- The adult gut contains around 100 trillion microorganisms, comprising bacteria, archaea, viruses, protozoans, and microfungi.
- Intense or prolonged exercise can harm intestinal microbiota, potentially leading to dysbiosis, which may impair athletes' immune response and overall health.
- Gut microbiome influences metabolism within skeletal muscle that are vital to athletic performance:
- Number of benefits associated with short chain fatty acids (SCFAs) about skeletal muscle, including increased carbohydrate uptake, lipid metabolism and fatty acid oxidation.
- The protein metabolism within the gut microbiota enhances the supply of amino acids and production of SCFAs which have been observed to beneficially impact lean muscle mass.
- The gut microbiome has the potential to affect energy metabolism by engaging specific pathways in response to nutrients (mTOR and AMPK) including ketogenesis, muscle catabolism/anabolism, and lipogenesis.
- Practical recommendations for optimizing gut microbiota of performance development in athletes:
- Training routine should align with the physical and psychological capacity of the athlete.
- Stool samples taken with performance analysis.
- Probiotics supplementation should carry on for up to three months, if positive effects fail to materialize, supplementation can be broken off.
- Athletes should include a variety of fiber-rich foods daily.
- Fermented foods should be consumed daily with a balanced diet.
Reference:
- CNolte, S., Krüger, K., Lenz, C., & Zentgraf, K. (2023). Optimizing the gut microbiota for individualized performance development in Elite Athletes. Biology, 12(12), 1491. https://doi.org/10.3390/biology12121491
- O’Brien, M. T., O’Sullivan, O., Claesson, M. J., & Cotter, P. D. (2022). The Athlete Gut Microbiome and its relevance to health and performance: A Review. Sports Medicine, 52(S1), 119–128. https://doi.org/10.1007/s40279-022-01785-x
- Wegierska, A. E., Charitos, I. A., Topi, S., Potenza, M. A., Montagnani, M., & Santacroce, L. (2022). The connection between physical exercise and gut microbiota: Implications for competitive sports athletes. Sports Medicine, 52(10), 2355–2369. https://doi.org/10.1007/s40279-022-01696-x.
