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. 2022 Apr 7;12(4):335.
doi: 10.3390/metabo12040335.

Gut Microbiota and Serum Metabolome in Elite Cross-Country Skiers: A Controlled Study

Jukka E Hintikka  1 , Eveliina Munukka  2 , Maarit Valtonen  3 , Raakel Luoto  4 , Johanna K Ihalainen  1 , Teemu Kallonen  5 , Matti Waris  6 , Olli J Heinonen  7 , Olli Ruuskanen  4 , Satu Pekkala  1
Affiliations

Gut Microbiota and Serum Metabolome in Elite Cross-Country Skiers: A Controlled Study

Jukka E Hintikka et al. Metabolites. .

Abstract

Exercise has been shown to affect gut the microbiome and metabolic health, with athletes typically displaying a higher microbial diversity. However, research on the gut microbiota and systemic metabolism in elite athletes remains scarce. In this study, we compared the gut microbiota profiles and serum metabolome of national team cross-country skiers at the end of an exhausting training and competitive season to those of normally physically-active controls. The gut microbiota were analyzed using 16S rRNA amplicon sequencing. Serum metabolites were analyzed using nuclear magnetic resonance. Phylogenetic diversity and the abundance of several mucin-degrading gut microbial taxa, including Akkermansia, were lower in the athletes. The athletes had a healthier serum lipid profile than the controls, which was only partly explained by body mass index. Butyricicoccus associated positively with HDL cholesterol, HDL2 cholesterol and HDL particle size. The Ruminococcus torques group was less abundant in the athlete group and positively associated with total cholesterol and VLDL and LDL particles. We found the healthier lipid profile of elite athletes to co-occur with known health-beneficial gut microbes. Further studies should elucidate these links and whether athletes are prone to mucin depletion related microbial changes during the competitive season.

Keywords: athletes; exercise; lipids; metabolomics; microbiology; winter games.

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Conflict of interest statement

E.M. is currently working as full-time Medical Advisor for Biocodex Nordics. The other authors declare no conflict of interest.

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
The diversity of the gut microbiota in the athletes (n = 27) and controls (n = 27). (A) Chao1, a measure of alpha-diversity indicating species richness. (B) Shannon index, a measure of alpha-diversity indicating species diversity. (C) Phylogenetic diversity. (D) Principal coordination (PCo) plot of beta-diversity analyzed by Bray–Curtis distance.
Figure 2
Figure 2
The average gut microbiota composition in the athletes (n = 27) and controls (n = 27) at phylum, family, and genus level.
Figure 3
Figure 3
(A) The differential genus level abundances of the gut microbiota in the athletes (n = 18) and controls (n = 24). ANOVA-like comparison p values * < 0.05. (B) Cladogram from the LEfSe-analysis. The gut microbiota taxa that are highlighted were found to be enriched in the control group.
Figure 4
Figure 4
(A) The principal component (PC) analysis plot of all metabolites shows that most of the variance was explained by other factors than group. (B) The volcano plot indicates that the group differences were less than 2-fold for all metabolites. (C) The partial least squares-discriminant analysis plot and (D) receiver operand characteristics curve for random forest show that the classification task reached moderate accuracy.
Figure 5
Figure 5
Boxplots of HDL cholesterol and related metabolites. Kruskal–Wallis p value: * < 0.05, ** < 0.01.
Figure 6
Figure 6
HDL particle concentrations and contents. (A) Total particle concentrations and (B) absolute lipid concentrations in the particles. Athletes had more large to very large HDL particles and consequently more lipids contained within them. (C) Relative proportions of lipids: the outer donut chart represents the athletes, and the inner represents controls. The athletes had a smaller phospholipid/cholesterol ratio in the large particles than the controls did. Kruskal–Wallis p value: * < 0.05, ** < 0.01.
Figure 7
Figure 7
Boxplots of ketone bodies, glycerol, and pyruvate. Kruskal–Wallis p value: * < 0.05, ** < 0.01.
Figure 8
Figure 8
Heatmap of Spearman correlation coefficients between the serum metabolites and gut microbial genera. Spearman p value * < 0.05 ** < 0.01.
Figure 9
Figure 9
Heatmap of Spearman correlation coefficients between the serum metabolites and gut microbial families. Spearman p value * < 0.05 ** < 0.01.
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