Distal versus proximal intestinal short-chain fatty acid release in man

Several recent studies published in Gut highlight the potential of prebiotics and short-chain fatty acids (SCFAs) to improve obesity and its associated metabolic disorders. Catry and colleagues1 demonstrated that inulin-type fructans improve endothelial dysfunction, and Roager et al 2 showed that a whole grain-rich diet reduced body weight and inflammation. Li et al 3 reported that butyrate administration reduced appetite and activated brown adipose tissue in mice, and Chambers and colleagues4 showed that targeted propionate delivery to the human colon reduced energy intake and body weight gain. In light of these important effects of SCFA, insight into their fate after bacterial production and/or intestinal absorption will help to improve the development of nutritional strategies aiming at modulation of intestinal SCFA. We addressed this issue by assessing SCFA release in the proximal intestines (jejunum, ileum and proximal colon) versus the distal intestines (descending colon, sigmoid and rectum) in man. Blood was simultaneously sampled from the portal vein, hepatic vein, superior mesenteric vein (SMV; draining the proximal intestines), inferior mesenteric vein (IMV; draining the distal intestines) …