Aerobic exercise training and gut microbiome-associated metabolic shifts in women with overweight: a multi-omic study

Abstract

Physical activity is essential in weight management, improves overall health, and mitigates obesity-related risk markers. Besides inducing changes in systemic metabolism, habitual exercise may improve gut’s microbial diversity and increase the abundance of beneficial taxa in a correlated fashion. Since there is a lack of integrative omics studies on exercise and overweight populations, we studied the metabolomes and gut microbiota associated with programmed exercise in obese individuals. We measured the serum and fecal metabolites of 17 adult women with overweight during a 6-week endurance exercise program. Further, we integrated the exercise-responsive metabolites with variations in the gut microbiome and cardiorespiratory parameters. We found clear correlation with several serum and fecal metabolites, and metabolic pathways, during the exercise period in comparison to the control period, indicating increased lipid oxidation and oxidative stress. Especially, exercise caused co-occurring increase in levels of serum lyso-phosphatidylcholine moieties and fecal glycerophosphocholine. This signature was associated with several microbial metagenome pathways and the abundance of Akkermansia. The study demonstrates that, in the absence of body composition changes, aerobic exercise can induce metabolic shifts that provide substrates for beneficial gut microbiota in overweight individuals.

Phenyllactic Acid is Physiologically Released from Skeletal Muscle and Contributes to the Beneficial Effects of Physical Exercise in Humans

“…We did not investigate the mechanism underlying the training-induced increase in aromatic lactic acids. However, increases in faecal concentrations have previously been reported for PLA [47], ILA and HPLA [48] in subjects with obesity participating in endurance exercise interventions. This points towards a contribution of the gut microbiome, which is well-known to be affected by physical exercise [47, 49, 50].…”

“…However, increases in faecal concentrations have previously been reported for PLA [47], ILA and HPLA [48] in subjects with obesity participating in endurance exercise interventions. This points towards a contribution of the gut microbiome, which is well-known to be affected by physical exercise [47, 49, 50]. Interestingly, a recent study found that serum ILA and HPLA were increased in both lean and obese subjects following an exercise intervention, whereas faecal levels were increased in the obese cohort only [48].…”

The potential of short-chain fatty acid epigenetic regulation in chronic low-grade inflammation and obesity

“…Various studies present the benefits of exercise on metabolic health via an increase of SCFA-producing bacteria ( 137 – 140 ). A study comparing the effect of exercise in lean and obese individuals, however, did not show a significant shift in microbial metabolism for the latter ( 139 ).…”

Effect of aerobic exercise and particulate matter exposure duration on the diversity of gut microbiota

“…The connection between the gut microbiome and exercise carries substantial implications for athletes, and potential mechanisms are discussed here (Wegierska et al 2022 ). Recent research conducted on overweight women unveiled the potential of aerobic exercise to induce metabolic shifts that provide substrates for beneficial gut microbiota, such as Akkermansia (Hintikka et al 2023 ). Additionally, a recent systematic review concluded that moderate-to high-intensity exercise (30–90 min) performed at least three times per week for more than 8 weeks can effectively alter the gut microbiota in both clinical and healthy individuals (Boytar et al 2023 ).…”