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“Poop doping” – study suggests gut bacteria may boost athletic endurance

Study finds one type of bacteria may aid performance – though results in humans may not match those in mice

A new study suggests that a certain kind of bacteria found in the gut may boost athletic endurance and recovery, although one academic who described the potential effect as “poop doping” has cautioned that results of tests carried out on mice may not be the same in humans.

A team of researchers at Harvard University analysed the stool samples of 15 people who competed in the Boston Marathon as well as samples from 10 non-athletic people who did not take part in the event, with their study published in the journal Nature Medicine.

The Guardian reports that elevated levels of some kinds of bacteria in the gut were found in marathon competitors in the race, and that when mice were injected with them, it resulted in greater endurance among them, with one explanation put forward by the researchers being that it reflected those bacteria break down lactate.

The research team, led by Professor George Church of Harvard University, said that while the link between the bacteria and athletic performance was not certain, clinical trials on humans would be carried out.

But he added that if the bacteria was found to enhance the performance of athletes, that raised ethical questions about how their use of it could be regulated.

The stool samples were collected each day from athletes in the week leading up to the Boston Marathon, when they would typically not be undertaking training runs, and during the following the event.

They discovered higher levels of a type of bacteria called Veillonella in athletes following the race compared to beforehand, and follow-up tests among a further 87 athletes found a similar result before and after exercise, and of the genes that help it break down lactate.

Next, Church and his team – who run a company called FitBiomics, which researches athletes’ microbiomes to discover whether bacteria such as Veillonella can enhance performance and recovery – tested its effect on mice.

They gave 16 mice a strain of the bacteria taken from one of the Boston Marathon participants, and 16 a different bacteria unable to break down lactate. Several hours later, the mice were put on an exercise wheel, where they ran until they tired themselves out. The procedure was then switched for each of them, with their endurance tested afterwards.

When given Veillonella, on average the mice ran for 13 per cent longer than when they were given bacteria unable to break down lactate, and also were less liable to inflammation.

Dr Orla O’Sullivan of the APC Microbiome Institute at University College Cork in Ireland told The Guardian that the potential link between the gut microbiome and athletic performance is a growing area of research, and that the results could suggest that the bacteria was helping with recovery.

But she said: “What we have is an increase in Veillonella post marathon. There was increased endurance in mice but we do need to be careful to not presume same will happen in humans.”

If it were established that the bacteria did enhance human athletic performance, some could look to boost their levels of Veillonella in their gut to gain an edge, including through transplanting it – euphemistically termed “poop doping.”

O’Sullivan was sceptical that might happen, however, pointing out that are associated health risks (although the history of doping in cycling suggests that is often a secondary consideration).

She said: “If athletes start poop doping then you are potentially getting beneficial microbes, but also you are potentially transferring pathogenic microbes.”

One microbiome researcher in the United States firmly believes that a faecal transplant led to a strong improvement in her cycling performance.

In 2017, we reported that after contracting Lyme Disease as a child, Lauren Petersen of The Jackson Laboratory for Genomic Medicine in Farmington, Connecticut, had no microbes to help me break down food, and I had picked up bugs in the lab where I was working because my system was so weak and susceptible.

> Researcher whose racing took off after faecal transplant says they could be the future of doping

“I ended up with pretty bad chronic fatigue syndrome, really bad issues with my stomach – I mean, just the ability to digest food,” she said.

But after undergoing a faecal transplant from a competitive cyclist, she said that when she got back on her bike a couple of months later after completing her recovery, “the effects there were instantaneous.”

She upped her training from two to five days a week, saying that after a month she had “more energy than I knew what to do with.”

Several months later, she did her first endure race, coming “third or fourth,” won the next one – and continued to win the subsequent ones.

She reflected: “I wondered if I had gotten my microbiome from a couch potato, not a racer, if I would I be doing so well. Then it made me wonder what the best possible microbiome for a racer would be.”

