Acute effect of high-intensity interval training versus moderate-intensity continuous training on appetite-regulating gut hormones in healthy adults: A systematic review and meta-analysis

Background: Exercise intensity has been suggested to influence acute appetite-regulating gut hormone responses after exercise. High intensity interval training (HIIT) with near maximal to maximal intensity or sprint interval training (SIT) with supramaximal intensity might induce greater effects on gut hormones compared to moderate intensity continuous training (MICT), while current findings were inconsistent regarding the effects of these popular training methods. Objective: This systematic review and meta-analysis aimed to synthesis the findings in the liter-ature and explore the impact of exercise modality on acylated ghrelin (AG), glucagon-like pep-tide-1 (GLP-1) and peptide YY (PYY).Methods: After searching the major databases (PubMed, Web of science and ScienceDirect, Scopus, Cochrane Library) to find articles published up to May 2022, twelve studies that compared hormone responses to HIIT/SIT and MICT were identified and included in the analysis.Results: A random-effects meta-analysis showed that HIIT/SIT and MICT decreased AG concen-tration and increased GLP-1 and PYY concentration compared with no exercise control group, while interval training protocols, especially SIT protocols, elicited greater effect sizes in sup-pressing AG levels at all of the analysed time points and PYY immediately post-exercise compared to MICT.Conclusion: Acute SIT with lower exercise volume appears to be a more advantageous approach to decrease plasma AG concentration and potentially suppress hunger to a greater extent compared to MICT, despite the similar effects of HIIT/SIT compared to MICT in increasing anorectic hor-mones (i.e., GLP-1 and PYY). Future studies are needed to further investigate the impact of moderators (e.g., gender, body composition and exercise mode) on the variability of changes in gut hormones after interval trainings.

Automated summary

This systematic review and meta-analysis examined the impact of different exercise modalities on acylated ghrelin (AG), glucagon-like peptide-1 (GLP-1), and peptide YY (PYY). The results showed that high intensity interval training (HIIT)/sprint interval training (SIT) as well as moderate intensity continuous training (MICT) decreased AG concentration and increased GLP-1 and PYY concentration. Interval training, particularly SIT, had a greater effect in suppressing AG levels and increasing PYY immediately after exercise compared to MICT.