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Production and Absorption of Short-Chain Fatty Acids

  • Chapter
Dietary Fiber

Abstract

Short-chain fatty acids (SCFAs) are produced when undigested dietary constituents are fermented by anaerobic bacteria in the intestine (Bancroft et al., 1944). Dietary fiber has been suggested to be the main substrate for the production of SCFAs. The SCFAs are readily absorbed and play significant physiological roles in the host. For example, butyrate is proposed to be a preferable fuel to glucose, glutamate, or ketone bodies for colonocytes (Roediger, 1982), whereas acetate and propionate are mainly converted to fatty acids and glucose, respectively, in the liver (Demigne et al., 1986). In addition, SCFAs are involved in the maintenance of secretory and absorptive functions in the large intestine by affecting movement of water and electrolytes (Argenzio et al., 1975). Therefore, investigation of the production of SCFAs through the fermentation of dietary fiber and evaluation of the mechanisms involved in the absorption are of interest. In this chapter we focus on absorption of SCFAs with a brief overview of production.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Nutritional Sciences, University of California, Berkeley, California, 94720, USA

    S. E. Fleming & Sungshin Yeo

Authors
  1. S. E. Fleming
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  2. Sungshin Yeo
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Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. The Wistar Institute, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, USA

    David Kritchevsky

  2. Astra Associates, Inc., McLean, Virginia, USA

    Charles Bonfield

  3. Veterans Administration Medical Center, Lexington, Kentucky, USA

    James W. Anderson

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© 1990 Plenum Press, New York

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Fleming, S.E., Yeo, S. (1990). Production and Absorption of Short-Chain Fatty Acids. In: Kritchevsky, D., Bonfield, C., Anderson, J.W. (eds) Dietary Fiber. Springer, Boston, MA. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4613-0519-4_23

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4613-0519-4_23

  • Publisher Name: Springer, Boston, MA

  • Print ISBN: 978-1-4612-7846-7

  • Online ISBN: 978-1-4613-0519-4

  • eBook Packages: Springer Book Archive

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