New Study Confirms: Prebiotics Help Athletes with Respiratory and Gut Issues
* Prebiotics reduced the duration of upper respiratory symptoms, as well as the incidence and severity of gastrointestinal symptoms, confirmed a study with 33 rugby players
* Prebiotics feed the beneficial bacteria in your gut, helping to maintain gut health.
* Beneficial gut bacteria may help reduce the build-up of lactic acid during exercise, improving endurance.
* Prebiotic supplements could help prevent runners’ diarrhoea.
* British 60 m sprint champion Adam Thomas working towards healthy gut with Bimuno
* Scientist and long-distance runner, Dr Lucien Harthoorn, reveals how Bimuno® has helped support him in his athletic endeavours.
In sport, the body needs to be in peak condition to get the competitive edge – supporting your gut microbiome could mean the difference between a good performance, and a great one.
A new study by Nottingham Trent University (NTU) in collaboration with prebiotic specialists Bimuno revealed that the gut can be better supported by using prebiotics; using these unique fibres aids a number of respiratory issues and gastrointestinal symptoms experienced by athletes.
In the study by Dr Neil Williams from NTU, 33 male rugby union players took Bimuno for 24 weeks during which measured markers of immunity, upper respiratory and gastrointestinal symptoms.
Dr Williams explained, “Prebiotics reduced the duration of upper respiratory symptoms, as well as the incidence and severity of gastrointestinal symptoms. Crucially, the number of gastrointestinal symptoms was higher with Bimuno pointing towards greater availability for athletic training and competition”.
Having guts in sports is important when it comes to winning. But luckily, cultivating a healthy, supportive gut microbiome, doesn’t have to be a long-term process any more thanks to prebiotics.
Grow your own: prebiotics promote probiotics
We’ve all heard of probiotics, the “good” bacteria that live in your gut – they come to us via food and there are supplements available which can help you increase how many you take in. They help regulate the immune system and aid digestion – but when ingested they don’t survive well in the body, hence you need a high intake to see any benefit from taking them at all.
Prebiotics can help you get the most out of the beneficial bacteria in your gut – they’re a type of complex carbohydrate that feeds the ‘good’ bacteria, helping them to grow and multiply.
Bimuno® is a unique prebiotic fibre that contains galactooligosaccharides (GOS) which helps to stimulate the growth of beneficial bacteria in the gut.
In sport, your gut matters
Nutrition has long been acknowledged as a crucial ingredient in sporting success but taking care of your gut – alongside a nutritionally optimised diet – should be a feature in every athlete’s health arsenal.
* Approximately 70% of the immune system is within the gut. Athletes’ immunity can worsen as a result of excessive training, stress, disturbed sleep and environmental extremes.
* A healthy gut microbiome can support your cognitive performance, improving memory and focus2 – essential for many endurance and team sports.
* Studies have found that a strain of healthy bacterium (Veillonella) found in the gut may help with processing lactate. That means a reduction in the build-up of fatigue-causing lactic acid.3
Prebiotics can balance the impact of your protein supplements
Studies have suggested that even a slight increase in protein intake, like 20g of protein supplementation in athletes, decreases health-promoting bacteria in the microbiota.4
Bimuno® Research and Development Director, Dr Lucien Harthoorn, explains how you can counteract the potential impact of protein supplementation on your gut:
‘When starting a new exercise regime, you may focus on increasing your protein intake and forget about your fibre intake. If you have a higher protein or amino acid intake, it may shift your gut microbiome towards proteolytic fermentation, which can lead to a reduction of the short-chain fatty acid metabolic production. This can impact your gut microbiome.
It’s important to look after your diet and ensure that you are still meeting the recommended fibre intake. If you struggle with this, taking a supplement like Bimuno® can bridge that gap to help you meet your goals.’
Bimuno and Running
A strong gut is a pillar when it comes to performance, for amateurs and pros in any chosen sport. However, long-distance runners may experience more gut discomfort on the runs.
We’ve spoken to Bimuno® Research and Development Director and long-distance runner, Dr Lucien Harthoorn, to discover more about how prebiotics has helped support him.
Training regime: I’m a 50-year-old, a long-distance runner (roughly from 5-20 km) who runs around three times per week. I opt for this type of endurance sport to keep my stamina and overall fitness at a
good level at all ages and I occasionally participate in either localor national races. On top of that, I aim to complete two-to-three weight training sessions, but I must be careful not to gain too much muscle as it may impact my running and performance times.
Benefits of taking Bimuno®: I’ve been taking Bimuno® for two and half years now, and I feel overall very good with it. Before taking the supplement, I suffered from some, but not extensive, gut discomfort (it was mostly irregularity). It even happened to me at a race a few years ago which meant that I had to stop halfway. That’s very frustrating and just the fact that I was worried it could happen, made me feel stressed. Bimuno® helps my bowel regularity and that makes me feel better physically and mentally. This means that I don’t have to worry about sudden bowel movements during runs or workouts.
Lastly, I believe I may have benefited from plugging my daily gap regarding fibre intake by taking Bimuno®. I’m very conscious about eating a healthy diet, but for my weight training, I take branched-chain amino acid supplements which may drive a more proteolytic fermentation in my gut.
Harthoorn is an amateur runner seeing benefits of using Bimuno, but same goes for UK’s 60 m sprint champion Adam Thomas.
“Bimuno has seamlessly fallen into my daily life. I’ve suffered with gut issues in the past, but since taking Bimuno my confidence has soared because I know I’m working towards a healthy gut. The small sachets are so convenient, no need for a scoop or measure just tear and drop straight into my morning water. I was pleased with how well the powder mixes with water and you don’t have excess at the bottom of the glass, Bimuno seems to dissolve into the liquid within a few minutes. Bimuno sachets are perfect as I often just take a backpack with me to the track, gym or travelling around Europe for racing so space is vital!”
