Excessive exercise is a pain in the gut

People who exercise excessively, regardless of their fitness level, may be prone to acute or chronic gut issues, say researchers from Monash University.

Their systematic review of the literature shows that with increasing intensity and duration of exercise, there is a proportional increased risk of gut damage and impaired gut function.

“Specifically, the cells of the intestine are injured and the gut becomes more leaky, allowing pathogenic endotoxins normally present and isolated to the intestine to pass into the bloodstream,” write Dr Ricardo Costa and colleagues in Alimentary Pharmacology and