A diet rich in fiber has been shown to be beneficial to one’s health by scientists. Eating healthy reduces the risk of developing many conditions, including cardiovascular disease, type 2 diabetes, and some cancers.
But why? Fiber is beneficial to gut health because it feeds the microbiome.
The fermentation of fiber by microbes produces short-chain fatty acids (SCFAs). The compounds found in fiber play a role in the health benefits often ascribed to it.
We will explore the world of SCFAs and try to understand how they can improve our health.
What are SCFAs?
The short-chain fatty acids (SCFAs) are a group of fatty acids with aliphatic tails of five or fewer carbons. They are produced by gut bacteria through the fermentation of dietary fiber. The most common types are butyrate, propionate, and acetate.
Most of the bacteria in your gut produce butyrate, but only some species produce propionate and acetate.
The SCFAs produced by your gut bugs are mostly used for energy by the gut cells.
The SCFAs that are left behind move through your gut wall and enter your blood. Approximately 10% of your daily energy comes from these compounds.
Scientists know that fiber is essential for overall good health and that SCFAs play a part, but they are still investigating how SCFAs work in the body.
We’re going to zero in on a few key areas: namely, gut health, keeping blood sugar levels in check, managing weight, absorbing minerals, and reducing inflammation.
Gut health
SCFAs provide support to your intestinal epithelial cells, which are the cells that line the inside of your gut. This support is vital to maintaining gut health.
These cells are important in many ways . They also assist in the process of getting rid of waste. Your digestive system is a group of organs that work together to help your body break down and absorb food. And they help protect against infections and produce mucus.
The layer of cells also contains neuroendocrine cells which communicate with the nervous system by pumping hormones into the bloodstream.
The main fuel source for these cells comes from SCFAs, which helps to keep them running smoothly.
In addition to providing energy, short-chain fatty acids also help keep epithelial cells close together. This prevents the possibility of unwanted chemicals leaking into the bloodstream.
SCFA-producing bacteria are essential for gut health.
We will now look at other potential benefits of SCFAs on health, although the mechanisms are still being investigated by scientists.
Blood sugar response
Digestible carbs are broken down into glucose and enter your blood after you eat.
Your blood sugar rises when you eat carbohydrate-rich foods because your body needs glucose to fuel your cells. Blood takes glucose to where it’s needed in your body.
If blood sugar levels rise too high on a regular basis, this can eventually lead to health problems such as heart disease .
Eating fiber helps reduce the spike in blood sugar that happens after a meal. Fiber takes longer to break down than other nutrients, so it slows the absorption of sugar into your blood. However, SCFAs may also play a part.
Scientists are still figuring out how the amount of SCFAs impact blood sugar responses after a meal. It’s a complex business.
The majority of current research has been conducted in a laboratory setting using animal or human subjects who have prediabetes or diabetes. The effects of this are uncertain for other people.
Fiber also has many positive effects on glucose control, so it is difficult to say exactly what role SCFAs play.
Weight control
Some evidence suggests that SCFAs may help to maintain a healthy weight. Experts think that animals might be able to sense when an earthquake is going to occur through a few different routes.
The first way that SCFAs increase the feeling of fullness is by stimulating the release of GLP-1 and peptide YY. This could potentially reduce how much food someone eats.
Secondly, SCFAs stimulate the release of a hormone called leptin from fat cells, which reduces appetite.
Some evidence suggests that SCFA acetate might travel from the gut to the brain. Once there, it can suppress hunger. A study done on mice discovered this, but you are not a mouse.
Glucose and weight: Evidence in humans
SCFAs may help to regulate blood sugar levels and promote healthy weight. The evidence isn’t watertight yet, but it’s slowly building.
In one study, participants with diabetes were divided into two groups, those who ate a high-fiber diet and those who ate a low-fiber diet, and followed their chosen diet for 12 weeks. At the end, people who ate a lot of fiber had different types of gut bacteria that produce short-chain fatty acids.
The researchers discovered that people who ate a high-fiber diet had higher levels of GLP-1 and better blood sugar control. The participants who ate more fiber also lost more weight than those on the low-fiber diet.
A study on humans provides more direct evidence of the role of SCFAs in weight.
The scientists recruited 60 adults with overweight. They focused on one SCFA — propionate. Participants took propionate daily for 24 weeks.
The researchers found that those taking the SCFA had higher levels of PYY and GLP-1 in their blood, compared with a control group. They also had a reduced energy intake.
The authors found that the group that ate SCFAs gained less weight than the control group.
Some studies have found links between SCFAs and weight loss while others have not. More clinical trials are needed before any solid conclusions can be drawn.
Fiber has many benefits, one of which is maintaining a healthy weight. It’s difficult to say exactly how fiber does this, as it likely has multiple mechanisms.
Inflammation control
Inflammation is the body’s natural response to infection or injury. It helps the body heal and repair itself. If inflammation is not treated, it can cause long-term damage to the body.
SCFAs may influence inflammation. Some evidence suggests that dietary fiber and resistant starch may help treat IBD.
Introducing potentially harmful substances into the blood stream can happen when there is a ‘leaky gut’ – a common occurrence for those with IBD. In response, the immune system triggers inflammation.
Scientists have wondered whether SCFAs (short chain fatty acids) might help reduce the symptoms of IBD (inflammatory bowel disease), because SCFAs nourish and repair the cells that line the gut. , and they believe that it could have potential benefits in the treatment of many other autoimmune and inflammatory conditions. Scientists are investigating how SCFAs could potentially help with autoimmune and inflammatory conditions beyond IBD.
