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Objective: The gut microbiota plays a critical role in regulating human health and athletic performance. Probiotic supplementation has been shown to modulate gut microbiota composition and improve exercise performance. This study aimed to investigate the effect of probiotic yogurt supplementation on gut microbiota and its relationship with exercise-related psychological fatigue in female taekwondo athletes. Methods: Twenty female taekwondo athletes were randomly assigned to either a dietary intervention group (DK) or a control group (CK). The athletes’ exercise-related psychological fatigue was measured using the Athlete Burnout Questionnaire (ABQ) before and after an 8-week intervention. High-throughput sequencing was used to profile the gut microbiota, and functional prediction of the microbial community was performed. The effect of the dietary intervention on the athletes’ exercise-related psychological fatigue clearance rate and its relationship with the gut microbiota were explored. Results: (1) The probiotic supplementation of Bifidobacterium animalis ssp. lactis BB-12 for 8 weeks significantly increased the ABQ scores of the DK group compared to the CK group (p < 0.05). (2) The abundances of Bifidobacterium, Bacteroides, Lachnospiraceae, family _Lactobacillaceae, and genus _Lactobacillus were significantly higher in the DK group than in the CK group after probiotic supplementation, while Escherichia coli was significantly lower in the DK group than in the CK group. (3) The ABQa scores were positively correlated with Proteus; ABQb scores were positively correlated with Streptococcus and Enterococcus; and ABQc scores were positively correlated with Klebsiella, Bacteroides, and Streptomyces. (4) The DK group had significantly higher levels of L-arginine biosynthesis I (via L-ornithine), fatty acid biosynthesis and oxidation, and L-isoleucine biosynthesis III pathways compared to the CK group. Tyrosine degradation I (via 2,3-dihydroxyphenylpropionate) was significantly lower in the DK group than in the CK group. Conclusions: Probiotic yogurt supplementation of Bifidobacterium animalis ssp. lactis can promote the clearance of exercise-related psychological fatigue in female taekwondo athletes by upregulating beneficial gut microbiota, inhibiting harmful gut microbiota, and regulating relevant metabolic pathways.

Background: Vitamin A deficiency (VAD) and sleep disturbances have been reported in children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD). The influence of vitamin A (VA) on sleep regulation and sleep disturbances in ASD has garnered increased attention. This study aims to characterize the effect of VA levels and sleep disturbances on children with ASD.Methods: This cross-sectional study compared children with ASD (n=856) to typically developing children (TDC; n=316). The Children’s Sleep Habits Questionnaire assessed sleep disturbances, Childhood Autism Rating Scale evaluated the severity of autism symptoms, and Autism Behavior Checklist and Social Responsiveness Scale assessed autism behaviors. VA levels in blood samples were measured using high-performance liquid chromatography. Multivariable linear regression and two-way ANOVAs were performed to investigate the effect of VAD and sleep disturbances in children with ASD.Results: Children with ASD had lower serum VA levels and a higher prevalence of sleep disturbances than TDC. VAD and sleep disturbances in children with ASD corresponded to the severity of autism symptoms. Importantly, VA levels were negatively correlated with sleep disturbances among children with ASD, and the interaction of VAD and sleep disturbances were related to the severity of autism symptoms.Conclusion: VAD and sleep disturbances exacerbated autism symptoms in children with ASD, providing a novel target for treatment.Trial registration: Chinese Clinical Trial Registry, registration number: ChiCTR-ROC-14005442

Background Accumulated evidence have supported metabolic disturbance may be associated with the pathogenesis of autism spectrum disorders (ASD). Despite abnormalities of some shared metabolic pathways, specific differential compounds are inconsistent in studies, which made a challenge to elucidate the role of metabolism in the mechanism of ASD. Besides, few researches have assessed the correlation between gut metabolites with symptoms of ASD. Objectives The present study aimed to evaluate the gut metabolomic profiles of children with ASD and to analyze potential interaction between gut metabolites with symptoms and neurodevelopment of ASD children. Methods In this cross-sectional case-control study, 120 aged 2–6 years ASD children and 60 sex and age matched typically developing (TD) children were included. Autistic symptoms were assessed with the Autism Behavior Checklist (ABC), Childhood Autism Rating Scale (CARS), and the Social Responsiveness Scale (SRS). Neurodevelopment was assessed with the Gesell Developmental Scale (GDS). Fecal samples were analyzed by untargeted liquid chromatography-mass spectrometry (LC-MS) methods, then systematic bioinformatic analyses were performed to characterize the gut metabolomic profiles of ASD and TD children. The correlations between metabolites and clinical assessment scores were assessed using Spearman correlation. Results ASD children exhibit gut metabolism perturbation compared with TD children. A total of 96 differential metabolites between the ASD and TD groups were identified, with 35 increased and 61 decreased in ASD group. The metabolic disturbance of ASD involved in multiple vitamins and amino acids metabolism pathways, with the strongest enrichment identified for tryptophan metabolism, retinol metabolism, cysteine and methionine metabolism, and vitamin digestion and absorption. The imbalanced gut metabolites are significantly correlated to symptoms and neurodevelopment of ASD children. Limitations This cross-sectional study revealed a correlation, but do not allow to prove causation of symptoms and gut metabolites outcome. The disease specificity of the metabolomic disturbance need to be evaluated in future studies.Conclusions ASD children have altered gut metabolite profiles compared with TD children, which mainly involved in multiple vitamins and amino acids metabolism pathways. Notably, vitamins metabolism abnormalities may play roles in the disturbance of amino acids metabolism. Imbalanced gut metabolites are related to symptoms and neurodevelopment of ASD children. Our findings provided an improved understanding of perturbations of metabolome networks in ASD.