Research

Hormonal

Acute moderate-intensity aerobic exercise significantly reduces circulating levels of acylated ghrelin and leptin in overweight women, while having no effect on obestatin or des-acyl ghrelin.

If you are an overweight woman, doing 60 minutes of moderate running (about half your max capacity) will likely lower your hunger hormones (ghrelin) and satiety signals (leptin) for about an hour after you finish. It does not affect obestatin. This suggests moderate cardio might not spike hunger as feared in this demographic, though individual responses vary.

ModerateSupportsMEDIUM confidence
The results of the present study indicated that acute treadmill exercise at moderate intensity did not change obestatin and des-acyl ghrelin levels, but significantly reduced acylated ghrelin and leptin levels in overweight women.
Gül Tiryaki-Sönmez et al. · Biology of Sport · 2013

Why this rating

Small sample size (n=9) and short duration (acute session), but rigorous crossover design and controlled diet.

Source

EFFECT OF EXERCISE ON APPETITE-REGULATING HORMONES IN OVERWEIGHT WOMEN

Gül Tiryaki-Sönmez et al. · Biology of Sport · 2013

DOI 10.5604/20831862.1044220

crossover · n=9Cited 34×
Read the paper
DOI resolved against Crossref · corpus check 2026-06-10

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