It is not currently clear what role SCFAs play in inflammation in people without IBD. So far, the results of research on the impact of probiotics on gut health are inconclusive.
This makes sense because people who don’t have IBD usually don’t have a lot of inflammation.
Although reducing inflammation may not be the best course of action for people without ongoing inflammation, it is still a healthy response to infection or injury. So, SCFAs might not need to get involved.
The immune system has to work hard to protect the gut from harmful bacteria while also supporting the good bacteria that is essential for good health.
The research suggests that SCFAs could help to maintain a balance by acting as a intermediary between “good” gut bacteria and the immune system.
Although we don’t know everything, many immune cells have receptors that respond to SCFAs. This suggests that they are involved in inflammation and other processes.
3 short-chain fatty acids (and lactate)
Acetate
Acetate helps maintain a stable gut environment and nourish other beneficial bacteria species in your colon.
Your gut bacteria produces the highest percentage of SCFAs from acetate. Since these compounds are essential for our health and wellbeing, their production is crucial. It also explains how the commensal bacteria, which live in your gut, coexist peacefully.
Functions for the gut and body
Acetate regulates the pH of your gut. It helps to keep the environment stable. One way probiotics help keep you healthy is by maintaining a balance of acidity in your gut – this makes it inhospitable for harmful microbes to survive while still providing a good environment for beneficial microbes to thrive.
Studies have found that when infants are breastfed or given foods that contain prebiotics, acetate prevents many common pathogens from growing. The effect is even greater when the gut is more acidic.
It also has an effect on receptors in the gut lining, which helps to regulate appetite and control the storage of fat. These receptors play an important role in increasing the release of specific gut hormones that are known to regulate appetite, such as peptide YY and GLP-1.
Receptors are proteins that bind to specific chemicals, which then causes a response in the body.
The release of these hormones by cells in the small intestine makes you feel full and no longer hungry. This means that you are less likely to eat snacks and consume additional calories. The breakdown of fibre produces acetate, which can help prevent weight gain.
Bacteria produce acetate, which helps nourish the microbes in your gut that produce butyrate. This supports the diversity of your beneficial microbes. This SCFA helps other species to thrive and survive by cross-feeding.
Butyrate
The health benefits of butyrate include supporting the digestive system and preventing diseases, such as neurological conditions.
Though this SCFA is produced in lower quantities than the others, research has shown that it is critical to one’s health. This text is discussing the benefits of combatting inflammation. Inflammation is a serious problem because it can damage the body and lead to several chronic diseases.
Prebiotic dietary fibers can increase butyrate production in your gut, which may help counteract gut dysbiosis that is linked to diseases, digestive problems, and brain health. Cool stuff, right?
Functions for the gut and body
Butyrate is a substance that has multiple functions in both the gut and the human body. One of the primary roles of butyrate is to provide energy for the cells lining the gut called “colonocytes.” Butyrate provides the majority of its energy requirements.
Without this SCFA, the cells would not be able to perform their key functions, particularly preserving the gut lining. The lining of your gut is important because it acts as a barrier between the environment inside your intestines and the rest of your body.
The function of the lining is to act as a barrier, allowing nutrients to enter the bloodstream and be distributed to the body. Your immune system protects you from becoming ill by stopping pathogens, toxins, and food components from getting into your blood.
The barrier is made up of tight junction proteins which control the opening and closing of the lining. The proteins work by opening and closing the lining in response to different stimuli. If these junctions are unable to close, it can cause a phenomenon called leaky gut. An increased abundance of butyrate producers will lead to an increased production of this short-chain fatty acid, which will help protect against leaky gut.
The antioxidants and anticancer properties of this product are great. It has a pretty cool way of causing rogue cells to kill themselves and prevent cancer from developing.
In order for you to experience the benefits of butyrate, you need to increase your intake of dietary fiber. A diet that is low in plant-based foods means you are more likely to get diseases like cancer, because your gut is not as protected.
Propionate
Although it’s not studied as much as other SCFAs, propionate has some distinct health benefits that show it shouldn’t be underestimated.
Propionate is another type of SCFA that is produced when bacteria break down dietary fiber. It has many health benefits.
Functions for the gut and body
The health benefits of propionate include reducing cholesterol levels, reducing fat storage, preventing cancer, and reducing inflammation. The gas in your intestines is produced by bacteria fermentation.
As the global obesity epidemic continues, propionate is garnering more and more attention as a possible appetite suppressant. Peptide YY and GLP-1 are hormones that are released when we feel satisfied after eating.
When the participants were given propionate, the levels of the appetite hormones decreased, which caused them to eat 14% less during a buffet meal. In a separate study, overweight adults who were given propionate supplements experienced almost a 25% reduction in weight gain over the course of 24 weeks.
The propionate produced in your gut has anti-inflammatory effects throughout your body. This means that it can help to prevent various diseases, including atherosclerosis, which is where fatty deposits build up on the walls of your arteries. If these are not detected and removed, they can cause blockages in the blood vessels, which can lead to heart attacks and strokes.
Propionate is thought to have a similar protective effect against colon cancer as butyrate. Propionate is promising because it still provides energy to the cells lining the colon, even though the latter is more successful.
Cancerous cells committing suicide is one way that cancer is prevented from developing, studies have found. This means that it is thought to be a very powerful type of SCFA. If you were a cancer cell, you would not want to mess with it!
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