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Circulating Ghrelin Is Sensitive to Changes in Body Weight during a Diet and Exercise Program in Normal-Weight Young Women

Noll Physiological Research Center and the Department of Kinesiology, Pennsylvania State University, University Park, Pennsylvania 16802

Address all correspondence and requests for reprints to: Nancy I. Williams, 108 Noll Laboratory, Pennsylvania State University, University Park, Pennsylvania 16802. E-mail: niw1{at}psu.edu.

Ghrelin is directly involved with short-term regulation of energy balance. Although circulating levels of ghrelin are elevated in anorexia nervosa and reduced in obesity, the role of ghrelin in regulating long-term energy balance in healthy women has not been investigated. We examined the effects of a 3-month energy deficit-imposing diet and exercise intervention on circulating ghrelin in normal-weight, healthy women. Body composition, resting metabolic rate, and serum ghrelin were measured at pre-, mid-, and postintervention in controls (n = 7), who performed no exercise, and exercising women who remained weight stable (n = 5) or lost weight (n = 10). Exercise training occurred five times per week, and subjects were fed a specific diet. Ghrelin significantly increased over time (770 ± 296 to 1322 ± 664 pmol/liter) in the weight-loss group compared with the controls and the weight-stable group (P < 0.05). Changes in ghrelin were negatively correlated with changes in body weight (r = –0.61; P < 0.05). Body fat, body weight, and resting metabolic rate significantly decreased in the weight-loss group before the increase in ghrelin. These findings suggest that ghrelin responds in a compensatory manner to changes in energy homeostasis in healthy young women, and that ghrelin exhibits particular sensitivity to changes in body weight.

This work was supported by National Institutes of Health Grants 1R01HD39245-01A1 and M01 RR 10732.

Abbreviations: BMI, Body mass index; VO₂max, maximal capacity for oxygen consumption.

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