Think you don't have enough time to exercise in a way that will improve your health? Think again. Depending on your body type and genetics, the type and duration of exercise can impact a variety of metabolic factors unique to you based on a new field called metabolomics.

What is Metabolomics?

Metabolomics is a new field of health science dedicated to the study of metabolic profiling, which is also described as metabolic variability. The goal is to find out exactly what causes health improvement in each person; more exercise, healthier eating, genetic disposition or other factors. Then, help people optimize those benefits and create a unique health regimen specific to their needs. Scientists also hope to find patterns that signal risks of disease, and discover new ways to treat it.

Current Research on Metabolomics

Researchers working with Dr. Robert Gerszten of Massachusetts General Hospital measured biochemical changes in the blood of a variety of people: healthy middle-aged, some who became short of breath with exertion and marathon runners.

The team put 70 healthy people on a treadmill and found more than 20 metabolites (naturally produced compounds involved in burning calories and fat and improving blood-sugar control) changed during exercise. In addition to discovering new metabolites involved with exercise, they also observed how some metabolites involved with processing fat revved up during exercise and those involved with cellular stress decreased.

Results and Benefits of Regular Short-Term Exercise

Gerszten found some metabolic changes began after 10 minutes on the treadmill and were still measurable 60 minutes after people cooled down. This supports the idea that short bursts of exercise of at least 10 minutes can improve health and that doing that regularly can have positive long-term benefits.

In addition, the team found that when checking a metabolite of fat breakdown (oxygen intake during exercise) in fit people, they burned more fat than the less fit and people with shortness of breath. In fact, the extremely fit 25 Boston Marathon runners had ten-fold increases in that metabolite after a race.

"We now have a chemical snapshot of what the more fit person looks like. Now we have to see if making someone's metabolism look like that snapshot, whether or not that's going to improve their performance," says Gerszten, whose ultimate goal is better cardiac care.