Sex differences in exercise-mediated changes in diet preference and its associated cognitive and metabolic outcomes
type: CreativeWork
description: The modern environment contributes to the obesity epidemic by encouraging a sedentary lifestyle and increased intake of highly processed, energy dense foods. Females are more prone to develop disordered feeding behaviors, such as binge eating, and the prevalence of obesity is greater in females than males. However, obesity-related metabolic and cognitive dysregulation is more severe in males. One mechanism by which exercise may protect against these negative outcomes and restore energy homeostasis is through changes in macronutrient selection, specifically decreasing intake of high fat (HF) food. Sex differences in the susceptibility, outcomes, and exercise as a treatment intervention for obesity, however, have not been well-characterized. Moreover, how factors including diet, cognition, and peripheral metabolic function interact to potentially perpetuate the viscous feedback loop of maladaptive eating behavior and obesity in a sex-specific fashion is poorly understood. The goal of this dissertation was to investigate sex differences in the efficacy of exercise at attenuating the adverse cognitive and metabolic outcomes associated with long-term HF feeding. To this end, our lab has established a voluntary wheel running (WR) and two-diet choice model in rats. Using this paradigm, we found that the simultaneous introduction of WR and HF diet resulted in complete HF diet avoidance in WR rats whereas sedentary (Sed) rats maintained HF diet preference. There is also a sex difference in exercise-mediated changes in diet preference where male rats maintain HF diet avoidance and females reverse their initial HF diet avoidance. Chapter 2 examines the role of gonadal hormones on the expression and maintenance of HF diet avoidance during acute exercise. Chapter 3 extends the voluntary WR and two-diet choice paradigm used in Chapter 2 to assess sex differences in peripheral metabolic function and behavioral flexibility resulting from chronic HF feeding. In Chapter 4, an additio…
abstract: The modern environment contributes to the obesity epidemic by encouraging a sedentary lifestyle and increased intake of highly processed, energy dense foods. Females are more prone to develop disordered feeding behaviors, such as binge eating, and the prevalence of obesity is greater in females than males. However, obesity-related metabolic and cognitive dysregulation is more severe in males. One mechanism by which exercise may protect against these negative outcomes and restore energy homeostasis is through changes in macronutrient selection, specifically decreasing intake of high fat (HF) food. Sex differences in the susceptibility, outcomes, and exercise as a treatment intervention for obesity, however, have not been well-characterized. Moreover, how factors including diet, cognition, and peripheral metabolic function interact to potentially perpetuate the viscous feedback loop of maladaptive eating behavior and obesity in a sex-specific fashion is poorly understood. The goal of this dissertation was to investigate sex differences in the efficacy of exercise at attenuating the adverse cognitive and metabolic outcomes associated with long-term HF feeding. To this end, our lab has established a voluntary wheel running (WR) and two-diet choice model in rats. Using this paradigm, we found that the simultaneous introduction of WR and HF diet resulted in complete HF diet avoidance in WR rats whereas sedentary (Sed) rats maintained HF diet preference. There is also a sex difference in exercise-mediated changes in diet preference where male rats maintain HF diet avoidance and females reverse their initial HF diet avoidance. Chapter 2 examines the role of gonadal hormones on the expression and maintenance of HF diet avoidance during acute exercise. Chapter 3 extends the voluntary WR and two-diet choice paradigm used in Chapter 2 to assess sex differences in peripheral metabolic function and behavioral flexibility resulting from chronic HF feeding. In Chapter 4, an additio…
author: Yang, Tiffany Yateen
language: en
keywords: wheel running, exercise, diet choice, high fat diet, sex differences, behavioral flexibility, impulsivity, insulin sensitivity
date published: 2021-09-17T04:04:12Z
date modified: 2026-07-22T22:24:52Z
provider: University of Illinois - Urbana-Champaign
publisher: Networked Digital Library of Theses and Dissertations
type: WebPage
source organization: University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign

PropertyValue
property ID: Handle
value: http://hdl.handle.net/2142/110804