A vigorous 60-minute workout on a treadmill affects the release of two key appetite hormones, ghrelin and peptide YY, while 90 minutes of weight lifting affects the level of only ghrelin, according to a new study. Ghrelin is the only hormone known to stimulate appetite. Peptide YY suppresses appetite. Consequently, the research shows that aerobic exercise is superior at suppressing appetite than non-aerobic exercise.

In this experiment, 11 male university students did three eight-hour sessions. During one session they ran for 60 minutes on a treadmill, and then rested for seven hours. During another session they did 90 minutes of weight lifting, and then rested for six hours and 30 minutes. During another session, the participants did not exercise at all.

During each of the sessions, the participants filled out surveys in which they rated how hungry they felt at various points. They also received two meals during each session. The researchers measured ghrelin and peptide YY levels at multiple points along the way.

They found that the treadmill (aerobic) session caused ghrelin levels to drop and peptide YY levels to increase, indicating the hormones were suppressing appetite. However, a weight-lifting (non-aerobic) session produced a mixed result. Ghrelin levels dropped, indicating appetite suppression, but peptide YY levels did not change significantly.

Based on the hunger ratings the participants filled out, both aerobic and resistance exercise suppressed hunger, but aerobic exercise produced a greater suppression of hunger. The changes the researchers observed were short term for both types of exercise, lasting about two hours, including the time spent exercising.

American Journal of Physiology-Regulatory, Integrative and Comparative Physiology – November 2008;Epub.

ajpcon.physiology.org

A recent investigation found that the use of medications commonly prescribed to relieve episodic migraine (EM) significantly boost the risk of developing transformed migraine (TM), a form of migraine characterized by 15 or more days of headache per month. In the study, 8,219 people with episodic migraine were followed for one year; 2.5% developed TM over the course of the year. The use of commonly prescribed medications, particularly narcotics (such as acetaminophen with codeine or Percocet), or barbiturates (such as Fiorinal, Fioricet and Esgic) were associated with a dose-dependent increased risk of new onset of TM.

 Principal investigator and senior author of the study, Richard Lipton, MD notes that “this confirms the longstanding feeling among many doctors that certain medications used to treat migraine may increase the frequency of headaches if overused. These findings have important public health implications.”

Headache – December 10, 2008 ;Epub.

www.headachejournal.org