It has been established that our microbiomes
tend to be relatively stable, however, it is capable of changing as our
lifestyles do. Factors that can alter our microbiomes include diet, illness,
and certain medications/drugs. However, scientists have been studying the
capability of exercise to cause variations within the microbiome. A new study
was conducted to see if exercise would affect the functioning of microbes in
the human body. About 32 men and women were recruited, who did not exercise.
Fecal and blood samples were taken from the participants and then they began
supervised aerobic workouts for 30 minutes each day, while being asked to
maintain the same diet as before the trial. After six weeks they were tested
once again and the results showed that the participants’ microbiomes had
changed throughout the course of the experiment. Some had an increase in numbers
while others showed a decrease. In terms of the operations of the microbes’
genes, some were working harder now while others became more silent.
I never would have expected a direct correlation
between the course of exercise and a change in one’s microbiome. The more
obvious factors are the food we intake, the illnesses we carry and the drugs we
take. However, I wonder if after this topic is studied more, we can understand
why and how this happens. I also thought it was important that they kept the
diets the same for the participants. But, since not every other varying factor
was maintained and controlled there is no way of making these results
completely conclusive. Maybe some of these numbers were thrown off by one of
the participants being ill or taking new medications. The factors that could
have altered these results should have been more strictly controlled in order
to render a conclusive result.
Sunaina Sharma (3)
Source: www.nytimes.com/2018/01/03/well/move/exercise-microbiome-health-weight-gutbacteria.html?rref=collection%2Ftimestopic%2FMicrobiology.
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I am surprised by these findings! How exercise resulted in very different outcomes among these individuals. Is having a microbiome that is more "silent" a negative thing? What exactly does it mean to be silent?
ReplyDelete-- Hannah Kullberg (2)
Having a high microbiome diversity is considered good for your health. Having a silent microbiome most likely means a lack in microbiome diversity.
Delete-Sunaina Sharma (3)
This research really interested me seeing as though I would never think of exercising having such an altering effect on ones microbiome. However as you mentioned I don't really see how this experiment is very reliable, due to the many different variable and lack of controlling them for each person.
ReplyDeletePosted by Sarah Aboody (1)
I was hoping to see a more firm or strict regulation of those factors, hopefully in the future we will see similar experiments with more conclusive results.
Delete-Sunaina Sharma (3)
As you said, I also never would have thought that exercise can have such a physiological impact on our microbiome! Just curious- did the study say which specific and/or category of microorganisms were found to increase and decrease after the 6 weeks pf exercise? Nevertheless, I am also very interested in the molecular mechanism that controls this exercise-induced change in the microbiome.
ReplyDelete-Nicole Ayres (1)
The category of microorganisms was not specified in the article. I had just assumed that the measurements indicated an overall increase in the diversity of the individuals microbiome, after the experiment was ran.
Delete-Sunaina Sharma (3)