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Exercise is universally acknowledged for its ability to improve overall health and prevent disease. Yet, the underlying reasons why exercise yields such benefits have remained elusive. Enter Zhen Yan, a professor with the Fralin Biomedical Research Institute at VTC and the College of Agriculture and Life Sciences at Virginia Tech, who has significantly advanced our understanding of these mechanisms. Yan, alongside his colleagues in the Molecular Transducers of Physical Activity Consortium, has uncovered thousands of molecular changes that occur in the body following various durations of endurance exercise training.
The consortium’s study, published in May in the prestigious journal Nature, involved an extensive analysis of male and female rats subjected to eight weeks of endurance exercise. This research revealed thousands of molecular alterations with substantial implications for human health, particularly in areas such as liver disease, bowel disease, cardiovascular health, and tissue recovery.
“For most people in most situations, exercise is better than medicine,” said Yan, who also serves as the director of the Fralin Biomedical Research Institute’s Center for Exercise Medicine Research and vice chairman of the International Research Group on Biochemistry of Exercise. “This data suggests that exercise can be a very potent and profound protection against diseases, such as nonalcoholic fatty liver disease, inflammatory bowel disease, and many others. This study unveiled things that we did not know, and I think it’s the beginning of revealing significant impacts of exercise in how it promotes health and prevents diseases.”
Funded by the National Institutes of Health, this study is a collaborative effort with contributions from researchers such as Sarah Lessard, who will join the Fralin Biomedical Research Institute and the Department of Human Nutrition, Foods, and Exercise in the College of Agriculture and Life Sciences in July.
Exercise vs. Medicine: A Comparative Analysis
The research focused on observing changes in blood, plasma, and 18 solid tissues from the rats. Researchers analyzed nearly 10,000 samples across four training stages using 25 molecular platforms. The findings showed thousands of molecular changes, with significant differences between sexes in multiple tissues. These changes involved the regulation of immune, metabolic, stress responses, and mitochondrial pathways, all of which are pertinent to human health issues like nonalcoholic fatty liver disease, inflammatory bowel disease, cardiovascular health, and tissue recovery.
Mitochondria, often referred to as the cell’s powerhouse, play a crucial role in chemical energy production and the regulation of cell cycles, growth, and overall cellular health. Yan emphasized that no single medicine could replicate the system-wide, long-lasting impacts of exercise.
“Impact of exercise is far better than any single medicine,” Yan noted. “There are studies showing that pregnancy exercise can even positively affect the grandchildren, and no single drug can do that.”
Future Directions
This research marks the beginning of a new era in understanding the health benefits of exercise. Yan and the Molecular Transducers of Physical Activity Consortium plan to extend their research to resistance-based exercise training, including methods such as weightlifting and resistance bands to build muscle mass. They also aim to delve deeper into the molecular factors mediating these health benefits.
“We need to dissect the health benefits that we’ve found so far,” Yan stated. “I proposed a study that will analyze protein factors in the blood that are released by organs and tissues, such as the adrenal gland, muscles, and the heart, in response to a single bout of exercise and exercise training.”
Yan’s research seeks to determine whether these protein factors, or humoral factors, are the true mediators of the health benefits of exercise. How do these factors coordinate cellular, biochemical, and molecular responses in target tissues and organs to achieve the superb health benefits of regular exercise? These are the pressing questions that Yan and his team are determined to answer.
The study’s groundbreaking findings open new avenues for exploring how exercise can be harnessed as a powerful tool in disease prevention and health promotion, potentially revolutionizing our approach to medicine and wellness.