Petersen has since founded the Athlete Microbiome Project which collects stool and saliva samples from pro cyclists to establish whether their microbiomes are different to those of the population at large.

As to how a microbiome might be administered in the event it is established to improve performance, she said: “I'm sure it will be in pill form. Whether you swallow it or it goes up the other end that will be the question.”

Simon joined road.cc as news editor in 2009 and is now the site’s community editor, acting as a link between the team producing the content and our readers. A law and languages graduate, published translator and former retail analyst, he has reported on issues as diverse as cycling-related court cases, anti-doping investigations, the latest developments in the bike industry and the sport’s biggest races. Now back in London full-time after 15 years living in Oxford and Cambridge, he loves cycling along the Thames but misses having his former riding buddy, Elodie the miniature schnauzer, in the basket in front of him.

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16 comments

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kil0ran | 4 years ago
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University of Nottingham has been researching faecal transplants for a number of years for sufferers of CFS, ME, Crohns, and IBS. Has seen a number of positive outcomes I believe. Gut biome is fascinating. The missus has been diagnosed with CFS but has seen a marked improvement after recent course of IV antibiotics that will have wiped out most of her gut bacteria. 

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Rick_Rude replied to kil0ran | 4 years ago
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kil0ran wrote:

University of Nottingham has been researching faecal transplants for a number of years for sufferers of CFS, ME, Crohns, and IBS. Has seen a number of positive outcomes I believe. Gut biome is fascinating. The missus has been diagnosed with CFS but has seen a marked improvement after recent course of IV antibiotics that will have wiped out most of her gut bacteria. 

Ever tried oil of oregano? I had a candida problem that manifested itself where you don't want it and I started on the oregano and garlic and it's never come back since. I do a few days of it once a month as I don't think your supposed to knock it back day after day as you may end up killing beneficial bacteria. I don't recommend much like this as I think most of it is placebo but this seems to work where other stuff didn't.

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RobD | 4 years ago
2 likes

I can see this leading to assessment services a bit like the DNA kits you can get now, where samples are sent away and you get a report of what bacteria you have in your biome. Unless you're lacking in particular ones that end up being identified as useful for athletic performance etc, isn't it more likely to be a case of eating the right foods to nurture them? which is what a lot of athletes and sports focussed people probably do already?

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Mungecrundle | 4 years ago
3 likes

I read this recently.

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Gut-revised-expanded-Giulia-Enders/dp/191134477...

What goes on in your tum tum and pink tubely bits is more interesting than you might suspect with evidence of far reaching consequences for the immune system and many diseases.

I'm not sure that leaping on the bandwagon of the latest fad macrobiotic diet or hanging around the bogs at an elite athletic event hoping to collect a few illicit samples is the way to go, but consideration of a healthy biome inside and out is worth investigation. A regularly quoted factoid is that of the cells in and on your body more than half are not 'you'.

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Bob's Bikes | 4 years ago
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Isn't the story/research back to front? this Veillonella appears in the athlete's guts after exercise so therefore is a result of exercise not an aid to exercise. But I suppose people will buy it in an (lack of) effort to get fit rather than say undertaking a sensible planned approach to losing weight and gaining fitness.

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Drinfinity replied to Bob's Bikes | 4 years ago
2 likes

Bob's Bikes wrote:

Isn't the story/research back to front? this Veillonella appears in the athlete's guts after exercise so therefore is a result of exercise not an aid to exercise. But I suppose people will buy it in an (lack of) effort to get fit rather than say undertaking a sensible planned approach to losing weight and gaining fitness.

That’s where the mice came in. The bacteria process lactate, so according to the study they were able to perform better by poop doping.

 

We are all essentially a meat skin for our bacteria biome - there are more bacterial cells in a human than human ones. So in the case where your biome is wiped out by treatment for some disease, poop doping might be useful to get you back to a normal function.

Would it makes a difference to a human with a healthy biome? Not convinced. Arguably it might kick start the increase in their population, so you get the benefit a little earlier in the exercise. But in the right conditions, bacteria will multiply pretty quickly (till the food runs out or the other bugs compete with them, or the meat skin dies). With mice, the endurance is shorter than humans, so the kick start is perhaps greater by proportion. 

