Physical fitness in community dwelling older adults is linked to dietary intake, gut microbiota and metabolomic signatures. Physical fitness in community dwelling older adults is linked to dietary intake, gut microbiota and metabolomic signatures

When humans age, changes in body composition may arise along with lifestyle-associated disorders that may influence clinical manifestations of frailty and physical decline. Here, we characterize dietary intake, physical activity, gut microbiota (GM) and host metabolome in relation to physical fitness, via anthropometric/body-composition/physical-performance measurements (ABPm) of 207 community dwelling subjects (65+ years). Through stratification of ABPm variables we determined two phenotypes (high/low fitness) corresponding with the structure of the analyzed datasets. High fitness subjects were discriminated by signatures of glucose metabolism (low fasting proinsulin-C-peptide and average blood glucose), in a mechanism likely driven by higher energy and dietary fiber intake, daily physical activity and increased abundance of Bifidobacteriales, Clostridiales associated species in GM. In addition, these factors explained 51.1% of the variation on individuals’ physical fitness. Targeting diet and exercise as mediators of GM-host metabolome interactions may allow therapeutic strategies to delay and possibly revert the comorbidities of aging.