The Effect of Various Types of Exercise on Gut Microbiota: A Systematic Review

Abstract

Context: Gut microbiota composition plays a pivotal role in health and emerging evidence supports the ability of exercise training programs to alter the gut microbiota’s composition and function, which could counteract dysbiosis and the effects of chronic diseases. This study aims to investigate the effectiveness of different exercise methods on the composition of intestinal microbiota. Methods: We searched for published peer-reviewed articles in PubMed and Google Scholar databases up until January 2023. We searched using the terms "exercise", "education", "microbiome" and "microbiota". Results: By electronic search until January 2023 in the databases with keywords made in Mesh by mentioning Title/Abstract, several 1814 articles were collected. By repeating and performing filtering at each stage, 15 clinical trials were finally left in the study. The results showed varying degrees of efficacy and high inter-individual variations. In conclusion, the baseline microbiome profile was shown to have a decisive role in microbiome responsiveness to training intervention and training dose and duration seem to be a determining factor in all exercise modalities. Conclusions: In general, can be said that exercise can balance gut microbiota (GM). More importantly, exercise is proposed to present a stressor to the gut that stimulates beneficial adaptations and improves long-term gut barrier flexibility over time through regular physical activity. It seems that the GM changes caused by aerobic exercise are reversible after returning to a sedentary lifestyle. Therefore, it is recommended that exercise initially causes a disrupts in GM that, with continued exercise and thus adaptation, revenues to the pre-exercise state.