The diversity of microbes in the gut could affect a person鈥檚 fitness and their biological age. Better understanding this may one day lead to probiotics that alter the gut鈥檚 microbial make-up to promote health.
at the Hungarian University of Sports Science and his colleagues studied 80 amateur rowers, aged 38 to 84, who participated in the 2019 World Rowing Masters Regatta in Velence, Hungary.
The rowers, whose training regimens ranged from practising every day to once a week, each provided a stool sample to identify the bacteria in their guts. The researchers also took blood samples to gauge the participants鈥� biological ages 鈥� a measure based on DNA markers, rather than the number of years someone has been alive.
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To assess fitness, the rowers took part in various tests, for example one that measured their hand grip strength and another that calculated their maximum oxygen uptake, a measure of cardiovascular fitness.
The researchers found that having higher levels of gut microbiome diversity was linked to lower levels of fitness and an accelerated rate of biological ageing. This somewhat goes against previous research that .
鈥淚f all the bacteria were beneficial, then OK, it鈥檚 very simple to say, 鈥榯he more diversity, the better鈥�,鈥� says Radak. 鈥淏ut with different kinds of infections, the diversity of the pathogens also increases. There are a number of bacteria whose function is still poorly understood.鈥�
When analysing the specific bacteria that made up the rowers鈥� microbiomes, the researchers found that higher levels of anti-inflammatory bacteria were associated with increased markers of fitness and a reduced rate of biological ageing, while inflammatory bacteria were linked to an acceleration of this ageing and, in some cases, a worse performance on fitness tests.
The study was observational and therefore doesn鈥檛 show that the gut microbiome directly affects a person鈥檚 fitness or biological age. People with a higher level of fitness may also choose to eat a healthy diet, which then influences their gut microbiome. The researchers have recently finished a six-month study where people鈥檚 gut microbiomes were changed via probiotics to measure if it directly affected their biological age, says Radak. The results of this study haven鈥檛 yet been analysed.
When comparing the rowers according to their sex 鈥� 35 of the rowers were male and 45 were female, and there were no transgender participants 鈥� the researchers found that higher levels of Actinobacteria and Proteobacteria species were linked to an acceleration of biological ageing among the male participants, while more Bacteroidetes species was associated with this for the female participants.
Better understanding the role of the gut microbiome in fitness and ageing could lead to people taking probiotics that change their bacteria levels to delay the biological ageing process, says Radak.
at the University of Malta says that the study recorded just a snapshot of the participants鈥� stools, blood samples and fitness. Future research that follows people over an extended period of time would shed more light on the relationship between the gut microbiome, biological ageing and fitness, he says.
medRxiv
