The beneficial effects of exercise on glucose and lipid metabolism during statin therapy is partially mediated by changes of the intestinal flora

Recent research has confirmed that moderate-intensity exercise affects the gut microbiome composition and improves cardiac function in an animal model after myocardial infarction (MI). However, few studies have investigated the effects of exercise on glucose and lipid metabolism in patients with coronary heart disease (CHD) receiving a statin treatment and successful percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI). Meanwhile, since statin therapy may lead to the risk of an increase in blood glucose level in CHD patients, we hypothesized that moderate-intensity exercise may be helpful for regulating glucose-lipid metabolism and stabilizing the blood glucose level in CHD patients. Therefore, to confirm our conjecture, we conducted a clinical retrospective study and animal experiment, respectively. The clinical study involved a total of 501 statin-treated patients with CHD after PCI. According to the study protocol, patients were divided into the following three groups: a non-exercise group, exercise at the recommended standard group, and exercise not at the recommended standard group. We found that qualified moderate-intensity exercise decreased blood glucose and lipid levels at follow-up at a mean of 2.2 years, and the incidence of new-onset diabetes showed a downward trend compared with the non-exercise and exercise not at the recommended standard groups. Furthermore, we used a high-fat rat model to explore an additional mechanism of the beneficial effects of exercise-based management on glucose-lipid metabolism apart from the known mechanism. We used 16S rRNA high-throughput sequencing technology to analyze the changes induced by exercise in the composition of intestinal flora in experimental rats. We found that rats that exercised with or without statin administration had lower plasma glucose and lipid levels and that these parameters were higher in the control and statin-treated rats that did not exercise. These results were consistent with the human study. The results from high-throughput sequencing of the intestinal flora of rats showed, to the best of our knowledge, that exercise leads to an increased relative abundance of Akkermansia muciniphila, which contributes to improved glucose and lipid metabolism. Based on our current results, we suggest that moderate-intensity exercise can improve glucose and lipid metabolism and prevent statin treatment-related side effects, such as hyperglycemia, in patients after PCI. Exercise could facilitate the applicability of statins for lower lipid levels. Exercise training also provides additional benefits, such as alteration of the gut microbiota, which contributes to improved glucose and lipid metabolism.