ArticlePloS one2019
Characteristics of the gut microbiota in professional martial arts athletes: A comparison between different competition levels.
Article in PloS one, 2019. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 39 papers, 3 of them syntheses that pooled it.
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Who cites it
39 citing papers in PubMed, 3 syntheses or guidelines pooled it, 46 citations in OpenAlex.
- Physical activity, sedentary behavior and microbiome: A systematic review and meta-analysis.Journal of science and medicine in sport · 2024Pooled it
- Effect of Intensity and Duration of Exercise on Gut Microbiota in Humans: A Systematic Review.International journal of environmental research and public health · 2022Pooled it
- Association between physical activity and changes in intestinal microbiota composition: A systematic review.PloS one · 2021Pooled it
- The Effects of Dietary Fiber and High-Dietary-Fiber Diets on Body Weight Regulation and Lipid Metabolism in Athletes: A Narrative Review.Nutrients · 2026Review
- Article
- Regulation of the gut microbiota through meditation and exercise: Potential for enhancing physical well-being across all ages in the twenty-first century.Sports medicine and health science · 2026Article
- Profiling the Athletes' Gut Microbiome: A Critical Methodological Perspective on 16S Metabarcoding and Shotgun Metagenomics.Biology · 2026Review
- Meditation in Motion: Sport Type and Meditation Level Shape Gut Microbiota Profiles in Aikido and Tai Chi Practitioners.Microorganisms · 2026Article
- Exploring the Gut Microbiome in Combat Sports: A Systematic Scoping Review.Sports (Basel, Switzerland) · 2026Review
- Impact of sport disciplines on gut microbiota in elite athletes: evidence from Taekwondo and diving athletes.Frontiers in microbiology · 2026Article
- Functional signatures of the gut microbiome in middle-aged regular runners: insights from a metagenomic study.Frontiers in physiology · 2026Article
- Microbiome-based nutrition and the gut-muscle axis: emerging perspectives for athletic performance and recovery.Frontiers in nutrition · 2026Review
- Exercise and Diet Reshape Athletes' Gut Microbiota: Countering Health Challenges in Athletes.Life (Basel, Switzerland) · 2025Review
- Gut microbiota-derived butyrate enhances exercise-induced bone mineral density in humans.Mechanobiology in medicine · 2025Article
- The Gut Microbiota Characterization of a World-Class Mountain Trail Runner During a Complete Competition Season: A Case Report.Journal of athletic training · 2025Article
- Gut microbial signatures and cardiac-microbiota axis in Yili horses with divergent exercise-induced cardiac remodeling.Frontiers in microbiology · 2025Article
- Dynamic stability of gut microbiota in elite volleyball athletes: microbial adaptations during training, competition and recovery.Frontiers in sports and active living · 2025Article
- Higher physical activity levels are related to faecal microbiota diversity and composition in young adults.Biology of sport · 2025Article
- Sarcopenia-related gut microbiota in the elderly: Insights from the longevity region of Kyotango and its nutritional associations.Gut microbes reports · 2025Article
- Exercise as a modulator of gut microbiota for improvement of sleep quality: a narrative review.Frontiers in neuroscience · 2025Review
Corrections and comments
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Authors and funding
9 authors at 4 institutions in 1 country.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
Recent evidence suggests that athletes have microbial features distinct from those of sedentary individuals. However, the characteristics of the gut microbiota in athletes competing at different levels have not been assessed. The aim of this study was to investigate whether the gut microbiome is significantly different between higher-level and lower-level athletes. Faecal microbiota communities were analysed with hypervariable tag sequencing of the V3-V4 region of the 16S rRNA gene among 28 professional martial arts athletes, including 12 higher-level and 16 lower-level athletes. The gut microbial richness and diversity (the Shannon diversity index (p = 0.019) and Simpson diversity index (p = 0.001)) were significantly higher in the higher-level athletes than in the lower-level athletes. Moreover, the genera Parabacteroides, Phascolarctobacterium, Oscillibacter and Bilophila were enriched in the higher-level athletes, whereas Megasphaera was abundant in the lower-level athletes. Interestingly, the abundance of the genus Parabacteroides was positively correlated with the amount of time participants exercised during an average week. Further analysis of the functional prediction revealed that histidine metabolism and carbohydrate metabolism pathways were markedly over-represented in the gut microbiota of the higher-level athletes. Collectively, this study provides the first insight into the gut microbiota characteristics of professional martial arts athletes. The higher-level athletes had increased diversity and higher metabolic capacity of the gut microbiome for it may positively influence athletic performance.
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Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.