Exercise and Interorgan Communication: Short-Term Exercise Training Blunts Differences in Consecutive Daily Urine 1H-NMR Metabolomic Signatures between Physically Active and Inactive Individuals

Physical inactivity is a worldwide health problem, an important risk for global mortality and is associated with chronic noncommunicable diseases. The aim of this study was to explore the differences in systemic urine H-1-NMR metabolomes between physically active and inactive healthy young males enrolled in the X-Adapt project in response to controlled exercise (before and after the 3-day exercise testing and 10-day training protocol) in normoxic (21% O-2), normobaric (similar to 1000 hPa) and normal-temperature (23 degrees C) conditions at 1 h of 50% maximal pedaling power output (W-peak) per day. Interrogation of the exercise database established from past X-Adapt results showed that significant multivariate differences existed in physiological traits between trained and untrained groups before and after training sessions and were mirrored in significant differences in urine pH, salinity, total dissolved solids and conductivity. Cholate, tartrate, cadaverine, lysine and N6-acetyllisine were the most important metabolites distinguishing trained and untrained groups. The relatively little effort of 1 h 50% W-peak per day invested by the untrained effectively modified their resting urine metabolome into one indistinguishable from the trained group, which hence provides a good basis for the planning of future recommendations for health maintenance in adults, irrespective of the starting fitness value. Finally, the 3-day sessions of morning urine samples represent a good candidate biological matrix for future delineations of active and inactive lifestyles detecting differences unobservable by single-day sampling due to day-to-day variability.

Automated summary

Physical inactivity is a global health problem associated with chronic diseases. This study explores the metabolic differences between physically active and inactive young males. The results show significant differences before and after training sessions, with trained individuals having distinct urine metabolomes. Interestingly, even a small amount of exercise can modify the resting urine metabolome of inactive individuals. Moreover, urine samples taken over consecutive mornings can effectively detect differences in lifestyle.