Table 2.

Effects of physical exercise on brain metabolism in humans

Subjects/age (years)/cognition	Intervention groups	Exercise protocol	Main Effects of glucose /lipid/Aβ/iron/tau metabolism in the brain	Reference
23 adults with a family history of AD/45–80/cognitively normal	Control group: Usual PA group Intervention group: Enhanced PA group	26-week chronic treadmill walking/ 3 times a week/moderate intensity	VO2 peak increased; executive function improvement; enhanced glucose metabolism.	[33]
15 (younger) and 12 (older) adults/18–30, 65–80/cognitively normal	Control group: sedentary group Intervention group: HIIT group	12-week regular HIIT combined with treadmill walking/5 days a week/high intensity	VO2 peak increased; increased glucose intake.	[34]
4 male and 6 female AD dementia patients/ average age 73/mild dementia	Control group: sedentary control group Intervention group: Walking group	3-month aerobic treadmill training/3 days a week/moderate intensity	Increased uptake and utilisation of ketones; maintained glucose uptake; improved cognition and energy metabolism	[71]
16 male and 17 female AD dementia patients/ average age 70/amnestic MCI	Control group: stretching control group Intervention group: high-intensity aerobic exercise group	6-month chronic treadmill walking/45–60 min each day, 4 days a week/high intensity	Executive function improvement; increased glucose disposal	[169]

VO₂ peak: peak oxygen consumption; HIIT: high-intensity interval training