Relationships between physical activity, healthy eating and cortical thickness in children and young adults

Brendan C Angelo; Alexis DeFendis; Anita Yau; Jasmin M Alves; Paul M Thompson; Anny H Xiang; Kathleen A Page; Shan Luo

doi:10.1007/s11682-022-00728-4

Relationships between physical activity, healthy eating and cortical thickness in children and young adults

Brain Imaging Behav. 2022 Dec;16(6):2690-2704. doi: 10.1007/s11682-022-00728-4. Epub 2022 Nov 2.

Authors

Brendan C Angelo^{1

2}, Alexis DeFendis^{1

2}, Anita Yau³, Jasmin M Alves^{1

2}, Paul M Thompson^{4

5}, Anny H Xiang⁶, Kathleen A Page^{1

2

7

5}, Shan Luo^{8

9

10

11

12

13

14}

Affiliations

¹ Diabetes and Obesity Research Institute, University of Southern California, Los Angeles, CA, USA.
² Division of Endocrinology, Keck School of Medicine, University of Southern California, Los Angeles, CA, USA.
³ Department of Population and Public Health, Keck School of Medicine, University of Southern California, Los Angeles, CA, USA.
⁴ Imaging Genetics Center, Mark and Mary Stevens Neuroimaging and Informatics Institute, Keck School of Medicine, University of Southern California, Los Angeles, CA, USA.
⁵ Neuroscience Graduate Program, University of Southern California, Los Angeles, CA, USA.
⁶ Department of Research and Evaluation, Kaiser Permanente Southern California, Pasadena, CA, USA.
⁷ Keck School of Medicine, University of Southern California, Los Angeles, CA, USA.
⁸ Diabetes and Obesity Research Institute, University of Southern California, Los Angeles, CA, USA. shanluo@usc.edu.
⁹ Division of Endocrinology, Keck School of Medicine, University of Southern California, Los Angeles, CA, USA. shanluo@usc.edu.
¹⁰ Center for Endocrinology, Diabetes and Metabolism, Children's Hospital Los Angeles, Los Angeles, CA, USA. shanluo@usc.edu.
¹¹ Department of Psychology, University of Southern California, Los Angeles, CA, USA. shanluo@usc.edu.
¹² Imaging Genetics Center, Mark and Mary Stevens Neuroimaging and Informatics Institute, Keck School of Medicine, University of Southern California, Los Angeles, CA, USA. shanluo@usc.edu.
¹³ Keck School of Medicine, University of Southern California, Los Angeles, CA, USA. shanluo@usc.edu.
¹⁴ Psychology and Pediatrics, Department of Medicine, Keck School of Medicine, Diabetes and Obesity Research Institute, 2250 Alcazar Street; CSC 215, 90089, Los Angeles, CA, USA. shanluo@usc.edu.

PMID: 36319908
DOI: 10.1007/s11682-022-00728-4

Abstract

Prior neuroimaging studies have shown associations between healthy lifestyle factors and cortical thickness; however, results on the direction of this association have been inconsistent. While the majority of studies were performed in older adults within specific weight status categories, little has been reported in younger populations with a range of adiposity, including groups with healthy-weight, overweight, and obesity. Here we investigated relationships between indices of physical activity (PA) and healthy eating with cortical thickness in children and youth/young adults and examined whether these relationships differed by weight status and age groups. Study participants included 119 youth/young adults and 159 children. We hypothesized that greater levels of PA and/or healthy eating index (HEI) composite scores would be positively associated with cortical thickness, and that this association would differ in overweight or obese groups versus normal weight groups, as well as youth/young adults vs. child cohorts. Overall PA (minutes/day) was assessed using 24-hour PA recalls. HEI was calculated to assess diet quality. A structural MRI was performed, and FreeSurfer 6.0 was used to assess cortical thickness in 68 regions of interest (ROI). Mixed effects modeling was performed to investigate associations of PA or HEI with cortical thickness. FDR corrections were applied for multiple ROIs. PA was positively associated with cortical thickness in the caudal middle frontal cortex (FDR adjusted p = 0.042) and cuneus cortex (FDR adjusted p = 0.017) after controlling for sex, age group, and weight status. When stratified by age, in youth/young adults, higher time spent in PA was associated with greater cortical thickness in the frontal, temporal, parietal and occipital cortex, after adjusting for sex and weight group (FDR adjusted ps < 0.05). No significant associations between PA and cortical thickness were observed in children. No significant associations between PA and cortical thickness were observed when stratified by weight group. No significant associations between HEI and cortical thickness were observed. These results indicate that higher time spent in PA is associated with greater cortical thickness, a relationship that appears to be stronger during youth/young adulthood and may be related to more favorable brain health outcomes.

Keywords: Age; Brain; Healthy eating; Physical activity; Weight status.

MeSH terms

Adolescent
Adult
Aged
Child
Diet
Diet, Healthy*
Exercise
Humans
Magnetic Resonance Imaging
Obesity
Overweight*
Young Adult

Abstract

MeSH terms

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