Depending on these variables, between 10% and 20% of the starch ingested every day may be RS. Studies both in vitro and in vivo have shown that starch is rapidly fermented by colonic bacteria to

SCFA.[29, 30] The major SCFA produced by carbohydrate fermentation are acetate, propionate, and butyrate, which are absorbed from the colon. Butyrate provides the major energy source for colonic epithelial cells. SCFA promote tight junction integrity in the colon, increase epithelial cell proliferation rate, hasten epithelial repair in response to injury, and facilitate epithelial cell differentiation with consequent anticancer effects.[19] Acetate and propionate are absorbed into the portal Staurosporine molecular weight circulation and metabolized in the liver. A proportion of acetate produced in the colon by bacterial fermentation reaches the peripheral circulation as detected by elevation in circulating blood levels of acetate following oral administration Stem Cell Compound Library of non-digestible carbohydrate.[31] This is metabolized in other tissues including adipose tissue. Propionate is mostly metabolized in the liver, where it also acts to reduce serum cholesterol and blood glucose.[32] These SCFA collectively lead to conservation of “lost” energy from the small intestine. Fermentation to SCFA recovers approximately 2 kcal energy per gram of starch compared with 4 kcal per gram

had it been fully hydrolyzed to glucose. Therefore, energy absorption from RS is less efficient than from digestible starch and is one reason why RS is used in click here the food industry as a low-calorie substitute.[33] Nevertheless, the ability to conserve energy from ingested RS is probably of significant nutritional importance in impoverished communities with compromised diets where RS is a major component of the dietary starch. The fermentation of unabsorbed carbohydrate requires the activity of a number of enzymes which is

provided by a consortium of microbes present in the gut.[34] The identity of the major carbohydrate fermenters is now well known. Most of the colonic microbial communities have adapted to residence there and therefore have the capability to utilize complex carbohydrates. It has been shown, for instance, that lactobacilli of human gut origin have the necessary machinery to utilize complex carbohydrates, which is lacking in dairy strains of lactobacilli.[35] Analysis of the genetic potential of gut microbiota indicates that Bacteroides species possess genes for a large number of enzymes involved in carbohydrate utilization including glycoside hydrolases, glycosyl transferases, polysaccharide lyases, and carbohydrate esterases.[26] Bacteroides are able to degrade dietary NDC as well as host carbohydrates including mucus proteins, and may switch to the latter when dietary NDCs are less abundant. Bacteria belonging to Clostridium clusters IV (Clostridium leptum, Ruminococcus bromii, and Faecalibacterium prausnitzii) and XIV (C. coccoides, E.