Gut microbiota differences between sports and non-sports major students: a population-controlled trial

Benlong Ma; Yifang Zhang; Wenbo Yuan; Nan Hu; Shanshan Li; Benlong Ma; Yifang Zhang; Wenbo Yuan; Nan Hu; Shanshan Li

doi:10.3934/bioeng.2024021

AIMS Bioengineering

2024, Volume 11, Issue 3: 478-488. doi: 10.3934/bioeng.2024021

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Research article

Gut microbiota differences between sports and non-sports major students: a population-controlled trial

1.
School of Physical Education, Northeast Normal University, Changchun 130024, PR China
2.
College of Biological and Pharmaceutical Engineering, Jilin Agricultural Science and Technology University, Jilin 132101, PR China
3.
College of Physical Education, Baicheng Normal University, Baicheng 137000, PR China

Received: 30 July 2024 Revised: 27 September 2024 Accepted: 28 October 2024 Published: 06 November 2024

Physical exercise contributes to good health and affects gut microbiota. We investigated the gut microbiota features of students majoring in sports. Fecal samples were collected from the sports majors (SS group, 50 students, 11 males, and 39 females, 18.7 ± 0.8 years old) and non-sports majors (NC group, 50 students, 23 males, and 27 females, 19.0 ± 1.0 years old) for high-throughput sequencing analysis. Their clinical data were statistically analyzed. The results showed that the gut microbiota compositions are similar in evolution and development, and significant differences were observed in the proportion of rare species, such as Fusobacterium, Mitsuokella, Acidaminococcus, and Butyricicoccus. Compared with the NC group, the SS group exhibited a more diverse gut microbiota, with a high abundance of Alistipes, Faecalibacterium, Roseburia, Prevotella, etc., at the genus level, as well as Faecalibacterium prausnitzii, Bifidobacterium adolescentis, Bacteroides uniformis, and Bacteroides plebeius at the species level. The research shows that long-term physical exercise or training can enhance gut microbiota diversity and boost beneficial bacteria, which are conducive to intestinal environmental conditions.
- physical exercise,
- gut microbiota,
- 16S rRNA sequencing,
- sports major,
- microbiota diversity
Citation: Benlong Ma, Yifang Zhang, Wenbo Yuan, Nan Hu, Shanshan Li. Gut microbiota differences between sports and non-sports major students: a population-controlled trial[J]. AIMS Bioengineering, 2024, 11(3): 478-488. doi: 10.3934/bioeng.2024021

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Abstract

Physical exercise contributes to good health and affects gut microbiota. We investigated the gut microbiota features of students majoring in sports. Fecal samples were collected from the sports majors (SS group, 50 students, 11 males, and 39 females, 18.7 ± 0.8 years old) and non-sports majors (NC group, 50 students, 23 males, and 27 females, 19.0 ± 1.0 years old) for high-throughput sequencing analysis. Their clinical data were statistically analyzed. The results showed that the gut microbiota compositions are similar in evolution and development, and significant differences were observed in the proportion of rare species, such as Fusobacterium, Mitsuokella, Acidaminococcus, and Butyricicoccus. Compared with the NC group, the SS group exhibited a more diverse gut microbiota, with a high abundance of Alistipes, Faecalibacterium, Roseburia, Prevotella, etc., at the genus level, as well as Faecalibacterium prausnitzii, Bifidobacterium adolescentis, Bacteroides uniformis, and Bacteroides plebeius at the species level. The research shows that long-term physical exercise or training can enhance gut microbiota diversity and boost beneficial bacteria, which are conducive to intestinal environmental conditions.

Acknowledgments

We acknowledge Shanghai Personal Biotechnology Co., Ltd for the 16s rRNA sequences analysis. We would also like to thank EssentialsLink Language Sevices (www.essentialslink.cn) for its linguistic assistance during the preparation of this manuscript. Funding: This research was funded by Jilin Province Education Department project, grant number JJKH20230425KJ; Young PhD funding of Jilin Agricultural Science and Technology University, grant number 2021-7011.

Conflict of interest

The authors declare no conflict of interest.

Author contributions

Conceptualization and methodology, B.L.M.; formal analysis, investigation, and writing—original draft preparation, Y.F.Z. and S.S.L.; writing—review and editing and supervision, W.B.Y., N.H. All authors have read and agreed to the published version of the manuscript.

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