Hormonal
Dietary supplementation with butyrate and propionate protects against diet-induced obesity and improves glucose tolerance in mice, with butyrate and propionate also reducing food intake via FFAR3-independent mechanisms.
In a high-fat diet context, supplementing with butyrate and propionate (specifically at efficacious doses like 2.5-5% for butyrate and 2.2-4.3% for propionate in the diet) can prevent weight gain and improve glucose tolerance in mice. Butyrate also reduces food intake through mechanisms that do not rely on the FFAR3 receptor. These findings suggest that specific SCFA supplementation may be a viable strategy for metabolic health, though human translation requires further study.
Dietary supplementation of butyrate and propionate completely blocked HFD-induced weight gain... Butyrate significantly inhibited food intake... leading to a 22% reduction in nine-day cumulative food intake... The effects of butyrate and propionate on body weight and food intake are independent of FFAR3.
Why this rating
The study uses a rigorous knockout mouse model (Ffar3-/-) to isolate mechanisms, providing strong causal evidence within the animal model, though translation to humans is not directly tested.
Source
Butyrate and Propionate Protect against Diet-Induced Obesity and Regulate Gut Hormones via Free Fatty Acid Receptor 3-Independent Mechanisms
Hua Lin et al. · PLoS ONE · 2012
DOI 10.1371/journal.pone.0035240
More from this paper
- FFAR3 (GPR41) is dispensable for normal body weight, adiposity, and glucose homeostasis in mice, and is not required for the obesity-protective effects of butyrate and propionate.Strong
- Butyrate and propionate acutely stimulate the secretion of gut hormones (GLP-1, GIP, PYY) in mice, with butyrate being the most potent stimulator of anorexigenic peptides.Good
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