Q&A: Exercise ‘seems to groom’ microbiome in ways that affect overall health, well-being
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It is widely known that exercise improves cardiovascular and musculoskeletal health, but research now suggests physical activity may positively affect the composition and diversity of an individual’s gut microbiome.
“The metabolic effects of your microbiome are hugely important in determining your susceptibility to various diseases and your overall health in general,” William D. Chey, MD, AGAF, FACG, chief of the division of gastroenterology and hepatology at Michigan Medicine, told Healio. “Exercise seems to increase the diversity of your microbiome and that overall is felt to be a good thing.”
Recent data in The FASEB Journal detailed the impact of exercise and physical activity on the gut microbiome, which researchers reported was largely dependent on an individual’s BMI.
Results of a retrospective study of 350 adults, aged 40 to 65 years with normal and overweight BMI, demonstrated that physical activity of “moderate duration” — more than 150 minutes per week — increased the richness and diversity of gut microbiomes. Researchers also reported that duration of exercise was more important than intensity in improving gut microbes, and that changes in the microbiome were more beneficial in individuals with normal weight compared with those who are overweight.
Healio spoke with Chey to get a gastroenterologist’s perspective on these findings and understand the importance of exercise and physical activity on the gut and overall health.
Healio: How does exercise affect the gut microbiome?
Chey: Motility and transit time in the GI tract are different among people who are sedentary and people who exercise. For example, people who are exercising regularly go to the bathroom more each day compared with people who are sedentary. That will have an influence on what is living inside of you. Your level of activity will also have a profound effect on your energy requirements, which will have a huge impact on your microbiome.
It is one of the prevailing theories behind why people who are obese have a different microbiome compared with nonobese people. Part of it may have to do with the fact that the microbiome of obese people is more efficient at extracting energy from food as opposed to those who are not obese or lean people.
Exercise seems to groom your microbiome in a way that is more likely to produce beneficial types of short-chain fatty acids like butyrate, for example, which has been associated with a reduced risk of colon cancer or inflammatory bowel disease.
There are definitely some important consequences of exercise.
Healio: How much exercise is necessary to maintain a healthy gut?
Chey: Moderate exercise is very healthy — it has a whole host of different effects. The issues arise when you exercise very vigorously or for very long periods of time. Particularly endurance exercise can have deleterious effects on blood flow, on permeability or leakiness, and probably makes an individual a bit more susceptible to various kinds of injuries and infections in the GI tract.
I am not sure that we actually know how much exercise one needs to maintain a healthy gut, but I think there is little doubt that low- to moderate-intensity exercise is highly beneficial.
Healio: What exercise recommendations do you give your patients?
Chey: Unlike in California or New York, where a lot of people are physically fit and active, in the Midwest, a lot of times it’s about getting people to move from being sedentary to exercising on a regular basis. For a lot of the people that I take care of, this is a great time of year because I am encouraging them to get out and walk. Start with a quarter mile or a half mile and then work your way up. Walking a mile or two a day is fantastic, in addition to everything else you are doing during the course of the day.
Healio: Why does exercise affect the gut microbiome differently in an individual with normal weight compared with someone who is overweight?
Chey: Changes in the microbiome that have occurred are not a one-off thing, meaning that people have developed a certain microbiome over time. There is stability to that in many cases that may or may not be easily modifiable. It certainly makes sense that if you exercise regularly over time, that will influence your microbiome. But the fact that you see differences between obese and nonobese people just tells you that there are likely differences in the microbiome that have occurred over time that influence the response to something like exercise.
In addition to that, there are other factors — other than exercise and the microbiome —which are in play. For example, genetics and other host factors that could influence whether you are obese or not.
Healio: What other factors contribute to the gut microbiome?
Chey: The two most obvious external influences that play a big role in shaping your microbiome are exercise and arguably, even more important, diet. Cognitive emotional function is also really important. There are many more, like infection, medications and whether you have an underlying disease, but those three factors probably are the most important and most modifiable: exercise, diet and cognitive emotional function.
References:
- How fit is your gut microbiome? https://ucalgary.ca/news/how-fit-your-gut-microbiome. Published March 22, 2023. Accessed April 3, 2023.
- Shah S, et al. FAESEB J. 2023;doi:10.1096/fj.202201571R.
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