Forget performance enhancing drugs. Get better the natural way with performance-enhancing bugs. More and more research has been coming out lately about the human microbiome, and specifically the organisms that populate the human gut. Recent studies have shown that the composition of a person’s microbiome can have a major affect on a person’s brain, their mood, and even whether they are likely to become obese.

Now we can add a person’s tolerance for intensive exercise to the characteristics that may be affected by the microbes that live in that person’s large intestine.A paper that recently appeared in the journal Nature Medicine, titled “Meta-omics analysis of elite athletes identifies a performance-enhancing microbe that functions via lactate metabolism” makes the case for just such a performance-enhancing bug. The researchers took fecal samples from 15 elite competitors in the 2015 Boston Marathon both before and after the race, as well as from 10 sedentary controls. The samples were analyzed to see which species of bacteria were populating the guts of the runners, and how those species differed from the bacteria populating the guts of the non-runners. The results were interesting.

In the samples taken before the race, the intestines of the runners had a higher concentration of bacteria of the species veillonella atypica than did the non-runners. After the race, the concentration of veillonella atypica in the runners spiked to an even higher value. What was interesting about this organism is the fact that it metabolizes lactate into propionate. Lactate, or lactic acid is a substance that builds up in the body in response to intensive exercise. It has been thought that the buildup of lactate causes fatigue, preventing athletes from continuing to compete at a high level.

To test whether lactate buildup was causing a reduction in performance, experiments were conducted with mice. They took veillonella atypica from the athletes and gave it to the experimental mice. They gave a different bacterium to the control mice. The result was that the mice that were given veillonella atypica were able to exercise 13% longer than the control mice. This left the question of whether the increase in performance was due to the consumption of the lactate by the bacteria or by the production of propionate. To answer this question, another experiment was conducted where experimental mice were given an injection of propionate and the control mice were not. The experimental mice enjoyed the same increase in performance that the mice in the earlier experiment has shown with the introduction of veillonella atypica.

What message can an athlete take away from this? Perhaps taking a probiotic containing veillonella atypica before a race will improve performance. Alternatively, taking a propionate supplement may do the same job. As researchers in just about any field invariably say, “More study is needed.”

Bio:

Allen G. Taylor is a 30-year veteran of the computer industry and the author of over 30 books, including Develop Microsoft HoloLens Apps Now, Get Fit with Apple Watch, Cruise for Free, SQL For Dummies, 8th Edition, Crystal Reports 2008 For Dummies, Database Development For Dummies, Access Power Programming with VBA, and SQL All-In-One For Dummies, Second Edition. He lectures internationally on astronomy, databases, innovation, and entrepreneurship. He also teaches database development and Crystal Reports through a leading online education provider. For the latest news on Allen’s activities, check out his blog at www.allengtaylor.com or contact him at allen.taylor@ieee.org.