Changes in Adolescents’ Dietary Intake Following the Initiation of an 8-Week Exercise Program

Abstract

Purpose: To assess changes in dietary intake of adolescents following an 8-week aerobic exercise program. Methods: Twenty-six adolescents (14–18 years) participated in an 8-week aerobic exercise program on cycle ergometer at their high school in Quebec, Canada. Twenty-four hour recalls were collected pre- and post-intervention. A two-way repeated measures ANOVA and paired sample t-tests were used to assess differences in energy and dietary intake parameters (food quantity, diet quality, eating patterns) between pre- and postintervention. Results: A decrease in total daily energy intake (–287.8 kcal, P = 0.007), in meal size at lunch (–110.1 g, P = 0.02) and dinner (–143.7 g, P = 0.03), in food density at breakfast (–1.8 kcal/g, P = 0.04), in daily carbohydrate intake (–56.1 g, P = 0.005), and in percentage of energy intake consumed at school (–5.1%, P = 0.04) were observed following initiation of an aerobic exercise program. No change in healthy eating index scores or percentage of energy from processed foods was observed. Conclusions: Changes in energy intake, food quantity, and eating pattern but not diet quality (Healthy Eating Index or food processing scores) were observed following the initiation of an aerobic exercise program. Nutrition interventions may be needed, in addition to an exercise program, to target diet quality and promote healthy eating habits in adolescents.