Short‐chain fatty acid content in the hindgut of rats fed various composite foods and commercial dietary fibre fractions from similar sources

Abstract

The fermentability of indigestible carbohydrates and content of short-chain fatty acids along the hindgut of rats were investigated using plant materials of importance in the Swedish diet (instant potato powder, apples and oat¯akes). Results with the composite food products were compared with commercial ®bre fractions obtained from similar sources, ie potato ®bre, apple pectin and b-glucanenriched oat ®bre. The materials were incorporated into diets yielding a concentration of 60 or 70 g kg À1 indigestible carbohydrates. The fermentability of indigestible carbohydrates was high with all diets, between 79 and 90%. All substrates except the pure apple pectin generated intermediate to high proportions of butyric acid in the caecum (15±22 vs 8%). The potato products gave high concentrations of butyric acid in the distal colon. The potato powder, ie the diet with the highest content of resistant starch (22 g kg À1 ), also gave the highest proportion of butyric acid in the distal colon (19%), which was higher than the proportion in the caecum with the same substrate (15%) (P < 0.005). The composite foods promoted a higher proportion of butyric acid in the distal colon as compared with the commercial ®bre fractions (P < 0.05).

The short-chain fatty acid content in the caecal digesta of rats fed diets with various sources of fibre

“…The high caecal proportion of butyric acid on the apple pulp diets may be due to the differences in fibre matrix (Henningsson et al, 2002).…”

“…The potato products gave high concentrations of butyric acid. This may be explained by the fact that some resistant starch could be present in those products and was fermented to butyric acid, as was shown in pigs (Martin et al, 1998;Henningsson et al, 2002). One of the most important properties of the SCFA is their trophic effect on the intestinal epithelium, with butyric acid considered to be the most effective and propionic acid, the least.…”

Rapid determination of short-chain fatty acids in colonic contents and faeces of humans and rats by acidified water-extraction and direct-injection gas chromatography

“…SCFAs may also have metabolic effects and it has been shown that propionic acid may inhibit the synthesis of cholesterol in the liver (Wolever et al, 1991;Stark and Madar, 1993). Different types of carbohydrates give rise to different amounts and patterns of SCFAs, and factors that may play a role are the composition and the molecular weight of the carbohydrates (Berggren et al, 1993;Henningsson et al, 2002a). In order to evaluate the effects of dietary components on the production of SCFAs in healthy subjects and in patients suffering of colonic diseases, it is crucial to have an efficient and inexpensive analytical method that enables the identification and quantification of the SCFA in various body fluids such as faeces.…”

Le rôle des différents nutriments et de leurs possibles interactions dans les effets santé de la pomme

“…La consommation journalière de plusieurs pommes peut pratiquement placer ce fruit parmi les sources majeures de fibres, auxquelles appartiennent aussi les produits céréaliers et les légumineuses. Dans des expériences menées chez l'animal, il a été montré que la fraction de fibres ou des extraits lyophilisés de pomme favorise nettement les fermentations butyriques [8,28,41]. Il est difficile de situer la fraction responsable de ce type d'orientation fermentaire, mais il ne s'agit pas vraisemblablement de la pectine elle-même qui favorise plutôt des fermentations riches en acide acétique [8].…”