Metabolic insights at the finish line: deciphering physiological changes in ultramarathon runners through breath VOC analysis

Exhaustive exercise can induce unique physiological responses in the lungs and other parts of the human body. The volatile organic compounds (VOCs) in exhaled breath are ideal for studying the effects of exhaustive exercise on the lungs due to the proximity of the breath matrix to the respiratory tract. As breath VOCs can originate from the bloodstream, changes in abundance should also indicate broader physiological effects of exhaustive exercise on the body. Currently, there is limited published data on the effects of exhaustive exercise on breath VOCs. Breath has great potential for biomarker analysis as it can be collected non-invasively, and capture real-time metabolic changes to better understand the effects of exhaustive exercise. In this study, we collected breath samples from a small group of elite runners participating in the 2019 Ultra-Trail du Mont Blanc ultra-marathon. The final analysis included matched paired samples collected before and after the race from 24 subjects. All 48 samples were analyzed using the Breath Biopsy Platform with GC-Orbitrap™ via thermal desorption gas chromatography-mass spectrometry. The Wilcoxon signed-rank test was used to determine whether VOC abundances differed between pre- and post-race breath samples (adjusted P-value < .05). We identified a total of 793 VOCs in the breath samples of elite runners. Of these, 63 showed significant differences between pre- and post-race samples after correction for multiple testing (12 decreased, 51 increased). The specific VOCs identified suggest the involvement of fatty acid oxidation, inflammation, and possible altered gut microbiome activity in response to exhaustive exercise. This study demonstrates significant changes in VOC abundance resulting from exhaustive exercise. Further investigation of VOC changes along with other physiological measurements can help improve our understanding of the effect of exhaustive exercise on the body and subsequent differences in VOCs in exhaled breath.