The impact of exercise on food-related inhibitory control— do calories, time of day, and BMI matter? Evidence from an event-related potential (ERP) study

A growing body of research suggests exercise improves inhibitory control functions. We tested if exercise-related inhibitory control benefits extend to food-related inhibitory control and differ by calorie content, time of day, and weight status. One hundred thirty-eight individuals were pseudo-randomly assigned to a morning or evening group. Each subject participated in two lab sessions where they completed questionnaires (rest session) or walked on a treadmill at 3.8mph (exercise session) for 45 min. After each session, participants completed both a high-calorie and low-calorie go/no-go task while N2 and P3 event-related potentials (ERP), both neural indicators of inhibitory control, were measured. Participants also rated food images for valence and arousal. While N2 and P3 difference amplitudes were larger to high-calorie than low-calorie foods, neither exercise nor time of day affected results. Individuals had faster response times after exercise without decreases in accuracy. Arousal and valence for high-calorie foods were lower after exercise and lower for all foods after morning compared to evening exercise. In a subset of individuals with obesity and normal-weight individuals, individuals with obesity had larger N2 difference amplitudes after morning exercise, while normal-weight individuals had larger P3 difference amplitudes to high-calorie foods after exercise. Results suggest moderate exercise did not affect food-related inhibitory control generally, although morning exercise may be beneficial in improving early recruitment of food-related inhibitory control in individuals with obesity. Moderate exercise, particularly in the morning, may also help manage increased attention allocated to food.