electrophysiological Differences in the Executive Functions of Taiwanese Basketball Players as a Function of Playing Position

“…Hand dominance was subjected to a Pearson's chi-squared test. A demographic index (e.g., MMSE, BDI-II, BMI, and VO 2max ) served as a confounding variable whenever a significant difference occurred between the two groups [37,38]. RTs were subjected to an independent t test, and the ARs were subjected to a repeated-measured 2 (group: guards and forwards) × 2 (condition: Go and NoGo) ANOVA, with the group as the between-subjects factor and the condition as the within-subjects factor.…”