Environmental pollutants and nutrition may affect barrier function of the skin, respiratory tract, and digestive tract in elite athletes, according to research out of the Swiss Institute of Allergy and Asthma Research (SIAF) in collaboration with the Sports Medicine Department of the Davos Hospital (Swiss Research Institute for Sports Medicine – SRISM).
Various cleaning products, air pollutants, small plastic particles (and food additives can damage the barrier function of skin and mucous membranes, which can lead to a disturbed composition of the microbiome (skin and intestinal bacterial flora) and chronic inflammatory reactions.
Elite athletes may be at even higher risk for such epithelial barrier disruption.
“Athletes sometimes shower several times a day, using personal cleaning products that may remove the natural oils of the skin and can damage the epithelial barrier,” the researchers report in Allergy. “Excessive sweating can weaken the skin barrier due to the loss of fluids and electrolytes, while increased blood flow during warming up and exercise can both support cellular functions and repair but also potentially compromise barrier integrity due to increased permeability.”
There’s more to it as well. Athletes’ high-calorie diets often include processed foods with food emulsifiers and other additives that may cause epithelial barrier dysfunction and microbial dysbiosis.
Elite athletes are also more susceptible to infection with increasing physical activity. “Due to the increased respiration, athletes are exposed to an increased burden of air pollution and exposed to higher doses of pollutants,” they write.
The type of performed sport and the intensity of indoor versus outdoor exercise or water sports also play a role in risk.
“Possible strategies to reduce the burden of extensive exposome of athletes include avoidance and dose control of the above-mentioned products; development of safer, less-toxic products; discovery of biomarkers for the identification of barrier leaky athletes; monitoring of the microbiome changes and opportunistic pathogen colonization; development of novel therapeutic approaches for tightening the tissue-specific barrier molecules; strengthening other components of the mucosal barrier; interventions through diet and microbiome, and many more novel approaches. Components of the mucosal barrier; interventions through diet and microbiome, and many more novel approaches,” the authors conclude.
