Acute Impact of Dietary Pattern and Walking on Postprandial Attention, Mood, and Satiety in Older Adults: A Randomized Crossover Trial

Research suggests that attention, mood, and satiety can be influenced by meal composition and postprandial activity. The present study examined whether this hypothesis applies to persons with a risk phenotype for the development of cardiovascular/neurodegenerative diseases. A randomized crossover trial was conducted in subjects with metabolic syndrome traits (n = 26, 8 female, age 70 ± 5, BMI 30.3 ± 2.3 kg/m2). Each subject participated in four interventions: iso-energetic (4300 kJ) meals (Western diet high-fat, WD, and Mediterranean-type diet, MD) followed by either 30 min of moderate walking (4.6 ± 0.1 km/h) or rest. Attention, mood, satiety and plasma cortisol concentrations were measured at fasting and 1.5, 3.0, 4.5 h postprandially. Data were analyzed by linear mixed models. In all interventions, attention increased continuously in the postprandial period (time effect, P <0.001). After WD, attention was lower after walking compared to resting (meal x activity effect, P <0.05). Postprandial mood was generally “good” with no intervention effects. Postprandial satiety increased reaching maximum at 1.5 h after meal (time effect, P <0.001) and was higher after MD compared to WD (meal effect, P <0.001). In all interventions, plasma cortisol decreased similar to its diurnal variation (time effect, P <0.001). In our subjects, meal composition had no relevant impact on attention and mood. After typical WD, resting instead of walking seems to have a more beneficial effect on postprandial attention. MD leads to a strong and long-lasting feeling of satiety, possibly resulting in reduced energy intake in the further course of the day and, thus, long-term effect on weight control.