Short-term physical exercise impacts on the human holobiont obtained by a randomised intervention study

Abstract

Background Human well-being has been linked to the composition and functional capacity of the intestinal microbiota. As regular exercise is known to improve human health, it is not surprising that exercise was previously described to positively modulate the gut microbiota, too. However, most previous studies mainly focused on either elite athletes or animal models. Thus, we conducted a randomised intervention study that focused on the effects of different types of training (endurance and strength) in previously physically inactive, healthy adults in comparison to controls that did not perform regular exercise. Overall study duration was ten weeks including six weeks of intervention period. In addition to 16S rRNA gene amplicon sequencing of longitudinally sampled faecal material of participants (six time points), detailed body composition measurements and analysis of blood samples (at baseline and after the intervention) were performed to obtain overall physiological changes within the intervention period. Activity tracker devices (wrist-band wearables) provided activity status and sleeping patterns of participants as well as exercise intensity and heart measurements. Results Different biometric responses between endurance and strength activities were identified, such as a significant increase of lymphocytes and decrease of mean corpuscular haemoglobin concentration (MCHC) only within the strength intervention group. In the endurance group, we observed a significant reduction in hip circumference and an increase in physical working capacity (PWC). Though a large variation of microbiota changes were observed between individuals of the same group, we did not find specific collective alterations in the endurance nor the strength groups, arguing for microbiome variations specific to individuals, and therefore, were not captured in our analysis. Conclusions We could show that different types of exercise have distinct but moderate effects on the overall physiology of humans and very distinct microbial changes in the gut. The observed overall changes during the intervention highlight the importance of physical activity on well-being. Future studies should investigate the effect of exercise on a longer timescale, investigate different training intensities and consider high-resolution shotgun metagenomics technology. Trial registration DRKS, DRKS00015873. Registered 12 December 2018; Retrospectively registered.

Changes in the Gut Bacteria Composition of Healthy Men with the Same Nutritional Profile Undergoing 10-Week Aerobic Exercise Training: A Randomized Controlled Trial

“…Therefore, our correlations suggest that, aside from VO 2 peak, the exercise effect on gut microbiota may depend on BMI status, in concordance with Allen et al [ 24 ]. Finally, in agreement with Moitinho-Silva et al [ 67 ] who also performed a randomized exercise intervention in sedentary adults, the transition from a sedentary to an active lifestyle may lead to heterogeneous adaptations in order to regulate what could be unbalanced. Thus, the exercise effect is specific to an individual’s characteristics, genetics and lifestyle [ 49 ].…”

“…Moreover, we tested only an aerobic exercise protocol at moderate intensity. Kern et al [ 47 ], Bycura et al [ 49 ] and Moitinho-Silva et al [ 67 ] compared different exercise protocols and demonstrated that they have different effects on gut microbiota composition. Vigorous exercise and resistance training seem to promote different gut microbiota alterations due to their stimulation of metabolic pathways that differently affect the gut system, and this may be of major importance for populations, such as elderly [ 15 , 18 , 68 ].…”

Gut Microbiota, Microbial Metabolites and Human Physical Performance

“…Although the study did not find exercise effects, the adolescents with mood symptoms had lower GM betadiversity than the healthy ones. Moitinho-Silva et al [48]) did not find effects of endurance or strength training on the GM of previously inactive women and men, which the authors concluded, resulting from large interindividual variability of the GM. The training lasted for six weeks, and it was, however, effective in improving or tending to improve healthrelated markers of the study participants [48].…”

“…Moitinho-Silva et al [48]) did not find effects of endurance or strength training on the GM of previously inactive women and men, which the authors concluded, resulting from large interindividual variability of the GM. The training lasted for six weeks, and it was, however, effective in improving or tending to improve healthrelated markers of the study participants [48]. To complete the study, the authors compared the GM data of previously inactive subjects to that of elite athletes of same gender and age, and despite no differences in the measures of the GM diversity, there were some minor differences in specific genera and family.…”

“…To complete the study, the authors compared the GM data of previously inactive subjects to that of elite athletes of same gender and age, and despite no differences in the measures of the GM diversity, there were some minor differences in specific genera and family. Furthermore, as the abundance of Veillonella was previously associated with enhanced exercise performance immediately following the marathon running [35], Moitinho-Silva and co-workers quantified the amount of it by PCR, but no differences were found between the athletes and inactive participants [48]. However, these results may be confounded by the timing of fecal sampling relative to training in the athlete group.…”