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The Conversation U.S.
Athletes looking for a competitive edge may find it within their gut microbiome
By Become an author,
12 days ago
When milliseconds can mean the difference between silver and gold, endurance athletes in sports like marathon running, cycling, rowing and swimming optimize every aspect of their physiology for a competitive edge.
But there is another aspect of endurance training that may have largely been overlooked by athletes and trainers – the role of the gut microbiome in optimizing your mitochondrial health and fitness.
The gut microbiome, a hidden factory of highly collaborative microorganisms in your intestines, ensures that your metabolism, immune system and brain run smoothly. Some researchers liken it to another organ that senses nutritional inputs, manufactures signaling molecules and prepares your body to respond appropriately.
Research has shown that endurance athletes have different gut microbiomes compared with the general population. Their microbiome’s composition and function, like increased production of a short-chain fatty acid called butyrate, are associated with increased VO2 max, a fitness benchmark that measures your ability to consume oxygen during intense exercise. One organism in particular, Veillonella is found in some elite runners and may help raise lactate threshold, a fitness metric closely linked to mitochondrial function and how long an athlete is able to sustain intense effort.
Some of these metabolites – butyrate, conjugated linoleic acid and urolithin A among them – have been shown to specifically improve muscle strength and endurance. Combining exercise with diets high in fiber, polyphenols – a chemical compound from plants – and healthy fats may thus augment mitochondrial fitness and improve exercise performance.
Protein bars and sports drinks are meant to be complements to a healthy diet. ArtistGNDphotography/E+ via Getty Images
The drinks, shakes, bars and gels used for endurance sports are processed foods formulated to provide concentrated and accessible energy during intense exercise. While unhealthy in other contexts, they can be key for enhancing performance during long endurance events when your body depletes its own version of accessible carbohydrates called glycogen.
But it’s important to complement these energy supplements with a healthy diet in the recovery hours following exercise. The combination of an unhealthy baseline diet with high-intensity exercise could compromise your gut barrier and increase inflammation. This has been linked to various training-related issues including gastrointestinal upset, musculoskeletal injuries and respiratory illnesses.
Performance-enhancing microbes
Reintroducing a diet rich in foods that positively affect your microbiome — beans, nuts, seeds, whole grains, fruits and vegetables — during the recovery phase of training can help most people prevent the adverse effects of high-intensity exercise and optimize performance.
However, due to antibiotic misuse and processed diets, some people lack key microbes and metabolic machinery needed to convert fibers and polyphenols into useful molecules the body can use. This shortage may explain why some healthy foods and diets might not be beneficial or tolerated by everyone.
Foods with probiotics, such as yogurt, can be beneficial to your microbiome. annabogush/RooM via Getty Images
While the benefits of nutrition targeting your microbiome and mitochondria for general health are increasingly clear, this approach is still in the early days of exploration in endurance sports.
For the occasional exerciser and weekend warrior, whole nutrition strategies that support the microbiome and mitochondria could be quite helpful. These strategies have the potential to improve performance, protect against adverse training effects and prevent chronic health conditions like obesity, cancer and Alzheimer’s disease.
For elite athletes seeking even the smallest of improvements in an already finely tuned training regimen, further research into the gut microbiome’s influence on performance might be invaluable. In a highly competitive field where nothing can be left off the table — or in the cupboard — such interventions might just be the deciding factor between finishing on the podium or off it.
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