For years, “fecal doping” is a problem in elite sport. Now science wants to democratize it

In 2019, a team of scientists from Harvard University monitored bacterial flora of 15 Boston Marathon runners during the previous and the posterior week. They made many discoveries, but one especially interesting: after the competition everyone suffered a significant increase in bacteria of the genus Veillonella.

It was already known that exercise Altera the microbiota And, in fact, it was not especially surprising that these bacteria (which break the lactic acid and, therefore, reduce fatigue) were in there. What they wanted to discover was something else. Therefore, they took samples of that flora and introduced them into mice.

The result was an increase in very significant physical resistance. Since then, there are people trying to take advantage of this.

The treasure that hides the intestine. Now a France team has studied the intestinal microbiota elite athletes with high aerobic capacity (soccer players and cyclists). The central idea was to see if there were differences in the composition of the flora and in its functionality with respect to non -athletes.

The first surprise is that the more sport the subjects were doing, the lower the diversity of their microbiota. And I say it is surprising because, as Rosa del Campo tells us Through SMC Spain“This is associated with an unhealthy condition.” However, in this case it seems that “it is justified with the specialization of these bacteria in the intestine.” That is, by submitting the microbiota to more exExigent environments, it is self -appointed to optimize.

However, As he says The Ramón y Cajal hospital researcher is not the most interesting. “The most striking thing is when they evaluate the ability to reproduce this in mice.”

What have they done? They have taken very sedentary and very athletes and “have transplanted their feces to mice for several days.” The result shows that “aerobic effort capacity in mice is conditioned by the microbiota.”

Because? Although research is still preliminary, everything seems to indicate that “it is mainly due to glycogen consumption, good sugar control and production of short chain fatty acids.”

What implications does this have? Well, it seems that enough. Remember that for years the anti -doping agencies work to fight against microbiological doping. In fact, everything seems to indicate that “Fecal transplant“s a usual practice in certain elite sport environments.

But the question, as always, is whether this can be climbed. If we can begin to intervene in the microbiota in a massive way to improve the health of large layers of the population. For years, the boom of probiotics has caught Als great pharmaceuticals with the changed foot and has flooded the market with pseudoscience.

However, the possibilities (as we see) are on the table. It is increasingly silent than health will be conquered with the stomach.

Image | Julien Tromeur | Miguel to Amutio

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