Exercise over a prolonged period of time allows endotoxins in the gut to leak into the bloodstream
MONDAY, June 22, 2015 (HealthDay News) — Extreme exercise may trigger sepsis in people who haven’t trained properly, new research suggests. The findings were published recently in two journals. One study was in the International Journal of Sports Medicine. The other was in the Exercise Immunology Review.
Researchers in Australia looked at athletes who took part in extreme endurance events. Examples of such events include 24-hour ultra-marathons and multi-stage ultra-marathons run on consecutive days. Blood samples were taken before and after the events, and compared with a control group.
The investigators found this type of exertion can cause intestinal bacteria to leak into the bloodstream. This can potentially lead to sepsis, they said. The researchers said these samples proved that “exercise over a prolonged period of time causes the gut wall to change, allowing the naturally present bacteria, known as endotoxins, in the gut to leak into the bloodstream.”
“Nearly all of the participants in our study had blood markers identical to patients admitted to hospital with sepsis. That’s because the bacterial endotoxins that leach into the blood as a result of extreme exercise, triggers the body’s immune cells into action,” research team leader Ricardo Costa, Ph.D., of the department of nutrition and dietetics at Monash University in Melbourne, Australia, said in a university news release.
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