Table 1.
Study population demographics.
Fig 1.
Principal component analysis and variables plots of PRO-HVAM runners and sedentary user blood biomarkers.
Females, (A) and (B); males (C) and (D). PRO-HVAM = combined professional and high-volume amateur. Alb = albumin, ALT = alanine transaminase, AST = aspartate aminotransferase, B12 = vitamin B12, Ca = calcium, Chol = total cholesterol, CK = creatine kinase, Cor = cortisol, FE = iron, EOS_PCT = eosinophil percentage, Fer = ferritin, Fol = folate, FT = free testosterone, GGT = gamma-glutamyl transferase, Glu = glucose, Hb = hemoglobin, HCT = hematocrit, HDL = high density lipoprotein, HbA1c = glycated hemoglobin, hsCRP = high-sensitivity C-reactive protein, LDL = low density lipoprotein, LYMPS_PCT = lymphocyte percentage, MCH = mean cell hemoglobin, Mg = magnesium, MONOS_PCT = monocytes percentage, MPV = mean platelet volume, Na = sodium, RBC = red blood cells, RBC_Mg = red blood cell magnesium, RDW = red blood cell distribution width, SHBG = sex hormone binding globulin, Tg = triglycerides, TIBC = total iron binding capacity, WBC = white blood cells.
Fig 2.
Blood biomarkers associated with running: Inflammation proxies, (A) hsCRP = high-sensitivity C-reactive protein and (B) WBC = white blood cells; blood lipids, (C) HDL = high density lipoprotein (D) LDL = low density lipoprotein, and (E) Tg = triglycerides; glycemia proxies, (F) Glu = glucose and (G) HgbA1c = glycated hemoglobin, and (H) Cor = cortisol.
Fig 3.
Blood biomarkers associated with running: (A and B) Hb (hemoglobin) and Hct (hematocrit) increase with increasing running volume, (C) Fer (ferritin) is reduced with increasing running volume, (D and E) Serum and RBC Mg (red blood cell magnesium) are reduced in professional runners, and (F) SHBG (sex hormone binding globulin) levels increase with increasing running volume in males.
Table 2.
Blood biomarkers significantly different among sedentary individuals and those who partake in running for exercise to various degrees.
Fig 4.
BMI significantly varied among running groups (A) with some suggestive effects on BMI PGS modification (total number for observations (N) for T1, T2, and T3 were 87, 84, and 100, respectively) (B) T1, T2, and T3 = 1st, and 2nd and 3rd tertials of the polygenic score distribution.
Fig 5.
Two-sample Mendelian randomization shows that increasing levels of vigorous physical activity such as running is associated with improvement of (A) hsCRP = high-sensitivity C-reactive protein, (B) HDL = high density lipoprotein, and (C) HbA1c = glycated hemoglobin levels.