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Human Nutrition and Metabolism
Research Communication

Fecal Acetate Is Inversely Related to Acetate Absorption from the Human Rectum and Distal Colon^1,2

Janet A. Vogt^* and Thomas M. S. Wolever^*,,3

^* Department of Nutritional Sciences, University of Toronto, and St. Michael’s Hospital, Toronto, Canada

³To whom correspondence should be addressed. E-mail: zemailthomas.wolever{at}utoronto.ca.

In humans, colonic bacteria ferment unabsorbed carbohydrates, producing the SCFA acetic, propionic and n-butyric acids. To test for interactions among the SCFA that may affect their absorption, healthy subjects (n = 10) were given 300-mL rectal infusions containing acetate (60 mmol/L), propionate (20 mmol/L) and butyrate (20 mmol/L), alone or in combinations of two or three. The solutions were retained for 30 min, and then subjects voided a sample for SCFA measurement. To examine the relationship between absorption and fecal SCFA concentrations, a fecal sample was collected at the end of the study. The mean percentage of butyrate absorption (30.2 ± 4.6%) exceeded that of acetate (24.1 ± 3.7%) (P < 0.05). Absorption tended to be less (P = 0.12) when a SCFA was infused alone (26.7 ± 4.0%) than when all three were infused (32.0 ± 5.7%). Bicarbonate concentration was higher after butyrate-containing infusions than after saline. The fecal molar acetate percentage was inversely correlated with the percentage of acetate absorption from the infusion of three SCFA (r = -0.834, P < 0.005). We conclude that there was no combination effect on SCFA absorption, and the chain-length effect suggests passive diffusion as a likely mechanism of absorption. Furthermore, fecal acetate may reflect absorption, rather than production of colonic acetate.

KEY WORDS: • acetate • propionate • SCFA • absorption • colon.

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