The Blood Metabolome

Do sprinters, endurance athletes and bodybuilders have distinct blood metabolite profiles?

In a previous article titled, Understanding Energetic Limitations & Global Adaptation Trends, I discussed the concept of a global adaption trend, which is a combination of an athletes physiological predisposition and the type of training they do on a repeated basis over time. Taken together, these two factors effectively create an environmental stimulus leading to a predictable set of compensation patterns. In this article i’m going to expand on the concept of adaptation trends with a discussion of the blood metabolome.

The blood metabolome is a collection of low molecular weight molecules that are produced by cells during metabolism. The metabolome comprises all metabolites within an individual and is very susceptible to external influences like exercise. Understanding the metabolome is extremely useful because years of training in a specific discipline results in specific metabolic adaptations. As a result, the blood metabolome can be read to get a functional readout of an individ…