Elsevier

PharmaNutrition

Volume 14, December 2020, 100231
PharmaNutrition

Food components affecting the epigenome: “Ergogenetic” aids for performance

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.phanu.2020.100231Get rights and content

Abstract

The interest in epigenetics has grown exponentially in recent years and this is because epigenetic marks are present in most life processes. It is known that the epigenome is determined by different environmental factors such as diet or exercise. For athletes, improving performance during physical activity or reducing recovery times after training are key priorities that are currently focusing on research in the world of sports. Nutritional strategies are important tools for this purpose, since more and more dietary supplements are used as ergogenic potentials. Therefore and given that nutrition modulates gene expression through epigenetic modifications, recent studies have aimed to elucidate possible epigenetic mechanisms responsible for the link between dietary supplements for athletes and improving performance during exercise. Thus, in this review we cite the latest most relevant studies carried out to date in relation to epigenetic marks associated with sports supplementation and performance.

Introduction

In the last decade, epigenetics has experienced a growing interest within the scientific community since it participates in most of the organism's biological processes [1]. During development, epigenetic marks participate in cell differentiation, which give the cells different characteristics and functions despite containing the same genetic information [2]. In general terms, epigenetics is defined as a branch of science that is responsible for studying molecular bases through external agents modulating gene expression (phenotype), without implying an alteration of the DNA sequence (genotype) [3]. Epigenetics refers to alternative modifications to the DNA chain that exerts a direct effect on transcriptional levels, causing the activation or inactivation of genes [4]. Numerous cellular processes are influenced by epigenetic modifications, hence the importance of systematically understanding this regulation on cellular machinery [5] and the pathogenesis of the disease [[6], [7], [8]]. Epigenetic marks are stable and can be transmitted to the next generations [9], although they can also change in response to specific stimuli to the organism providing a dynamic response in a short period of time [10]. Thus, these marks are characterized by being acquired, inheritable and reversible [11]. Among the main most relevant mechanisms in epigenetic regulation are DNA methylation, post-translational histone modifications (PTM) and non-coding RNA (ncRNA), which includes microRNA (miRNA) and long non-coding RNA (lncRNA) [4,12]. Among these, DNA methylation is the most abundant epigenetic mechanism in the body and the most studied [13].

It has been shown that both the environment and lifestyle play a very important role in gene expression [14]. Among the main determinants of health, genetics only contributes 30 % to the existing variability, while the remaining 70 % depends on environmental factors [15]. Recent research shows that exposure of the organism to certain external agents, such as diet and physical exercise, can trigger alterations in the epigenome [[16], [17], [18]]. This implies that nutrients and physical activity influence the expression of genes and therefore have a relevant role in the state of health and disease prevention in individuals. In this context, the most widely accepted current hypothesis postulates epigenetic marks as the molecular machinery responsible for these processes [19,20]. As an example, it was hypothesized that epigenetic dysregulation could contribute to a rapid increase in the prevalence of obesity and its complications due to the heritability of acquired epigenetic marks [21]. Both global DNA methylation and the methylation levels of specific genes related to adipose tissue function and metabolism in visceral adipose tissue were found to be related to the metabolic syndrome aetiology [22,23] and insulin resistance [7]. Moreover, it was evidenced that the association between obesity and cancer can be mediated by epigenetic mechanisms because a specific methylome was observed for example in tumors from breast [24] or colon [25] depending on adiposity. These epigenetic marks associated with the pathogenesis of obesity also link with the beneficial effect of different therapeutic strategies to lose weight such as hypocaloric diets [26,27] or bariatric surgery [8,28], even after physical activity in patients with obesity [29,30]. Nutritional compounds or dietary patterns such as Mediterranean diet or other bioactive components are able to modulate epigenetic marks to induce healthy effects [4].

In a similar way, in the field of exercise training and physical performance the relationship of epigenetic modulations with acute and chronic effect of exercise training was also evidenced [31,32]. Relevantly, in the last decades it is usual the consumption of different nutritional compounds or ergogenic aids among athletes to improve their performance [33]. The effect of these nutritional and non-nutritional components on muscle function during exercise performance could be mediated by epigenetic mechanisms.

In this work we review the latest work on epigenetic mechanisms associated with the effect of bioactive components of sports supplementation and dietary patterns on improving performance in physical training.

Section snippets

Effect of diet, nutrients and bioactive compounds on exercise performance

Dietary habits are among the factors that influence sports performance [34]. Nutritional interventions may further augment high-intensity training by enhancing energy metabolism during exercise [35]. In this context, Mediterranean diet is postulated as one of the healthiest eating patterns due to the high consumption of plant-based foods, olive oil, a certain number of dairy products, as well as a style active life [34]. Recent studies have showed a positive relation between a high performance

Epigenetic mechanisms as the link between food componentes and improvement in exercise performance

In spite of the growing interest in dietary supplementation of sportspeople to improve the exercise performance and the increased number of scientific evidences on potential beneficial effects, the molecular mechanism involved in this effect is still few studied.

Both exercise per se and ergogenic supplementations are able to induce a modulation in gene expression and this modulation can be mediated by epigenetic mechanisms (Fig. 1). In fact, within nutritional epigenetics, studies based on

Concluding remarks

In summary, optimizing training, physical performance, nutrition and recovery are keys priorities that athletes want to improve. Nutritional strategies are crucial to help athletes perform at the highest level, so assessing the ergogenic potential of a nutritional supplement is important in terms of athletic performance for a given event. The increased energy expenditure and nutrients demand maintained in time and the incremented intake to supply them may affect epigenetic profile. However,

Funding

The study was supported by Centro de Investigación Biomedica en Red fisiopatología de la obesidad y nutricion (CIBEROBN) and the Miguel Servet project, initiatives of Instituto de Salud Carlos III (ISCIII) co-financed by the European Regional Development Fund (FEDER). PL is funded by predoctoral grant from the Instituto de Investigacion Sanitaria de Santiago (IDIS). AC is a Miguel Servet researcher (ISCIII; CP17/0008).

Declaration of Competing Interest

The authors declare that the research was conducted in the absence of any commercial or financial relationships that could be construed as a potential conflict of interest.

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