Thu Thuy

Exercise is held up as one of the most important aspects of a healthy lifestyle. It burns calories, chua benh noi me day it is good for your heart and it can make you happier. Its benefits do not end there, though; new research has found that exercise also boosts the diversity of bacteria found in the gut, which can have positive long-term health implications.

The gastrointestinal (GI) tract - the stomach and intestines - is home to a complex community of bacteria referred to as the gut microbiota.

The gut microbiota contributes to the metabolism and the development of the immune system, and previous research has linked changes in its composition with conditions such as diabetes, GI diseases and obesity.

Reduced variation in microbiota has been associated with these health problems, while increased diversity has been linked to a favorable metabolic profile and immune system response.

Diet has already been found to be key in influencing the gut microbiota. Other areas of modern lifestyle have also been found to affect the microbiota population, but the degree to which these do is not clear.

The study, carried out by a team of researchers based in Ireland and published in Gut, is the first to specifically examine the link between exercise and its impact on gut microbiota.

As extremes of exercise are often associated with extremes of diet, noi me day the researchers focused their study on a group of athletes. They analyzed fecal and blood samples from 40 professional rugby players during their preseason training program in order to assess the range of their gut microbiota.

Two control groups were also assessed; one group matched with the athletes by size with a comparable body mass index (BMI), and one group matched by age but with lower BMI scores.

Each participant in the study completed a food frequency questionnaire and answered questions about their normal levels of physical activity. The questionnaire detailed how much and how often they had eaten different food items over the preceding 4 weeks.
Exercise found to boost gut microbiota diversity

The results found that the athletes had a significantly wider range of gut microbiota than the men in the comparison groups, and in particular the control group containing men with a high