Exercise is more effective than diet in helping women eat less because it curbs their appetite better, a new study finds.

A UK research team performed a pair of studies designed to identify whether women's appetite responses differ to men's. In the first study, calorie intake was restricted through diet or exercise (a moderate intensity 90 minute treadmill run), and appetite responses were measured over a nine-hour period. The second study directly compared appetite perception, appetite hormone and food intake responses to exercise in men and women.

The researchers found that, when they restricted the calorie consumption of the women, their levels of the hunger hormone ghrelin increased and their levels of the hunger suppressing hormone peptide YY was reduced. In addition, the women also ate almost a third more at a buffet meal compared with another occasion when the same energy deficit was created via exercise (participants ate an average 944 calories following food restriction compared to 660 calories after exercise).

These findings contradict previous studies that suggest exercise makes people -- particularly women -- eat more. It also found the exercise response of the hormones governing hunger and fullness is same for both men and women, the researchers said of their study, which appears in Medicine & Science in Sports and Exercise.