Exercise may boost gut bacteria, making you healthier

All that running might be helping you not only stay fit, but better digest food and keep healthy.

A new paper, published in the British Medical Journal, looked at the difference in diversity of bacteria in the gut of professional athletes and other healthy individuals. The researchers found that exercise and diet high in protein promotes a more diverse number bacteria, which is important for metabolism and a healthy immune system.

In other research, less diverse profile of gut bacteria have been linked with obesity, but researchers wanted to know if being active and exercising had any impact on how diverse the bacteria in someone’s gut was. Over a four-week period, the team analyzed blood and stool samples from a 40-man team of professional rugby players and 46 other healthy men who were comparable in size but not professional athletes. They also took food surveys to find differences in diet and asked about their levels of physical activity.

The rugby players had a greater diversity of gut microbiota and lower inflammatory markers, despite exercising much more often. The athletes also ate more meat as a percentage of their diet and they ate more fruits and vegetables. The rugby players filled less of their diet with snack foods.

The researchers admit that the relationship between gut bacteria, immune system health and overall exercise is still far from completely understood, but their paper adds to a growing body of work that suggests more exercise can lead to a healthier immune and digestive system.

“Exercise seems to be another important factor in the relationship between the microbiota, host immunity and host metabolism, with diet playing an important role,” write the authors.