Probiotic Power

THE PATH TO IMPROVED PERFORMANCE MAY BE THROUGH NURTURING THE BUGS IN YOUR GUT.

- Amanda Macmillan

EXERCISE HAS ENDLESS BENEFITS FOR THE BODY, BUT IT CAN also be a major gut stressor: anyone who’s had to cut a training session short or sprint to the porta-loo mid-run knows that running can cause gastrointestinal distress, especially for people with sensitive stomachs or chronic conditions such as irritable bowel syndrome. Experts say that sloshing in the stomach (looking at you, mid-run fuel!), decreased blood to the GI tract, and a weakened barrier between the intestines and the bloodstream (also known as ‘leaky gut’) can all be to blame.

What you put on your plate can do a lot to improve your gut microbiome. Research suggests that regularly consuming probiotics – the good bacteria that occur naturally in fermented foods – may strengthen the gut’s lining and lower inflammation throughout the body, resulting in less damage to your GI tract and fewer stomach problems during exercise.

Those microscopic bugs (your gut has trillions of them) have also been linked to improvements in immunity, lung function, and calcium absorption. And in one 2014 study, athletes who took a probiotic supplement for four weeks worked out longer before fatiguing (37 minutes versus 33 minutes) than those who took a placebo.