As they point out, remains to be trialled on humans. And yes, there will be healthy people who will buy it thinking they are buying performance. They will put it in the cupboard with their Wellman tablets and beetroot juice.

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RobD replied to Drinfinity | 4 years ago
2 likes

Drinfinity wrote:

As they point out, remains to be trialled on humans. And yes, there will be healthy people who will buy it thinking they are buying performance. They will put it in the cupboard with their Wellman tablets and beetroot juice.

Hey there's nothing wrong with beetroot juice, I like having pink/orange wee

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Rick_Rude | 4 years ago
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Cyclists are always eating shit on this site but it seems to be an unbeneficial delivery of car or lorry to the guts.

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Butty | 4 years ago
2 likes

Poop doping is already here with probiotic yogurts.

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Simon E replied to Butty | 4 years ago
2 likes

Bob's Bikes wrote:

Isn't the story/research back to front? this Veillonella appears in the athlete's guts after exercise so therefore is a result of exercise not an aid to exercise.

Unfortunately people want to believe that one strain is the magic bullet but the reality is far more complex.

It would be worthwhile asking what those marathon runners eat/drink (or avoid) compared to all the rubbish most people consume regularly, much of which has a negative impact on our gut biome.

Butty wrote:

Poop doping is already here with probiotic yogurts.

IIRC Rapha-Condor-JLT riders were drinking Yakult at one stage but I don't know whether they found it made any difference. Perhaps they were sponsored. Standard supermarket yogurts (e.g. Danone) are a waste of money. Better to combine organic natural yogurt with a prebiotic such as a banana.

Some interesting observations in this CW article from 2015 and the topic is discussed at length in a 2017 Guardian article.

hawkinspeter wrote:

I doubt that horse gut bacteria would help much with a typical human diet. Squirrels would be a better choice.

I don't eat squirrels. Too sinewy.

Or horses.

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DoctorFish | 4 years ago
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To be fair, if someone threatened to "poop dope" me I think I would be cycling a lot quicker. 

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simonmb | 4 years ago
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So. Why not take it from a racehorse?

But, look...

 She upped her training from two to five days a week, saying that after a month she had “more energy than I knew what to do with.”

Wouldn't anyone who upped their training from two to five days a week improve their performance?

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hawkinspeter replied to simonmb | 4 years ago
4 likes

simonmb wrote:

So. Why not take it from a racehorse?

 

I doubt that horse gut bacteria would help much with a typical human diet. Squirrels would be a better choice.

Avatar
manonbike replied to hawkinspeter | 4 years ago
1 like

hawkinspeter wrote:

simonmb wrote:

So. Why not take it from a racehorse?

 

I doubt that horse gut bacteria would help much with a typical human diet. Squirrels would be a better choice.

 

It would be much harder to get a squirrel up there. Better stick to bacteria. 

Avatar
Mungecrundle replied to manonbike | 4 years ago
3 likes
manonbike wrote:

hawkinspeter wrote:

simonmb wrote:

So. Why not take it from a racehorse?

 

I doubt that horse gut bacteria would help much with a typical human diet. Squirrels would be a better choice.

 

It would be much harder to get a squirrel up there. Better stick to bacteria. 

Oh sweet Lord! I hope he doesn't have a picture to prove you wrong.

Avatar
hawkinspeter replied to Mungecrundle | 4 years ago
1 like

Mungecrundle wrote:
manonbike wrote:

hawkinspeter wrote:

simonmb wrote:

So. Why not take it from a racehorse?

 

I doubt that horse gut bacteria would help much with a typical human diet. Squirrels would be a better choice.

 

It would be much harder to get a squirrel up there. Better stick to bacteria. 

Oh sweet Lord! I hope he doesn't have a picture to prove you wrong.

I'm sure I've got one around here somewhere

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