Your Microbiome on Exercise

Exercise is a novel promoter of intestinal health and microbial diversity

Campbell and Wisniewski, (2017) investigate the effect of exercise on the microbiome residing within the gut. The authors postulate that exercise increases the production of healthy microbiota that promotes protective anti-inflammatory effects while concurrently reducing the pathogenic bacteria that stimulate pro-inflammatory effects.

The authors describe the pathophysiology of the gut microbiome, which provides 70% of our innate immunity living within our large intestine (Campbell & Wisniewski, 2017). It is also interesting to note that one-third of our microbiome is shared among all humans, leaving the other two thirds open to our individual lifestyle habits (Qin, Li, Raes, et al. 2017). Habits that influence our microbiome include nutrition, stress, antibiotic use, genetics, ethnicity, epigenetics, and our physical activity (or lack of) (Codella, Luzi, & Terruzzi, 2018).

The research identifying the causative role of exercise and its effects on intestinal health and the microbiome is still in its infancy (Codella, 2018). Science can determine, mostly through murine studies the effects of moderate exercise and its protective and preventative role on modulating important immune protective proteins that mitigate an inflammatory cascade but they cannot identify the mechanism by which the microbiota impose their effects related to exercise. My supposition is that the synergistic effects of the microbiome and the immune system are too complex and intertwined to be successfully isolated.

References

Campbell, S. C., & Wisniewski, P. J. (2017). Exercise is a novel promoter of intestinal health and microbial diversity. Exercise and Sport Sciences Reviews, 45(1), 41-47. https://doi.org/10.1249/JES.0000000000000096 (Links to an external site.)Links to an external site.

Codella R., Luzi L., Terruzzi I. (2018). Exercise has the guts: How physical activity may positively modulate gut microbiota in chronic and immune-based diseases, Digestive and Liver Disease, 50(4) pp. 331-341.

F.W. Booth, C.K. Roberts, M.J. Laye (2012). Lack of exercise is a major cause of chronic diseases, Compromised Physiology, 2 (2012), pp. 1143-1211, 10.1002/cphy.c110025 (Links to an external site.)Links to an external site.

Hamasaki J. (2017). Exercise and gut microbiota: clinical implications for the feasibility of Tai Chi, Journal of Integrative Medicine,15, pp. 270-281, 10.1016/S2095-4964(17)60342-X (Links to an external site.)Links to an external site.

Larraufie, P., Martin-Gallausiaux, C., Lapaque, N., Dore, J., Gribble, F. M., Reimann, F., & Blottiere, H. M. (2018). SCFAs strongly stimulate PYY production in human enteroendocrine cells. Scientific reports, 8(1), 74. doi:10.1038/s41598-017-18259-0

Qin J, Li R, Raes J, et al. A human gut microbial gene catalogue established by metagenomic sequencing. Nature. 2010; 464(7285):59–65.

Qin, R. Li, J. Raes, M. Arumugam, K.S.Burgdorf, C. Manichanh, (2010). A human gut microbial gene catalogue established by metagenomic sequencing, Nature, 464 (2010), pp. 59-65, 10.1038/nature08821 (Links to an external site.)Links to an external site.