Exercise and Nutrition: Metabolic Partners in Epigenetic Regulation

Metabolism fuels epigenetic processes, which, in turn, regulate metabolism by translating environmental stimuli into adaptations. Metabolic networks sense changes in energy and reduction-oxidation (redox) balance, making diet and exercise powerful tools in modulating the epigenome. High nutrient availability, for example, augments acetyl-CoA and methionine required for acetylation and methylation, while low nutrient availability or increased energy expenditure can reverse these processes. While diet provides the building blocks for epigenetic changes, exercise maintains redox signalling and homeostasis during nutrient conversion, deficiency, and excess. Exercise on its own can modify DNA packaging and microRNAs, effectively activating genes involved in metabolism, while silencing selective genes involved in disease. Exercise can also restore the circadian rhythm that regulates metabolism. Diet and exercise converge on the same metabolic pathways—nutraceuticals can mimic exercise, and supplementation with dietary metabolites can support exercise adaptations and alter the epigenome. In this chapter, we discuss the interaction between dietary components and exercise and illustrate the molecular pathways linking metabolism and epigenetic modifications. We review recent human trials on exercise and dietary interventions, and their immediate and chronic effects on DNA, histone and non-histone proteins, and gene expression, focusing on the most studied epigenetic modifications.