# Using Metabolomics to Define the Behavioral Phenomics of Energy Balance and Exercise Response

> **NIH NIH R01** · UNIVERSITY OF TEXAS AT AUSTIN · 2020 · $656,626

## Abstract

ABSTRACT
Current treatments for obesity have been largely unsuccessful in maintaining long-term weight loss,
demonstrating the tremendous need for new insight into mechanisms that may stably alter body mass and
composition. There is significant heterogeneity in response to intervention/prevention programs designed to
reduce the risk and occurrence of obesity, suggesting that some individuals may be responsive to a given
intervention while others are not. In this project, we will integrate dietary, psychosocial/behavioral, exercise
performance, and metabolomics data, within the context of a well-controlled exercise intervention, to characterize
the behavioral phenomics of energy balance (BPEB). BPEB is a high dimensional representation of the complex
interplay between behavioral components of energy balance characterized at multiple levels, from dietary intake
to exercise and physical activity to the psychosocial drivers of both behaviors. In addition, we will determine how
exercise training influences change in BPEB, and we will use high density genotype and metabolomic data to
derive the genetic and metabolic pathways that interact with BPEB to regulate and influence changes in body
mass/composition following a high intensity aerobic exercise intervention. In this proposal, we will leverage the
existing resources of the Training Interventions and Genetics of Exercise Response (TIGER) Study and the UK
Biobank. The TIGER Study is one of the largest studies of the genetics of exercise response in which participants
have undergone a rigorous and empirically-documented aerobic exercise training protocol. The TIGER Study
cohort consists of 3,665 participants from multiple racial/ethnic groups, with an average BMI of 26.26.3 kg/m2 .
A comprehensive battery of behavioral data, phenotypes, genotypes, and stored samples (DNA, RNA, and
plasma) are available to this proposed study, and more than 120,000 recorded exercise sessions with
documented duration, intensity, and mode have been recorded in the TIGER Study. Participants also reported
psychological parameters related to eating behavior and physical activity. Importantly, a substantial proportion
of TIGER participants experienced significant weight loss throughout the course of the study, despite the fact
that TIGER was not a weight loss trial, providing a unique opportunity to study spontaneous changes in dietary
and psychosocial factors in the context of exercise. We will use the resources of the UK Biobank, which has
more than 500,000 participants and a complementary array of phenotype and behavior data, for validation of our
findings. Our goal is to reveal new pathways that regulate, influence, and/or interact with diet and exercise
behavior to ultimately determine body mass and adiposity.

## Key facts

- **NIH application ID:** 10019523
- **Project number:** 5R01DK119836-02
- **Recipient organization:** UNIVERSITY OF TEXAS AT AUSTIN
- **Principal Investigator:** Molly Bray
- **Activity code:** R01 (R01, R21, SBIR, etc.)
- **Funding institute:** NIH
- **Fiscal year:** 2020
- **Award amount:** $656,626
- **Award type:** 5
- **Project period:** 2019-09-18 → 2022-05-31

## Primary source

NIH RePORTER: https://reporter.nih.gov/project-details/10019523

## Citation

> US National Institutes of Health, RePORTER application 10019523, Using Metabolomics to Define the Behavioral Phenomics of Energy Balance and Exercise Response (5R01DK119836-02). Retrieved via AI Analytics 2026-05-26 from https://api.ai-analytics.org/grant/nih/10019523. Licensed CC0.

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