Gut health in sport

Sport is healthy and fun!

For many of us it is not just a hobby, but an essential part of lives. As an ambitious hobby athlete, you dedicate almost all of your free time to sport and have specific goals. Training plans make a lot of sense when achieving these goals and bring structure to building performance. But what about other important influencing factors, such as nutrition, regeneration and your general health?

This is exactly what we focus on in our work, because only a fit, well-rested athlete who stays healthy in the long term will achieve his goals.

We have been working on the topic of gut health for many years and for some time now we have been focusing intensively on gut health in sport. After all, sport is healthy and has a positive influence on our gut. But why is it that food intolerances, allergies, frequent susceptibility to infections and even gastrointestinal problems such as diarrhea, nausea, abdominal cramps or vomiting occur very frequently in athletes during periods of intensive training?

So: Isn't sport as healthy as postulated?

What influence does (competitive) sport have on our gut? And what can we do to stay healthy in the long term and therefore be successful in sport? We want to answer all of these questions for you in our science series “no guts – no glory”.

You can send individual questions to sport@allergosan.at or post topics that particularly interest you.

What the hell... is a microbiome please?

The human microbiome consists of bacteria, archaea, fungi and viruses and, similar to the human fingerprint, is highly individual.

The tasks of the microbiota are diverse: Among other things, they produce short-chain fatty acids, produce amino acids, vitamin K and folic acid, break down bile acids, prevent the colonization of pathogenic germs and have immunological effects such as stimulation of IgA production or have an anti-inflammatory effect. Their influence on the ability to absorb nutrients and thus generate energy is also crucial and contributes to health.

Nerd knowledge to go

Important factors such as age, birth method, use of antibiotics and diet have been recognized by research as shaping factors for the gut microbiota. However, the important role of physical exercise is less researched and therefore understood. Training, as is usual in competitive sports in terms of intensity and scope, as well as the individual nutritional habits of athletes, also seem to have a major influence on the composition and functionality of the microorganisms in our body.

Exercise and the associated diet seem to promote a healthy and intact gut milleu. A high density of health-promoting bacterial species, as well as a large microbial diversity, functional metabolic capacity and microbially associated metabolites, the stimulation of bacterial abundance that can modulate mucosal immunity and an improved gastrointestinal barrier function seem to be crucial for this.