Treadmill exercise suppressed leptin gene expression in animals fed a HF diet for 4 weeks, resulting in mRNA expression similar to the LF groups (P > 0.05) and remained lower than HF‐SED at 8 weeks (P < 0.05, Fig. 3F) but differences between HF‐groups were no longer evident after 12 weeks. This evidence concerns the gene LEP and hydrops fetalis.