Department of Psychology, University of Pittsburgh, Pittsburgh, PA 15260, USA.
Center for the Neural Basis of Cognition, Carnegie Mellon University, Pittsburgh, PA 15213, USA.
Nutrients. 2020 Sep 29;12(10):2988. doi: 10.3390/nu12102988.
Obesity is associated with poorer executive functioning and reward sensitivity. Yet, we know very little about whether weight loss through diet and/or increased exercise engagement improves cognitive function. This study evaluated whether weight loss following a dietary and exercise intervention was associated with improved cognitive performance. We enrolled 125 middle-aged adults with overweight and obesity (98 female) into a 12-month behavioral weight loss intervention. Participants were assigned to one of three groups: energy-restricted diet alone, an energy-restricted diet plus 150 min of moderate intensity exercise per week or an energy restricted diet plus 250 min of exercise per week. All participants completed tests measuring executive functioning and/or reward sensitivity, including the Iowa Gambling Task (IGT). Following the intervention, weight significantly decreased in all groups. A MANCOVA controlling for age, sex and race revealed a significant multivariate effect of group on cognitive changes. Post-hoc ANCOVAs revealed a Group x Time interaction only on IGT reward sensitivity, such that the high exercise group improved their performance relative to the other two intervention groups. Post-hoc ANCOVAs also revealed a main effect of Time, independent of intervention group, on IGT net payoff score. Changes in weight were not associated with other changes in cognitive performance. Engaging in a high amount of exercise improved reward sensitivity above and beyond weight loss alone. This suggests that there is additional benefit to adding exercise into behavioral weight loss regimens on executive functioning, even without additional benefit to weight loss.
肥胖与较差的执行功能和奖励敏感性有关。然而，我们对通过饮食和/或增加运动参与来减轻体重是否能改善认知功能知之甚少。本研究评估了饮食和运动干预后体重减轻是否与认知功能改善有关。我们招募了 125 名超重和肥胖的中年成年人（98 名女性）参加为期 12 个月的行为减肥干预。参与者被分配到三个组之一：单独限制能量的饮食、每周进行 150 分钟中等强度运动的限制能量饮食或每周进行 250 分钟运动的限制能量饮食。所有参与者都完成了测量执行功能和/或奖励敏感性的测试，包括爱荷华赌博任务（IGT）。干预后，所有组的体重都显著下降。在控制年龄、性别和种族的 MANCOVA 分析中，发现组对认知变化的多变量影响具有统计学意义。事后 ANCOVA 仅揭示了 IGT 奖励敏感性上的组间时间交互作用，即高运动组相对于其他两组干预组改善了他们的表现。事后 ANCOVA 还揭示了 IGT 净收益得分上的时间独立于干预组的主要效应。体重变化与认知表现的其他变化无关。进行大量运动可以改善奖励敏感性，而不仅仅是减轻体重。这表明，在行为减肥方案中增加运动除了对减肥有额外益处外，对执行功能也有额外益处。
